Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1908-05-21


danger to our free institutions in the
corrupting influence exercised by
great wealth suddenly concentrated
in the hands of the few. We should in
sane manner try to remedy this dam
ger. in spite of the sullen opposition
of these few very powerful men, and
with the full purpose to protect them
in all their rights at the very time
that We require them to deal right
fully with others.
Need National Incorporation.
No judicial tribunal has the knowl-
edge or experience to determine in the
first place whether given combina-
ton is advisable or necessary in the
interest of the public. Some body,
whether a commission, or bureau
under the department of commerce
and labor, should be given this power.
My personal belief is that ultimately
we shall have to adopt national in
corporation law, though am well
aware that this may be impossible at
present. Over the actions of the ex
ecutive body in which the power Is
placed the courts should possess mere
ly power of review analogous to that
obtaining In connection with the work
of the interstate commerce commits.
sion at present To confer this power
would not be leap in the dark; it
would merely be to carry still further
the theory of effective governmental
control of corporations which was re-
sponsible for the creation of the inter
state commerce commission and FOR
the enlargement of its powers, and for
the creation of the bureau of corpora
tons. The interstate commerce legis-
lation has worked admirably. 1t has
benefited the public; 1t has benefited
honestly managed and wisely conduct
ed railroads; and in spite of the fact
that 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 pronounced of the great and
varied abuses when existed in the
business world 20 years ago-while the
many abuses that still remain empha.
size the need of further and more thor
oughgoing legislation.
Labor Unions Exempted.
So far as labor is engaged in produc-
ton only, its claims to be exempted
from the antitrust law are sound
This would substantially cover the
right of laborers to combine, to strike
peaceably, and to enter into trade
agreements with the employers. But
when labor undertakes in a wrongful
manner to prevent the distribution and
sale of the products of labor, as by GER
tain forms of the boycott, it has left the
field of production, and its action may
plainly be in restraint Of Interstate
trade, and must necessarily be subject
to inquiry, exactly as in the case of
any other combination for the same
purpose, so as to determine whether
such action is contrary to sound pub
lie policy. The heartiest encourage
ment should be given to the wage
workers to form labor unions and to
enter into agreements with their en-
ployers; and their right to strike, so
long as they act peaceably, must be
preserved. But we should sanction
neither boycott nor blacklist which
would be illegal at common law.
The measures I advocate are in the
interest both of decent corporations
and of lawabiding labor unions. They
are, moreover, prominently in the
interest of the public, for in my judy
ment the American people have def
nitely made up their minds that the
days Of the reign of the great law
defying and law-evading corporations
are over. and that from this time on
the mighty organizations of capital
necessary for the transaction of bust
ness under modern conditions, while
encouraged SO long as they act hon
estly and in the interest of the gen.
eral public, are to be subjected to care.
full supervision and regulation of a
kind so effective as to insure their
acting in the interest of the people as
a whole.
Hits Titled American Women.
Among the many kinds of evil, so
cial, industrial and political, which 1t
is our duty as nation sternly TO com.
bat, there is none at the same time
more base and more dangerous than
the greed which treats the plain and
simple rules of honesty with cynical
contempt If they interfere with max.
ing profit; and as nation we can
not be held guiltless IL we condone
such action. The man who breaches
hatred of wealth honestly acquired,
who inculcates envy and jealousy and
slanderous Ill will toward those of his
fellows who by thrift, energy and in.
dustry have become men of means, is
a menace to the community. But his
counterpart in evil Is to be found n
that particular kind of multimillionaire
who is almost the least enviable, and
is certainly one of the least admirable,
of all our citizens; man of whom
it has been well said that his face
has grown hard and cruel while his
body has grown soft; whose son is a
fool and his daughter foreign prin-
cess; whose nominal pleasures are al
best those of tasteless and extrava
CANT luxury, and whose real delight,
whose real life work, is the accumula-
ton and use Of power in its most sor-
did and least elevating form. In the
chaos of an absolutely unrestricted
commercial individualism under mod
fo tun hn4 l.
comes prominent as inevitably as the
marauder baron became prominent in
the physical chaos of the dark ages.
We are striving for legislation to min.
imize the abuses which give this TYNE