Weekly journal-miner., 1908-12-16

either type of wrongdoer necessarily invites violent reaction against the cause the wrongdoer nominally up. holds. In point of danger to the Ma
 lion there IS nothing to choose be
 tween on the one hand the corruption.
 ist, the bribe.giver. tho bribc. taker,
 the man who employs his great talent
 Co swindlc his fellow citizens on | large scale. and. on the other nand,
 the preacher of class hatred. the man who. whether from ignorance or from willingness to sacrifice his country to
 his ambition, persuades well.meaning but wrong headed men to try to de.
 stroy the instruments upon which our | prosperity mainly rests. Let each
 group of men beware of and guard
 against the shortcomings 10 wnich
 that group is itself most liable. Too
 often we see tho business community
 in spirit of unhealthy class con.
 sciousness deplorc the effort to hold to
 account under the law the wealthy
 men who in their management of great
 corporations, whether railroads, street
 railways. or other industrial enter.
 priscs, have behaved in way that
 revOlts the conscience of the plain,
 decent people. Such an attitude can
 not be condcrincd too severely. for
 mon of property should recognize that
 they jcopsrdizc the rights of property
 when they fail heartily Co join in the
 cHort to do away with the abuses of
 wealth. On the other hand. those who
 Advocate proper control on behalf of
 tho public, through the State of these
 great corporations. and of the wealth
 engaged on giant scale in business
 operations, must even keep in mind
 that unless they do scrupulous justice
 to the corporation, unless they permit
 ample profit, and cordially encourage
 capable men of business SO long as
 they act with honesty. they are strik
 ing at inc root of our national we'll being; for in the long run, under the
 mere pressure of material distress, the people as whole would probably go f back to the reign of an unrestricted
 indiyidualism rather than submit to .
 control hy the State SO drastic and so
 foolish. conceived in spirit of such unreasonable and narrow hostility to wealth. as to prvent business opera. tions from being profitable, and there fore io bring ruin upon the entire
 business community, and ultimately , upon the entire body of citizens
 | The opposition Co Government con. p trol of these great corporations makes
 its most effective effort in the shape r of nn appeal Co the old doctrine of r States rights. Of course there are ]. many sincere men who now believe s in unrestricted individuaism in busi , ucss. just as there were formerly
 many sincere men who believed in p slavery that is. in the unrestricted I tight of sB individual ,c own another T individual. These men do not by |. themselves have great weight. how |, ever. The effective fight against aie ,. qunio Government control and super Q vision of individual. and especially of Q corporate wcaltn engaged in inter n state business is chiefly done undcl r. cover: and especially under cover oi l., an appeal to States rights. lt i' e not at all infrequent to read in th' Il same speech denuneiation of preda Q tory wealth fostcrcd by special privi e legc and defiant of both the public n welfare and hw of the land, and [ ,e lcnunciation of ccntralization in th if Central Government of the power t IS deal with this centralized and organ le ilcd wealth. Of course the policy SC r. forth in such twin denunciation s. amounts to absolutely nothing, for th n first half is nulli6cd by the sec"n io half. The chief reason, among th m many sound and compelling reasons rr that led to the formation of the Ma " tional Government, was the absolut in need that the Union, and not the scN nt oral states, should deal with intei he state and foreign commerce.; and th tc power to deal with interstate con
 nerce was granted absolutely an os plcnarily to the Central Governmcr Id and was exercised completely as n he gnrds the only instruments of inte
 state commerce known in those days cd the waterways. the highroads. as we re. as the partnerships of individuals WI rr. then conducted all of what busine oe there was. Interstate commerce ne now chiefly conducted ny railroad he and the great corporation has su he plantrd the mass of small partnershi or or individuals. The proposal to nal ry the National Government snpren ch over. and therefore to give it eoi he plete control over the railroads ai of other instruments of interstate co ae mercc is merely proposal to car ieh out to the letter one of the prime pL ess poses, if not the prime purpose, | md which the Constitution was found' ,ol. II does not represent centralizatiC the fl represents merely the acknowied To mcnt of the patent fact that eentr" cry zation has already come in busine my If this irresponsible outside busin'
 in power is to be controlled in the int oft est of the general public II can
 be controlled in one way; by giving a' uld auate power of control to the 0 'ort sovereignty capable of exercising sr the power - the National Governme On Forty or fifty separate state gove ,ese ments can moi exercise that pow ogy over corporations doing business om. most or all of them; first, beea l is tncv absolutely lack the authority
 of deal with interstate business m TOD. form; and second, because of the
 ex- eyitablc conflict of authority sure end arise in the effort to enforce difer Ilth. kinds of state, regulation. often