Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-08-31

be tho 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 no effective control of
corporations while their political activity
| remains. To put an end to 1t will be
neither a short nor an easy task. but 1t
| can be done.
| We must have complete and effective
| publicity Of corporate affairs, so that the
people may know beyond peradventure
neither tho 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
directly or indirectly for political pur-
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.
Dealing with Combinations.
Combinations in industry the result
o. an imperative economic law which cam
| not be repealed by political legislation.
The effort at prohibiting all combination
has substantially failed. The way out
lies not in attempting to prevent such
combinations. but in completely controll-
| ing them in the interest Of the public well
1
reau Of Corporations is an agency Of the
| first Importance. Its power and there
| fore its efficiency, as well as that of che
| Interstate Commerce Commission should
be largely increased. We have right to
/ expect from the Bureau Of Corporations
and from the Interstate Commerce Com
mission very high grade OF public serv
| ice. We should be as sure OF the proper
conduct OF Interstate railways and the
proper management of Interstate bust
ness as we are now sure Of the conduct
and management of the National banks,
and we should have effective super
vision in one case in the other The
| Hepburn act. and the amendment to that
act in the shape in which It finally passed
congress at tbs last session, represent
| long step in advance and we must go yet
further.
| There Is a widespread belief among
our people that. under ths rnethods OF
xnaking tariffs which have hitherto OBJ
tanned. the special interests are too iA-
huential. Probably this ts true Of both
the big interests and the little interests.
These methods have put premium on
selhshness. and naturally the selfish big
interests have gotten more then the sell
fish small interests The duty Of congress
is to provide method by which the in
terest Of the whole people shall be all
that receives consideration. To this end
there must be an aSpsrs t AR nosahItv
Of political pressure OF Of improper busi-
ness influence. Such commission can
find out the real difference between cost
| OF production, which is mainly the differ
ence Of labor cost here and abroad. AS
| fast as its recommendations are made, I
believe in revising one schedule at time.
A general revision Of the tariff almost In
evitably leads to log-roiing. and the sub
ordination of the general public interest
- local and special interests,
Income and Inheritance Taxes.
| No man should receive dollar unless
that dollar has been fairly earned. Every
dollar received should represent dollars
| worth of service rendered. The really
| big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the
mere fact Of it's size, acquires qualities
which differentiate 1t in kind as we'll as
in degree from what is possessed by men
of relatively small means. Therefore I
believe in q graduated income tax on big
fortunes. and in another tax which Is far
more easily collected and far more ef-
feetive-a graduated Inheritance tax on
big fortunes, properly safeguarded
against evasion, and increasing rapidly
in amount with the size Of the estate.
| The people of the United States suffer
from periodical financial psnics to de-
gree substantially unknown among the
! other nations which approach US in imam
| cial strength. There is no reason we
should suffer what they escape. 1t is OF
profound Importance that our financial
system should be promptly investigated,
and SO thoroughly and effectively re-
| vised to make it certain that hereafter
/ our currency will no longer fail at criti-
cal times to meet our needs.
Calls for Broad NationaIlsm. !;
| do not ask for over-centralization
but do ask that we work in a spirit OF
broad and far-reaching Nationalism when
we work for what concerns our people as
= whole. We are all Americans. Our
common interests are as broad as the
continent. speak to you here In Kan
gas exactly as would speak In New
York or Georgia, for the most vital prob-
1ems are those which effect us all alike.
The National government belongs to the
whole American people, and where the
whole American people are interested.
that interest be guarded effectively
only by the National government. The
betterment which we seek must be ac-
complished, I believe, mainly through the
! National government
/ The American people are right tn de-
manding that new Nationa1isnn without
which we cannot hope to deal with new
| problems The new Nationalism puts the
National need before sectional or per-
sonal advantage. It is impatient Of the
utter confusion that results from local
legislatures attempting to treat National
Issues as local Issues. It Is still more i'm
patient OF the impotence which springs
from the over-division OF government
powers, the impotence which makes it
|
cunning, hired by wealthy special inter-
ests. to bring National activities to a
deadlock. This new Nationalism regards
the executive power as the steward of the
public welfare. It demands Of the judici-
ary that 1t shall be Interested primarily
in human welfare rather than in proper
ty. just as it demands that the represen-
tative body shall represent all the people.
rather than any one class section Of
the peaple-
Honesty In Public Servants.
If our political institutions were perfect.
they would absolutely prevent the politic-
al domination Of money in any part OF
our affairs. We need to make our polit-
ical representatives more quickly and sem
sitively responsive to the people whose
servants they are More direct action by
the people in their own affairs under
proper safeguards is vitality necessary.
The direct primary IL step in this direc-
ton II it is associated with a corrupt
practises act effective to prevent the adj
vantage of the man willing recklessly and
unscrupulously to spend money over his
moro honest competitor. + e particular
ly important that all moneys received or
expended for campaign purposes should
be publicly accounted for not only after