The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-05-01

%immutable principles OF righteousness
which bid us treat each man on his worth
as a man without regard to his Weai.h
or his poverty. But evil though the m
aries is, 1t is no worse In it's consequences
than the influence exercised by the man
of great wealth or the man of power
and position in the Industrial world. who
by his lack of sympathy with, and lack
of understanding of, still more by any
exhibition of uncompromising hostility TO.
to unite them against their fellow-Ameri-
cans who are better off in his worlds
goods. 1t is a bad thing to teach our
men who have the largest proportion OF
the substantial comforts OF life. are nee
essarily greedy, grasping and cold-hearted,
propriate more than their share Of the
substance of the many. Stern condem-
nation should be visited upon demagogue
and visionary who teach this untruth, and
are In truth grasping and greedy and
brutally disregardlful of the rights of
others. and who by their actions teach
the dreadful lesson far more effectively
than any mere preacher of unrest. A
class grievance. left too long without
remedy breeds Glass consciousness and
therefore class resentment.
Strengthen Antitrust Law.
~ ~ VI tiC asS -"
is demanded upon both moral and eco
nomic grounds. Our purpose in strength
cning 1t is TO secure more effective con-
troll by the national government over the
business use of the vast masses of in
dividual, and especially of corporate.
wealth, which at the present time mo-
of the country; and we believe the con-
troll can best he exercised by preventing
the growth Of abuses. rather than merely
by trying to destroy them when they have
already grown. In the highest sense of
the word this movement for thorough con-
troll of the business use of this great
steer a safe middle course. which alone
can save us from a plutocratic class gov
inner on the one hand, or a socialistic
which would be fraught with disaster to
our free institutions. state and national.
We are trying TO avoid alike the evils
ship of the public utilities by which in
~terstate m Is chiefly carried on,
and the evils which flow from the riot
and chaos OF unrestricted individualism.
There Is grave danger to our free In
%stttutions In the corrupting influence exer-
cised by great wealth suddenly concen-
trated in the hands of The few; We should
IN sane manner try to remedy this dan
ger, in spite OF the sullen opposition of
these lew very powerful men; and with
the fu righ PnTp at tho se p wepy t,m them aba N w all
require them to deal rightfully with oth-
ers.
Wnen with steam and electricity modern
business conditions went through the as
founding revolution which in this country
began over half a century ago. there was
at first much hesitation az to what par
ttcular governmental agency should be
used to grapple with the new conditions.
At almost the same time. about twenty
years since. the effort was made to con-
through the Interstate Commerce commits
sion, and to abolish them by means of
the anti-trust act: the two remedies there
fnrn 1ni Ner In y,pr ynyvt,,N1I,r - Nr,- n
interstate m law has pro-
duced admirable results, especially since
1t was strengthened by the Hepburn law
two years ago. The antitrust law. though
1t worked some good, because anything
Is better than anarchy and complete abb
sence OF regulation. nevertheless has
adequate but mischievous. Twenty years
ago the misuse of corporate power had
produced Utmost every conceivable form
injury to business morality and the pub
lie conscience. For a long time federal
regulation OF interstate commerce had
airy, merely acting in isolated cases to
restrain the state from exercising a power
which 1t was clearly unconstitutional as
well as unwise for them to exercise, but
which nevertheless the national govern
ment itself failed to exercise. Thus the
corporations monOpolizing made
me law Tor themselves, state power and
common law being inadequate to accom-
plish any effective regulation, and the
national power not yet having been put
forth. The result va mischievous in the
extreme. and only short-sighted and utter
failure to appreciate the grossness OF the
evils to which the lack of regulation gave
rise, can excuse the well-meaning persons
who now desire to abolish the anti-trust
law outright. or TO amend it by simply
condemning unreasonable combinations.
Executive Power.
Power should unaucstionably be lodged
new IN the executive branch of the
government to permit combinations which
will further the public Interest; but it
must always be remembered that, as re-
CARDS the great and wealthy combinations
through which most of the interstate bust
ness OF today is DONE. the burden of proof
should be on them to SHOW that they
aater the = kn 10 s or the experience to
given combination is advisable or neces-
sar,y in the interest Of the public. Some
nody. whether a commission or a bureau
labor. should be given this power. My
personal belief, is that ultimately we shall
have to adopt a national incorporation
may be impossible at present. over the
actions of the executive body in which
me nnesp power ,sr IL placed the courts SHOULD
Gus to that Obtaining in connection with
the work OF the Interstate Commerce. COM
mission Mt present. To confer this power
Merld not OF De pc a :, Leap in the dark; It would
DRY OF effective governmental control Of
tn. the creation Of the Interstate Commerce
ITS powers. ard for the creation OF the
bureau Of corporations. III interstate
commerce legislation has worked adnira.
ply. It has benefited the public: Il has
oenehted honestly manage and wisely
conducted railroads.: and in spite OF the
Iact mat the business of the country has
enormously increased. the value OF this
federal legislation has been shown by the
way In which 1t has enabled the federal
government TO correct the most pro
nounced OF the great and varied abuses
which existed in the business world twen-
~ years ago-while the many abuses that
sner and more ~thorough-going legislation.
similarly, the bureau of corporations has
amply Justified its creation. In other
words. 1t Is clear that the principles en-
ployed to remedy the great evils in the
business world have worked well. and thew
can now be employed to correct the evils
That further commercial growth has
brought more prominently to the surface,
The powers and scope OF the Interstate
commerce commission. and of any similar
BODY: such as the bureau of CORPORATIONS
which has to deal with the matter in
hand, should be greatly enlarged so as
to meet the requirements Of the present
day. ESQ
States Can't Control.
The decisions of the supreme court In