The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-12-10

II does not represent GENERALIZATION. II
represents merely the acknowledgment
OF the patent fact that GENERALIZATION has
already come in business. II this ire
sponsible outside business power is to be
controlled in the interest of the general
public II can 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
great deal of damage to the corporation
without comforting any real benefit on
the public.
Corporations Learning Wisuom.
believe that the more farsighted cor
porations 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
a genuine control, in the public interest,
over these great corporations have to
contend against two sets of enemies,
another. are really allies in preventing
a proper solution Of the problem. There
are, first, the big corporation men, and
the extreme indivldualists among bust
ness men, who genuinely believe in ut
terly unregulated business-that Is, in
the reign of plutocracy; and, second,
the men who. being blind to the econom-
&c movements of the day. believe in
movement OF repression rather than of
,Inkg - 49, H. a.
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
tlonal 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
llcity 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 ad-
ministration there can come both the
advantage of a larger owneship and of a
more equitable distribution of profits,
and at the same time better service to
the commonwealth We believe that the
administration should be for the benefit
of the mary; and that greed and ras-
cality, practiced on a large scale,
should be punished as relentlessly as II
practiced on a small scale.
We do not for a moment believe that
the problem will be solved by any short
and easy method. The solution will
come only by pressing various concurrent
remedies. Some of these remedies must
lie outside the domain of all government.
Some must lie outside the domain of the
federal government. But there is leg
islation which the federal government
alone can enact and which is absolutely
vital in order to secure the attainment
Of our purpose. Many laws are needed
There should be regulation by the ma
tional government of the great interstate
corporations. including a simple method
of account keeping publicity, supervision
| of the issue of securities, abolition OF
| rebates and of special privileges. There
should be short-time franchises for al
| corporations engaged in public business
| including the corporations which ge
power from water rights. There should
Dt HdllOHdl as wen DIS SldlG Shttl
| of mines and forests. The labor legisla
ton hereinafter referred to should con
currently be enacted into law.
| To accomplish this, means certain in
| crease in the use of-not the creation o
| power, by the central government. Th
| power already exists; it does not haV
| TO be created; the only question i
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 Amer
ican democracy lies net in the least in tn
concentration of administrative power il
responsible and accountable hands
! lies in having the power Insufficient
concentrated, so that no one can be hel
| responsible to the people for its use
| Concentrated power is palpable, visible
| responsible, easily reached, quickly hel
| to account. Democracy is in per
wherever the administration of pc
litical power is scattered anon
variety of men who work /
secret, whose very names are un
known to the common people. 1t is nc
in peril from any man who derives au
thority from the people, who exercise
1t In sight of the people, and who
from time to time compelled to give a
account of its exercise to the people.
Legislation Tor Wageworker.
There are many matters affecting labo
and the status of the wageworker t
which I should like to draw your after
ton, but an exhaustive discussion of tn
problem in all its aspects Is not now nee
essary, I believe in steady Ell
fort, or perhaps 1t would be NOR
accurate to say in steady effort
in many different directions, to brin
about a condition of affairs under whic
the men who work with hand or wit
brain, the laborers, the superintendent
the men who produce the market and tn
men who find a market for the article
produced, shall own a far greater shar
than at present of the wealth they Pre-
duce, and be enabled to invest 1t in tn
tools and instruments by which all wor
is carried on. AS far as possible I hoI
to see a frank recognition Of the advar
tages conferred by machinery, organize
ton and division of labor. accompanie
by an effort to bring about larger shal
in the ownership by wage-worker of raj
way mill and factory.
Postal Savings banks will make
easy for the poorest to keep their say
ings in absolute safety The regulatio
of the national highways must be sue
that they shall serve all people wit
equal justice. Corporate finances mu'
| be supervised SO as to make 1t far Sar'
than at present for the man of sma
means to invest his money in stock
There must be prohibition of child Ii
bor, ~.ninution of women labor, shor
ening of hours of all mechanical labo
stock watering should be prohibite
and stock gambling so far as is poss
BILE discouraged. There should be
progressive inheritance tax on lars
fortunes Industrial education shou
be encouraged. AS far as possible v
should tighten the burden of taxatit
on the small man. We should put
premium upon thrift, hard work. al
business energy; but these qualiti
cease to be the main factors in acc,
mulating a fortune long before tn
fortune reaches point where it won
be seriously affected by any inner
. tance tax such as 1 propose. 1t is EN-
nently right that the nation should
the terms upon which the great TO
tunes are inherited. They rarely
| good and they often do harm to tho