The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-04-30

tion is advisable or necessary in the
interest of the public. Some body,
whether a commission, or a bureau
under the department OF commerce
and labor, should be given this power.
My personal belief is that ultimately
we shall have to adopt national In
corporation law, though / am wei!
aware that this may be impossible at
present. Over the actions of the ex
ecutive' body in which the power is
placed the courts should possess mere
ly a power of review analogous TO that
obtaining in connection with the work
of the interstate commerce commits
sion at present, To conferithis power
would not be leap in the dark; 1t
would merely be to carry still further
the theory of effective governmental
control of corporations which was re-
sponsible for the creation of the inter-
state commerce commission and Cor
the enlargement of its powers, and for
the creation of the bureau of corpora
tons.
Labor Unions Exempted.
So far as labor is engaged in produc-
ton only, its claims to be exempted
from the antitrust law are sound
This would substantially cover the
right of laborers to combine, to strike
peaceably, and to enter into trade
agreements with the employers. But
when labor undertakes in a wrongful
manner to prevent the distribution and
sale of the products of labor, as by GER
tain forms of the boycott, 1t has left the
field of production, and its action may
plainly be in restraint of interstate
trade, and must necessarily be subject
to inquiry, exactly as in the case of
any other combination for the same
purpose, SO as to determine whether
sach action rs contrary to sotnd ptb.-
lie policy. The heartiest encourage
ment should be given to the wage
workers to form labor unions and to
enter xnto agreements with their en-
ployers; and their right to strike, so
long as they act peaceably, must be
preserved But we shoald sanction
neither q boycott nor blacklist which
would be Illegal at common law.
Hits Titled American Women.
Among the many kinds Of evil, so
cfal, industrial and political, which it
is our duty as nation sternly to COM
bat, there is none at the same time
more base and more dangerous than
the greed which treats the plain and
simple rules of honesty with cynical
contempt If they interfere with max
ing profit; and as p nation we can
not be held gIiltless If we condone
such action. The man who breaches
hatred of wealth honestly acquired,
who inculcates envy and jealousy and
slanderous Ill will toward those of mis-
fellows who by thrift, energy and in
dastry have become men of means, is
a menace to the community. But his
counterpart in evil is to be found n
that particular kind of muItimillionaire
who is almost the least enYiable, and
Is certainly one of the least admirable,
OF all our citizens; a man OF whom
1t has been well said that his face
has grown hard and cruel while his
body has grown soft; whose son is a
fool and his daughter a foreign prin-
cess; whose nominal pleasures are at
best those of tasteless and extrava.
CANT luxury, and whose real delight,
whose real life work, is the accumula.
ton and use Of power in its. most sor.
did and least eleyating form. In the
chaos OF an absolutely unrestricted
commercial indiyiduaiism under mod
ern conditions, this is type that be-
comes prominent as inevitably as the
marauder baron became prominent In
the physical chaos of the dark ages
We are striving for legislation to min.
imize the abuses which give this type
its fiourishing prominence, partly for
the sake Of what can be accomplished
by the legislation itself, and partly
because the legislation marks our par
tlcipation in great and stern moral
movement to bring our ideals and
our conduct into measurable accord.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.