Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-09-01

Y MAN TO HAVE EQUAL CHANGE.
, his family substantially what he ha
earned. Second, equality of opportur
ity means that the commonwealth
will get from every citizen the yer,
highest service of which he is capa
BILE. No man who carries the burden
Of special privileges of another cal
give to the commonwealth that serv
ice to which it is fairly entitled.
stand for the square deal. Blu
deal l mean not merely that l stant
for fair play under the present rules
of the game, but that l stand for hav
ing those rules changed so as to worl
for more substantial eqaulity of op
portunity, and of reward for equally
good service.
This means that our governments
national and state, must be freed
from the sinister influence or control
of special interests. Exactly as the
special interests of cotton and slavery
threatened our political integrity be-
fore the Civil war. so now the great
special business interests too often
control and corrupt the men and
methods of government for their own
profit. We must drive the special in
terests out of politics. That is one OF
our tasks today. Every special in
terest is entitled to justice-full, fair
and complete-but no one is entitled
to vote in congress, voice on the
bench, or to representation in any
public Office. The constitution guar.
antees protection to property, and we
must make that promise good. But
it does not give the right of suffrage
to any corporation.
The true friend of property, the true
conservative, Is he who insists that
shall be the servant and not
the master Of the commonwealth; who
insists that the creature of mans max
ing shall be the servant and not the
master of the man who made it. The
citizens Of the United States must ef-
fectively control the mighty CONNER
cial forces which they have them
selves called into being.
There can be no effective control Of
while their political &C.
tivity remains. To put an end to it
will be neither short nor an easy
task. but it can be done.
We must have complete and effect
i've publicity of corporate affairs, so
that the people may know beyond
peradventure whether the corpora
lions obey the law and whether their
entities them to the con-
fidence of the public. 1t is necessary
that laws should be passed to prohi-
bit the use of corporate funds directly
or indirectly for political purposes;
it is still more necessary that such
laws should be thoroughly enforced.
Corporate expenditures for political
purposes, and especially such expen-
ditures by public service corporations,
have supplied one of the principal
sources of corruption in our political
affairs.
1t has become entirely clear that we
must have government supervision of
service corporations including partic-
ularly railways, but of all corpora
tons doing an Interstate business. I
do not wish to see the nation forced
into ownership of the railways if it
can possibly be avoided, and the only
is thorough going and ef-
fective regulation, which shall be
based on a full knowledge of all the
facts including a physical valuation of
the property. This physical valuation
is not needed for fixing rates; but it
Is needed as the basis of honest cap
We have come to recognize that
should never be. granted
except for limited time, and never
proper provision for compen-
sation to the public. It is my per-
sonal belief that the same kind and
degree should be exercised over pub
lie service corporations should be ex-
tended also to combinations which
control necessaries of life, such as
meat, oil and coal, or which deal in
hem on an important scale.
| believe that the officers, and es-
pecially the directors, of corporations
should be held personally responsible
when any corporation breaks the law.
Combinations in industry are the
'esult of an imperative economic law
which cannot be repealed by political
legislation. The effort at prohibiting
all combination has substantially
allied. The way out lies not in at
empting to prevent such combina-
ions, but in completely controlling
hem in the interest of the public well
are. For that purpose the federal
bureau of corporations is an agency
# the first Importance. It's power and
therefore, its efficiency, as we'll as that
# the interstate commerce commits
ion, should be largely increased.
We have right to expect from the
bureau of corporations and from the
Interstate commerce commission, a
cry high grade of public service. We
hould be as sure of the proper con-
luct of interstate railways and the
roper management of interstate
BUSINESS as we are now sure of the
onduct and management of the ma
ional banks, and we should have as