Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-12-11

the great interstate corporations, Including
simple method. of account keeping, pub
licity, supervision of the issue of securities.
leges. There should be short time fran
chises for all corporations engaged in pub
lie business; including the corporations
should be national as well as state guardian
ship Of mines and forests. The labor legis-
lation hereinafter referred to should con.
currently be enacted into law.
To accomplish this, means Of course GER
tain increase in the use of-not the creation
of-power, by the central government. The
created; the only question is whether it
shall be used or left idle-and meanwhile
the, corporations over which the power
Let those who object to this Increase in the
use Of the only power available, the national
power, be frank. and admit openly that they
great business corporations and to exercise
supervision over the accumulation and dis
tribution of wealth.. for such supervision
and control can only come through this
particular kind Of increase of power. We
no more believe in that empirfcism which
demands absolutely unrestrained individual
ism than we do in that empiricism which
clamors for a deadening socialism which
would destroy all individual initiative and
would ruin the country with complete
ness that not even an unrestrained individ-
ualism itself could achieve. The danger to
American democracy lies not in the least in
the concentration of administrative power
lies in having the power insufficiently con-
centrated, so that no one can be held re-
sponsible to the people for Its use. Concen-
trated power Is palpabie, visible, response
Power scattered through many administra-
tors, many legislators, many men who work
behind and through legislators and admin
sponsible, can not be reached, can not be
held to account. Democracy is in peril
wherever the administration of political
Uoria Of
who work in secret, whose very names are
unknown to the common people. 1t is not
In peril from any man who derives author
ity from the people, who exercises it in
sight of the people, and who is from time
to time compelled to give an account Of its
exercise to the people.
Labor.
There are many matters affecting labor
and the status of the Wageworker to which
I should like to draw your attention, but
an exhaustive discussion of the problem in
all it's aspects Is not now necessary. This
administration is nearing it's end: and,
moreover, under our form of government
the solution of the problem depends upon
the action of the states as much as upon
the action of the nation: Nevertheless,
wish to set before you, because I hope that
our people will more and more keep them
in mind. blind and ignorant resistance
to every effort for the reform of abuses
and for the readjustment Of society to mod
ern Industrial conditions represents not
true conservatism but an Indictment to the
widest radicalism; for wise radicalism and
wise conservatism go hand in hand, one
bent on progress, the other bent on seeing
that no change is made unless in the right
direction. / believe in a steady effort or
perhaps it would be more accurate to say
In steady efforts in many different d1rec-
lions, to bring about a condition Of affairs
under which the men who york with hand
or with brain, the laborers, the super1n-
tendents, the men who produce for the
market and the men who find a market for
greater share than at present of the wealth
they produce, and be enabled to invest 1t
in the tools and instruments by which all
work is carried on, AS far as possible
vantages conferred by machinery, organ1za-
ton, and division Of labor, ACCOMPANIED by
an effort to bring about larger share in
the ownership of wageworker Of railway,
mill, and factory. In farming, this simply
means that We wish to see the farmer own
his own land; we do, not. wish to see the
erty of absentee landlords who farm then,
by tenants, nor yet SO small that the farm
er becomes like a European peasant; Again,
the depositors in our savings banks now
number over one-tenth of our entire popu-
lation. These are all capitalists, who
through the savings banks loan their mon
to themselves-to carry on their various in
dustries. The more we increase their num-
Der, the more we introduce the principles of
cooperation into our industry. Every In
in corporations is a good thing, for the
same reasons; and where the employees are
the stockholders the result is particularly
good. Very much of this movement must
be outside of anything that can be accom-
plished by legislation; but legislation can
do good deal. Postal savings banks will
make it easy for the poorest to keep their
savings in absolute safety. The regulation
of the national highways must be such
that they shall serve all people with equal
Justice Corporate finances must be super
WISE n safer than
present for the man of small means to in
vest his money in stocks. There must be
prohibition of child labor, diminution OF
woman labor shortening of hours of all
mechanical labor; stock watering should
be prohibited, and stock gambling SO far al
is possible discouraged. There should be
tunes. Industrial education should be en-
couraged. AS far as possible we should
tighten the burden Of taxation on the small
thrift thrift; hard work, and business energy;
but these qualities cease to be the main
factors in accommodating fortune long be-
would be seriously affected by any inherit
ance tax such as l propose. It is emf.
nently right that the nation should fix the
terms upon which the great fortunes are
inherited. They rarely do good and they
often do harm to those who inherit them
in their entirety.
Protection for Wageworkers.
The above, is the merest sketch, hardly
even q SKeCCn In OutlIne, u Inc EcAoELAS IoE
which we should work But there is one
matter with which the Congress should
er be any paltering with the question Of
taking care of the wageworkers who, un.
der our present Industrial system, become
killed, crippled, or worn out as part Of the
regular Incidents Of given business The the
rights secured for them by state action;
but the national government should l Leg
ion not only for all employees of the ma
tiona but for all persons 6s nb7e en
Sought for could be achieved to a measur
able degree, as far as those killed or Grip
liability laws. AS far as concerns those
who have been worn out, / call your at
tention to the fact that definite steps to-
ward providing old-age pensions have been
taken in many of our private industries.
These may be indefinitely extended through
voluntary association and contributory
schemes, or through the agency of savings
banks, as under the recent MASSACHUSETTS sisn;
ures should be our immediate duty; it IS