Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-12-10

10 NV a. a RA0kl2
al to carry out to the letter one OF the
prime purposes, if not the prime purpose,
for which the constitution was founded.
II does not represent Capitalization. 1t
represents merely the acknowledgment
OF the patent fact that Capitalization has
already come In business. If this ire
sponsible outside business power is to be
controlled in the interest of the general
public 1t car only be controlled in one
way; by giving adequate power Of con-
troll to the one sovereignty capable OF ex-
ercising such power-the national govern
ment. To abandon the effort for national
control means to abandon the effort for
all adequate control and yet to render like
ly continual bursts of action by state leg
islatures, which cannot achieve the pur-
pose sought for. but which can do a
great deal Of damage to the corporation
without comforting any real benefit on
the public.
Corporations Learning Wisdom.
/ believe that the more f~arsighted cor
poratlons are themselves coming to rec
ognize the unwisdom of the violent hos
tility they have displayed during the last
few years to regulation and control by
the national government of combinations
engaged in interstate business. The
truth is that we who believe In this
movement of asserting and exercising
q genuine control, in the public interest,
over these great corporations AVE to
contend against two sets of enemies,
who, though nominally opposed to one
another. are really allies in preventing
a proper solution of the problem. There
are, first, the big corporation men, and
the extreme ~individualists among BUSH
ness men, who genuinely believe in ut
torlU r1nrapt1latad hlI0fnaaG-thaf 10 "A
the reign of plutocracy; and, second,
the men who, being blind to the ono
ic movements of the day, believe in a
movement of repression rather than Of
regulation of corporations, and who de-
nounce both the power of the railroads
and the exercise of the federal power
which alone can really control the rail-
roads Those who believe in efficient ma
tional control, on the other hand, do not
in the least object to combinations; do
not In the least object to concentration
in business administration. On the con-
trary, they favor both, with the all-impor-
tant proviso that there shall be such pub
licity 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 concen-
tration of wealth and administration; but
we do believe in the distribution of the
wealth in profits to the real owners, and
in securing to the public the full benefit
Of the concentrated administration We
believe that with concentration In adj
m~inistration there can come both the
advantage of a larger ownership and Of 9
more equitable distribution of profits
and at the same time a better service tc
the commonwealth. We believe that the
administration should be for the benefit
of the many; and that greed n ras'
cality, practiced on a large scale
should be punished as relentlessly as 4
practiced on a small scale.
We do not for a moment believe tina
the problem will be solved by any shor
| and easy method. The solution will
come only by pressing various concurren
remedies. Some of these remedies mus
lie outside the domain of all government
Some must lie outside the domain Of thu
federal government. But there Is leg
islation which the federal government
alone can enact and which Is a~bsolutel!
vital in order to secure the attainmen
Of our purpose. Many laws are needed
There should be regulation by the ma
tional government of the great interstat
corporations, including a simple metho,
Of account keeping, publicity, supervision
of the issue of securities, abolition o
rebates and of special privileges. Their
should be short-time franchises for al
corporations engaged in public business
including the corporations which &c
power from water rights. There shout
be national as well as state GUARDIANSHIP
Of mines and forests. The labor legisla
ton hereinafter referred to should con
currently be enacted into law.
T~olaccomplish this. means a certain ir
crease in the use of-not the creation {
power, by the central government. Tn
power already exists; it does not hav
to be created; the only question
whether it shall be used or left idle
and meanwhile the corporations owe
which the power ought to be exercise
will not remain idle. The danger to Anne,
lean democracy lies not in the least in tt
concentration of administrative power
responsible and accountable hands.
lies in having the power insufficient,
concentrated, so that no one IA be he
responsible to the people for its us
Concentrated power is %palpable, visibl
responsible, easily reached, quickly he
to account. Democracy is in pei
wherever the administration Of p
litical power is scattered amor
a variety of men who work
secret, whose very names are u
known to the common people. 1t is n
in peril from any man who derives a
thority from the people, who exercis
1t in sight of the people, n who
from time to time compelled to give
account of its exercise to the people.
Legislation for Wageworker.
There are many matters affecting lab
and the status of the wageworker
vi -I - 49,. 1.y-- - I-- -. 1870, -kAo
ton, but an exhaustive discussion of t
problemtin all its aspects is not now ne
essary. / believe in a steady {
fort, or perhaps it would be mo
accurate to say in steady effol
in many different directions, to bri
about a condition of affairs under viii
the men who work with hand or wi
brain, the laborers, the superintendent
the men who produce the market and t
men who find a market for the articl
, produced, shall own a far greater sha
thar at present of the wealth they pl
duce, and be enabled to invest it in t
I tools and instruments by which all We
Is carried on. AS far as possible / no
to see a frank recognition Of the diva
/, tages conferred by machinery, organis
ton and division of labor, accompani
by an effort to bring about a larger shf
III llS OWHeISHIp ny Wd6S-WolhSi VI 10
4 way, mill and factory.
r Postal Savings banks will make
s easy for the poorest to keep their sa
ings in absolute safety. The REGULATE
c of the national highways must be su
that they shall serve all people WI
: equal justice. Corporate finances nj
o be supervised SO as to make it far sai
r than at present for the man of SIN
means to invest his money in stoc
4 There must be prohibition of child
Dor, I4minution of women labor, sho
4 ening of hours of all mechanical lab,
! stock watering should be prohibit
q and stock gambling SO far as is pos
. Bile discouraged. There should be
r. progressive inheritance tax on laI
r fortunes. Industrial education shol
. be encouraged. AS far as possible
4 should Tighten the burden of taxati
on the small man. We should put
premium upon thrift, hard work, q
/ business energy; but these qualit