The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1908-12-17

relation begets new type of wrong
doing - OF sin, to use an old-fash-
toned word-and many years always
elapse before society is able to turn
! this sin into crime which can be EFF
fectively punished at law. During
the lifetime of the older men now
alive the social relations have
changed far more rapidly than in the
/ preceding two centuries. The ina
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 It's 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 judges Marked
ineficiency has been shown In dealing
with corporations and in re-settling
the proper attitude to he 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-
cumulated by a 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.
A certain type of modern CORPORA
! ton, with it's officers and agents, it's
many issues of securities, and it's con-
slant consolidation with allied under
takings, finally becomes an instru-
ment SO complex as to contain a
greater number of elements that, un-
der various judicial decisions, lend
themselves to fraud and oppression
than any device yet evolved in the hu-
man brain. Corporations are rooo~.
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, T.egislat-
ure or Judge. Every executive head
who advises violent, instead OF grad
ual, action. or who advocates ill-con-
sidered and sweeping measures of re-
form Especially If they are tainted
with yindictiveness. 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 considera-
ton. Moreover. they are often pre-
pared. and still more frequently
amended during passage, at the s1s-
gestion OF the very parties against
whom they are afterward enforced
Our great clusters Of corporations,
huge trusts and 1fabulously wealthy
multimillionaires, employ the very
best 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
unconstitutional. often through the
insertion of what appear on their face
to be drastic and sweeping provisions
against the interests of tae parties
inspiring them; while the dema-
gogues, the corrupt creatures who in
troduce Matchmaking schemes to
strike" corporations and all who de-
mand extreme, and undesirably rad:-
cal, measures, show themselves to be
the worst enemies OF the very public
whose loud mouthed champions they
profess to be.
Real damage has been done by the
manifold and conflicting interpreta-
tions Of the interstate commerce law.
! Control over the great corporations
! doing interstate business can be eff
| fective only il it Is vested with full
power in an administrative depart
| ment, a branch Of the Federal execu-
tive, carrying out Federal law; it
can never be effective if divided re-
sponsibilitv is left in both the States
! and the Nation: it can never be of
fective IL left in 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 as 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 this
great power not only honestly and
bravely, but with wise insight into
the needs and fixed purposes Of the
people. so that they may do justice,
and work equity, so that they may
protect Bill persons IN tnelr 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 If there is one duty which more
| than another we owe to our children
| and orr children's children, it is to
save the forests of this country, for
they constitute the first and most i'm
| poriant 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
tional forests be placed under the con-
| troll of the forest service of the Agri-
| cultural Department. / am happy to
say, continues Mr.. Roosevelt, that i
have been able to set aside in various
/ parts of the country small, we'll
! chosen tracts of ground to serve as
sanctuaries and nurseries for wild
creatures.
| The Message announces that the
| the r+c ord inH,,cf,foc nf