Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-06-18

BISMARCK DAILY TRIBUNE, tn
extremes threatened on either hand.
On the one side were the radicals of
reaction, who resisted any change
at all;--on the other side were the
radicals of destruction who wished
to change everything. These two
forms Of radicalism are as far apart
at the outset as the poles, but, when
carried out; they lead alike to revo-
| luton. Between these two extremes
the Republican President and the Re-
publican Congress were compelled to
steer and while they advanced stead
lily, soberly and effectively, they were
abliged to repel the radical, assaults
| on either hand.
Yet, Notwithstanding all these diff
culties, much has been accomplished.
The response of the people. to the pol
icies urged by the President, has
been so emphatic that it has been
made clear, once for all. that the
Government of the United States is
never to be dominated by money and
financial interests, and that the po-
litical party which permits itself to
be ruled by them is thereby doomed
to defeat.
: 3 $ : = : : = !: : : Z: !: !: :
: The policy of the Republican !:
: Party, in dealing with these :
: new and formidable questions !:
: which have taken concrete form I:
: in enormous combinations of :.
| I. capital and in great public SER !.
!: vice corporations, has been for !.
4 mulated and determined. That !.
| : policy is to use government reg I:
!: ulation and supervision for the !:
!: control of corporations and com !:
: binations SO that these great :.
!: and necessary instruments of :.
: commerce and business may be :
/ !. preserved as useful servants !.
= and not destroyed because they !:
| : have threatened to become dan :.
- gerous masters. !:
80 = : So 49, :
This policy is the absolute oppo-
site Of government ownership and
all like measures, advocated by our
| opponents, which tend directly to
Socialism and to all its attendant
miseries and evils.
/ 1t is in pursuance of this policy,
shaped and settled, during the past
few years, that old laws have been
enforced and new ones enacted.
Nothing is more destructive to the
respect for law-the chief bulwark of
civilized society-than to place laws
upon the statute book in order mere
/ " to still public clamor and satisfy
the people but which it is never in
tended to enforce.
80 = = = = = = = : 3 . . I: :.
!. The worst laws imaginable :.
!: are those which are allowed to :.
:. rust, unused, because, il en- :
1 !. forced, they might interfere :.
i : with vested abuses or curb the :
: rich and powerful. :.
President Has Enforced Laws.
/ The President has enforced the
laws as he found them on the statute
book. For. this performance of his
sworn duty, he has been bitterly at
tackled. It was to be expected. Vest
ed abuses and profitable wrongs cry
out loudly when their entreanch-
ments are carried, and some one is
sure to be hurt when the bayonets
of the law are pushed home. In the
great American Electorate, money
has few votes but it can command
many voices and cause many birds
to sing. The result is that the Presi-
dent is the best abused and the most
popular man in the United States to-
4 day. He has been more abused than
any president except Washing ton,
Lincoln and Grant. He possesses the
love and confidence Of the American
people to a degree never equaled
except by Lincoln and Washington.
May it not be said, in sober truth,
that the fearless performances Of q
sworn duty Is not without its exceed
ing great reward?
But the work has not ceased with
the enforcement Of existing laws.
a Republican congress and
a Republican president have
placed new laws upon the statute
books. designed to carry out the Re
publican policy or government regu.
lation in safe, reasonable and eff
fective manner. The Elkins law,
aimed at preferential rebates, which
have been the curse of our transpor-
tation and our business; the Rail-
road Rate law, which made the SUI
pervisfon of railroads more effective
Il ~. -. 49,