The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1908-12-11

~ The scfie I break d own isk In dealing
with the new relations that arise
fTQsh the nutualisms 1.-The interdepen-
dence ofsour time. Every new social
relation begets a new type of wrong
Nd0fd Of sin, to use an oId2fash-
bxIed word and any Years always
gdlapse before society IS able TO turn
this sin into crime which can be eff
fectiyely punished at law During
the lifetime of the older men now
alive the social relations HAYS
changed far more rapidly than in the
preceding two centuries The i'm
mense growth of corporations, of
business done by associations, and the
extreme strain and pressure of mod
ern life, have produced conditions
which render the public confused as
to who its really dangerous foes are;
and among the public servants who
have not only shared this confusion,
but by some of their acts have in
creased it, are certain judge Marked
inefaciency has been shown in dealing
with corporations and in re-settling
the proper attitude to be taken by the
public not only toward corporations,
but toward labor, and toward the So
cial questions arising out of the fac
tory system, and the enormous
growth Of our great cities.
The huge wealth that has been ac-
cufnulated by few individuals of re-
cent years, in what has amounted to
social and industrial revolution. has
been as regards some OF these indi-
viduals made possible only by the i'm
proper use, of the modern corporation.
IA certain type of modern corpora
tion, with its officers and agents, its
many issues of securities, and its con-
slant consolidation with allied UNDER
takings, finally becomes an instru-
ment SO complex as to contain a
greater number Of elements that, UNI
der various judicial decisions, lend
themselves to fraud and oppression
than any device yet evolved in the hui
man brain. Corporations are neces-
sary instruments of modern business.
They have been permitted to become
a menace largely because the govern
mental representatives Of the people
have worked slowly in providing for
adequate control over them.
The chief offender in any given.
case may be an executive, Legislat-
ure or judge. Every executive head
who advises violent, instead of grad
ual, action, or who advocates ill-csn-
asidered and sweeping measures of re-
form Especially if they arr. t.einted
with vindictiveness. and disregard for
the rights of the minority is particu-
larly blameWorthy. The several leg
islatures are responsible for the fact
that our laws are often prepared with
slovenly haste and lack of consfdera-
ton. Moreover. they are often pre-
pared, and still more frequently
amended during passage; at the sug-
gestion of the very parties against
whom they are afterward. enforced.
Or great clusters of corporations.
huge trusts and fabulously wealthy
muItimfllionaires employ the very
hest lawyers they can obtain to pick
flaws in these statutes after their
passage. but they also employ class
of secret agents who seek, under the
advice of experts, to render hostile
legislation innocuous by making It
unconstifutfo nal. often through the
insertion of what appear on their face
to be drastic and sweeping provisions
against the interests of the parties
inspiring them; while the dema-
gogues, the corrupt creatures who in
troduce bTackmailing schemes to-
Strike corporations, and all who de-
mand extreme, and undesirably radi-
cal, measures, show. themselves to be-
the worst enemies of the very public
whose loud molthed champions they
profess to be-.
Real damage has been done by the
manifold and conflicting interpreta-
lions of the Interstate commerce law.
Control over the great corporations
doing interstate business can he eff
fective only II It is vested with full
power in an administrative depart
ment, branch of the Federal execu-
tive, carrying out a Federal law; 1t
can never be, effective If a divided re-
sponsibility lis left in both the States
and the Nation: it can never be eff
fective IL left I'm the hands of the
courts to be decided by lawsuits.
In no other nation in the world do
the. courts WELD such vast and far
reaching power as in the United
States All that Is necessary Is that.
the courts DIS d whole should exercise
this power with the far sighted wis
dom already shown by those judges
who scan the future while they act In
the present. Let them exercise thfs
great power. not only honesty and
bravely. but with wise insight into
the needs and fixed purposes OF the
people, so that they may Do justices
and work equity. so that they naas
protect all persons in their rights.
and yet break down the barriers OF
privilege, which is the foe of right
The President devotes long chap
ter to- the subject Of forests, declaring
that IL there is one duty which more
than another we owe to our children
and our chfrdren's children, 1t is to
save the forests of this country. for
they constitute the first and most Inn
p6rtant element in the conservation
OF our natural resources.
The Message then turns to inland
waterways and maintains that action
for their Improvement should begin
forthwith. 1t is also urged that all
our National parks adjacent to Ma
tienai forests be placed under the con-
troll of the forest service Of the Agri-