The Detroit times., 1909-12-27
FUTURE OF MEN AND AZ
WOMEN Is AT STAKE
tco.s,usea from rage o.e.,

an appalling proportion OF the trage-
dies OF life spring directly from the
lack of little money.
Deiuslon 10 Passing Away.
The people of the United States
have been the complacent victims OF
system OF plunder often perpetrated
by men who would have been sur
prised beyond measure to be accused
OF wrong.doing. and many OF whom
in their private lives were model
citizens. But they have suffered
from curious moral perversion by
which II becomes praiseworthy to do
for a corporation things which they
would refuse with the loftiest scorn
TO do for themselves. Fortunately
for us all. that delusion is rapidly pass
ing away.
A man Is not bad because he Is
! rich nor good because he Is poor.
Exceptional capacity In business. as
,, in any other line OF life. should meet
with exceptional reward. Rich men
have served this country greatly.
Washington was a rich man. But II
Is very clear that excessive profits
from the control OF natural resources
monopolized by few. are not worth
to this nation the tremendous price
they cost us.
"The People Should Rule"
We have allowed the great corpora
tions to occupy with their own men
the strategic points In business. in
social, and in political life. 1t is our
fault more than theirs. We have al
lowed II when We could have stopped
II. Too often we have seemed to for
get that a man In public life can no
more serve both the special interests
|, and the people than he can serve God
and Mammon. There Is no rason why
the American people should not take
into their hands again the full polite
al power which Is theirs by right, and
which they exercised before the sps-
cial interests began to null y the will
OF the majority.
. There are many men who believe,
and who will always believe. in the
divine right of money to rule. With
such men argument. compromise. CT
conciliation is useless or worse. The
only thing to do with them is to fight
them and beat them.
II Is the honorable distinction OF
constantly. more violently and more
bitterly attacked by the representa-.
tives Of the special interests in recent
years than any other government bu-
reau. These attacks have increased In
violence and bitterness just in pro-
portion as the service has offered ef-
fective opposition to predatory wealth
The more successful we have been
in preventing land grabbing and the
absorption OF water power by the spe-
cial interests. the more ingenious. the
more devious and the more dangerous
those attacks have become.
Defends Forest Service.
A favorite one is to assert that the
forest service, in It's zeal for the public
welfare, has played ducks and brakes
with the acts of congress. The fact
is, on the contrary. that the service
has had warrant of law for everything
IL has done. Not once since IL was
created has any charge Of Illegally,
despite the most searching investiga-
tion and the bitterest attack. ever led
to reversal or reproof by either house
OF congress or by any congressional
committee. or i'm any court of admin.
strative tribunal of last resort
Another. and unusually plausible
form of attack is to demand that all
land not now bearing trees shall be
thrown out of the national forests.
For centuries forest fires have burned
through the western mountains, and
much land thus deforested is scat
tered through the national forests
awaiting reforestation.
This land is not valuable for ag-
riculturc. and will contribute more
to the general welfare under forest
than in any other way. To exclude
Il from the national forests would
be no more reasonable than IL would
be In a city to remove from taxation
and municipal control every building
lot not now covered by a mouse. or
to confiscate mans winter over
coat because he was not wearing IL
in July. a generation in the life of
nation Is no longer than a season In
the life of man. With FAIR chance
we can and will reclothe these de-
nuded mountains with forests ana we
ask for that chance.
Publicity the Only Hope.
Still another attack. nearly sue
cessful two years ago. was an at
tempt to prevent the forest service
from telling the people. through the
press, what 1t is accomplishing for
them, and how much this nation
needs the forest. If we cannot tell
what we are doing, the time will
come when there will be nothing TO
tell Publicity is the essential and
indispensable condition of clean and
effective public service.
Since the forest service called pub
lie attention to the rapid absorption
of the water power sites and the
threatening growth of great water
power monopoly, the attacks upon It
have increased with marked rapidity.
anticipate that they will continue
to do so. Still greater opposition is
promised In the near future. There
is but one protection-an awakened
public Opinion