The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-12-08

p
ity 10 deal wiih Interstate business in
any form ard SECOND. because of the
. Inevitable conflict of authority sure To
arise iu the cnurt tu enforce different
. kinds oi state regulation. often inCon-
/ >istcut with one another and some.
/ times oppressive iu themselves. Such
/ divided authority cannot regulate com
ncrcc with wisdom aud effect The
/ central goVcruincut Is the only power
viii j without oppression can never
/ thclrss thoroughly and adequately
. control and supervise the large cor
. purlti"us. To abandon the effort for
+ national control means to abandon the
/ effort for aU adequate control and
. yet to render likely continual bursts of
/ action 10y state legislatures. which
/ cannot achieve the purpose sought for.
/ but which can du % great deal Of dam
+ age tu the corporation without confer.
ring any real benefit ON the public.
believe that the more farsighted
corporations are themselves coming to
recognize the UNIV isdpm of the violent
hostility they have displayed during
the last few years 10 regulation and
control 10y the national government Of
combinations engaged In Interstate
business. he truth Is that we who
believe in this movement of asserting
and exercising a genuine control in the
public intCrest over these great cOrpO.
ratiOus have TO contend against two
sets of enemies. who. though nominal
~ opposed to one another. are really
allies In preventing a proper solution
Of the problem. There are. first. the
big corporation men aud the extreme
ndividualiStS among business men
/ who genuinely believe In utterly un.
regulated business that ls, In the reign
of pluiOcracy second, the men
who, being blind 20 the economic
movements of tue day, believe In
movement of repression rather than of
regulation OF corporations and who de-
nOunce both the power OF the railroads
ard the exercise Of the federal power
which alone can really control the rail.
roads. Those who believe In efficient
national control. on the other hand. do
not In the least object 90 combinations.
do not In the least object To COucentra.
ton In business administration. On
the contrary, they favor both, with the
all Important proviSu that there shall be
such publicity about their workings
and such thorOughgoing control over
them as TO insure their being in the
interest and not against the interest of
the general public We do not object
TO the concentration Of wealth and ad-
ministration. but We do believe In the
distribution Of the wealth In profits 70
the real owners and In securing to the
public the full benefit of the cOnccn
trated administration We believe that
with concentration in administration
| there can come both the advantage OF
larger ownership and OF more
| equitable distribution Of profits and at
/ the same time better service 10 the
/ commonwealth. We believe that the
administration should be for the it
/ Of the many and that greed and r,sc'l
| lty practced on Il large scale should
be punished as rclentlessly as If prac-
/ ticcd on small scale
We do not for a moment believe that
/ the problem will be solved by any
short aud easy method. The solution
will come only 10y pressing various con
current remedies Some uf these rene
dies must lie outside the domain II
all government som" must be out
side the domain OF the federal
government. But there is lcgisa.
tion which the federal government
alone can enact and which Is ahsu-
I lutcly vital IN order to secure the at
tainmcnt OF our purpose. Many laws
are needed There should be rcgula-
tion 10y the national government of the
great Interstate corporations. Including
simple method Of account ,plng.
publicity. supervision of the issue Of
securities, abolition OF rebates and of
special privileges There should be
short time franchises for all corpora
tiouS engaged IN public business. in
Guiding the corporations which get
power from water rights. There should
bc national as well aS state guardian
ship Of mines aud forests. The labor
legislation hereinafter referred to
should concurrently be enacted into
law
To accomplish this means, of course.
certain Increase I'm the use of. not
the creation of. power 10y the central
government Ihc power already cN
lists. II does not have To hc created
The only question Is whether It shall
hc used or left idle. aud meanwhile
the corporations over which the pow.
cr ought To he exercised will not re-
main idle Let those who object tu
this increase iu the use Of the un'l
power available. the national power
be frank aud admit openly that thcy
propose 60 abandon any effort To con
trol the great business corporations
ana 10 exercise supervision over the
accumulation ana distribution ut
wealth, for such supervision and con
tr"l eau only come through this par
ticumr Kind uf increase ~ power We
no more believe i'm that empiriciSm
which demands absolutely uurrSttdu