Connecticut western news., 1910-09-15
Program Of Progressives

"Those who have attentively read the political speeches recently made ill the West must have noted that the program of the 'reformers' or 'progressives' is not confined to dealing with railroad. tele- phone and lighting companies. It ex- pressly embraces all corporations, and all important business which deal in the 'necessaries of life.'
 "The idea is i'll the air that the present high cost ot living is due in some meas ure to unreasonable prices charged the \ eneral public in many lines of business. Moreover, hear even well-informed people of moderate views saying that D oople of small incomes who buy the necessaries of life in small quantities often suffer seriously from false weigh ing and measuring, from adulterations of quality in food and clothing, and from extortionate prices. #E
 1T do not personally know how much foundation there is for the beliefs which Ihave described. But if people generally entertain these beliefs, I regard it as certain that there will be an attempt to regulate by law the unfairness and ex. tortion complained of. It will never seem sufficient relief if the law saves the resident of small town five cents on his railroad fare to the city, and still leaves him subject to an sxtortionate overcharge amounting to several or many times that sum for what he buys when he gets there. s-.
 "Again, have heard 1t said that in the tenement districts of American cities the cost of ice in summer is increased in many cases by false weighing and extor- tionate charges If this is true, legis- lative remedy will soon be demanded. Cheap ice in hot cities is an element of healthy and comfortable living, far more important to the general public than the possible looping off of some slight amount from railroad rates
 My purpose in thus calling attention to the program of the 'progressives' is merely in order to suggest that if wrong principles are now followed in dealing with the possibilities of overcharging by railroad, telephone and lighting com panies, the same principles are likely to be soon applied i'll a much wider busi- ness field.
 My own attitude toward the present progressive program, whether confined in it's application to a few kinds of busi- ness or more widely applied to many lines of business, cannot be adequately stated in single letter. can, however, point out what seems to me the chief danger. My principal fear is. that in their zeal to apply the strong hand of executive power to the corrections of real or fancied evils, the 'progressives' will weaken the principles which are the essential safeguards of civil liberty.
 cone chief guarantee of civil liberty, which our fathers with difficulty won by long historical struggle, was the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial departments of government. It is natural to earnest reformers, whose whole minds are entirely occupied by the contemplation of what seems to them some evil, to disregard the principles of civil liberty, and to demand that an ex- ecutive despot be created to deal with their evil. This is a tendency to be watched and guarded against by the sober-minded friends of constitutional liberty.
 II suggest careful thought whether this caution is not greatly needed in framing the legislation now under con SideratioL An administrative commis sion which shall have broad discretion