The Colorado statesman., 1910-09-03

tude that we ought to take. he showed
the proper sense OF proportion in his rela-
tive estimates Of capital and labor, or
human rights and property rights. Above
all. in this speech. as In many others. he
taught n lesson in wise kindliness and
charity: an Indispensable lesson TO us OF
today, But this wise kindness and char
ity never weakened his arm or numbed
his heart. We cannot AFFORD weakly to
blind ourselves to the actual conflict
which faces us today. The issue is join
ed and we must fght or fail.
Equality of Opportunity.
In every wise struggle for human bet
terment one OF the main objects, and
often the only object, has been to achieve
in larger measure equality OF opportunity.
In the struggle for this great end ma
tions rise from barbarism to civilization,
and through 1t peoples press forward from
one stage of enlightenment to the next.
One OF the chief factors in progress Is
the destruction OF special privilege The
essence of any struggle for healthy lib
erty has always been and must always
be to take from some one man class
OF men the right to enjoy power. or
wealth, or position, or immunity, which
| has not been earned by service to his
| or their fellows
At many stages in the advance OF hui
manity this conflict between the men who
| possess more than they have earned and
| the men who have earned more than they
| possess is the central condition of prog
ress. In our day 1t appears as the strug-
gle of free men to gain and hold the
| right of self-government as against the
| special interests. who twist the methods
| Of free government into machinery for
| defeating the popular will. At every
| stage and under all circumstances the
essence of the struggle is to equalize op-
| portunlty. destroy privilege. and give to
the life and citizenship of every individ-
ual the highest possible value both to
himself and to the commonwealth.
Practical equality of opportunity for all
| citizens. when achieve it, will have
| two great results First, every man will
| have fair chance to make OF himself all
that In him lies, to reach the highest point
to which his capacities. unassisted by
| special privilege of his own and unham-
pered by the special privileges of others.
can carry him, and to get for himself
and his family substantially what he has
earned. Second. equality of opportunity
means that the commonwealth will get
from every citizen the highest service of
which he is capable. No man who car
ries the burden OF the special privileges
| of another can give 10 the commonwealth
that service to which 1t is fairly en-
titled.
I stand for the square deal But when
I say that / am for the square deal 1
mean not merely that / stand for fair
play under the present rules OF the game.
but that / stand for having those rules
changed so as to work for more sub
stantial equality of opportunity, and Of
| reward for equally good service.
This means that our governments. Ma
| tional 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 po-
| litical integrity before 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 inter-
ests out of politics. That is one OF our
tasks today. Every special interest is
entitled to Justice-ful. fair. and COM
plete-but not one is entitled to a vote In
congress. voice on the bench. or to rep
resentation in any public office. The Con-
stitution guarantees protection to proper
| ty. and we must make that promise good.
But 1t does not give the right of suffrage
| to any corporation.
Property Should Be the Servant.
The true friend of property the true
| conservative, is he VINO insists that prop
| erty shall be the servant and not the
| master of the commonwealth: who insists
! that the creature of mans making shall
| be the servant and not the master of the
| man who made 1t. The citizen of the
United States must effectively control the
mighty commercial forces which they
| have themselves called into being.
| There can be effective control of
| corporations Wnlle tnelr pOl1tlCai activity
| remains. To put an end to 1t will be
| neither a short nor an easy task, but II
| can be done.
We must have complete and effective
| publicity of corporate affairs, so that the
people may know beyond peradventure
| whether the corporations obey the law
| and whether their management entities
| them to the confidence of the public. 1t
| is necessary that laws should be passed
| to prohibit the use of corporate funds
| Ind for rNOlf r,ttr-
poses: 1t is still more necessary that
such laws should be thoroughly enforced.
| Corporate expenditures for political pur
| poses, and especially such expenditures
| by public service corporations. have sup
piled one of the principal sources of cor
| ruption in our political affairs.
| 1t has become entirely clear that we
| must have government supervision of the
| capitalization not only of public service
| corporations, including particularly rail-
| ways. but of all corporations doing an
| Interstate business l do not wish to
see the Nation forced into ownership of
| the railways If 1t possibly be avoided.
| and the only alternative is thoroughgoing
and effective regulation. which shall be
based on fun knowledge OF all the facts.
including a physical valuation of the
| property. This physical valuation is not
| needed. at least is very rarely needed,
for fixing rates but 1t is needed the
| basis of honest capitalization.
| We have come to recognize that fran
I, chises should never be granted except
| for limited time and never without
| proper provision for compensation to the
| public. 1t is my personal belief that the
same kind and degree of control and
| supervision which should be exercised
| over public service corporations should
| be extended also to combinations which
| control necessaries Of life. such meat.
oil. and coal, or which deal In them on
| an important scale
| I believe that the officers, and espe-
| ataII fla nf
| should be held personally responsible
when any corporation breaks the law.
Dealing With Combinations.
Combinations in industry the result
| of an Imperative economic law which can
| not be repealed by political legislation.