The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-12-11
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

For many OF the shortcomings of
justice IN our country our people as q
whole are themselves TO blame. and the
judges and juries merely boar their
share together with the public as n
whole. is discreditablc to us as n
people that there should bp difficulty
in convictiuG murderers or in bringing
to justice men who as public servants
have been guilty of corruption or who
have profited by the corruption of pub
lie servants.
The huge wealth that has been &C
cumulated by few individuals of re-
cent years, in what has amounted to
n social and industrial revolution. has
been as regards some of these individ-
uals made possible only by the improp-
er use of the modern corporation Cor
porations are necessary instruments of
modern business. They have been per-
mitted to become menace largely be
cause the governmental representatives
of the people have worked slowly in
providing for adequate control over
them.
Real damage has been done by the
manifold and conflicting interpreta-
lions of the interstate commerce law.
Control over the great corporations do
ing interstate business can be effective
only if it is vested with full power IN
an administrative department a branch
of the federal executive, carrying out
a federal law. 1t can never be eff
fective if a divided responsibility Is
left in both the states and the nation.
1t can never be effective if left in the
hands of the courts to be decided by
lawsuits.
The courts hold a place of peculiar
>and deserved sanctity under our form
of government. Respect for the law is
essential to the permanence of our in
stitutions, and respect for the law is
largely conditioned upon respect for
the courts. But we must face the fact
that there are wise and unwise judges,
just as there are wise and unwise ex-
ecutives and legislators. When
president or governor behaves improp-
erly or unwisely the remedy is easy,
for his term is short The same Is
to the same degree. With Judge
who, being human, is also likely to
err. but whose tenure is for life, there
is no similar way of holding him to
responsibility. Under ordinary condi.
tionS the only forms Of pressure tc
its most effective effort in the shape
of an appeal to the old doctrine of
states rights.
The proposal to make the national
government supreme over, and there
fore to give it complete control over.
the railroads and other instruments Of
interstate commerce is merely a pro-
posal to carry out to the letter one of
the prime purposes, if not the prime
purpose, for which the constitution
was founded. 1t does not represent
contradiction
l believe that the more farsighted
corporations are themselves coming to
recognize the unwisdom of the violent
hostility they have displayed during
the last few years to regulation and
control by the national government of
combinations engaged in interstate bust
ness.
Labor.
There are many matters affecting la
Dor and the status of the wageworker
to which | should like to draw your
attention. AS far as possible l hope
to see a frank recognition of the adj
vantages conferred by machinery, or
ganization and division of labor. &C
companied by an effort to bring about
a larger share in the ownership by
wageworker of railway, mill and fac
tory. In farming this simply means
that we wish to see the farmer own his
own land We do not wish to see the
farms so large that they become the
property of absentee landlords who
farm them by tenants nor yet so small
that the farmer becomes like Euro
pean peasant.
The depositors in our savings banks
now number over one-tenth of our en-
tire population These are all capital
lists who through the savings banks
loan their money to the workers-that
is, In many cases to themselves-tO
carry on their various industries.
IContinued on Page Fourl