New-York tribune., 1910-08-30

| going Wesferner than l am There has
| been no support given to the conserNa.!oi, ,n
| policies so welcome that which came
| from the West. and none in the Yves.
more welcome than that which came from
| Colorado. .. +,s
East has wasted much of its own superb
| endowment: and as an American, as a
/ lover of the West, 1 hope that the ives, west
! win profit by the East's bitter lesson
and win not repeat the mistakes or tne
| East. The East has wasted its resources
1t suffers from the effect of the waste
which now puts It at a Disadvantage com.
pared to the West. and 1t IS sorry MOS .o,
of the capital and very yInizs ahs 0or Ue 1he west
| ern resources are from the East Inc
West should learn the lesson of the East
mistakes ard it should remember tnae
conservation in the West will help the
West first and most, and that the move
nent for conservation IS Rlost e9r Al nh, tbe
West and among Western men. Ihat 10
one strong reason why the conservation
policy has come to stay.
An Address to the Legislature
From the Auditorium the trip was
made to the Capitol. where Mr.. Roose-
Welt addressed the members of the Leg
isature in the House chamber. While
his address was not long. it was full OF
meat He said, in part:
I am anxious that the nation and the
powers to the fullest degree. When neces-
| sary they should work together. but, above
all, they should not leave neutral ground
! ercise authority, and which would become
| a place Of refuge for men who wish to act
| crfminally, and especially for the very rich
| men who wish TO act against the interests
| of the community a whole
| Let illustrate what l mean by ref
| erence to two ceIicrete cases. Ihe HrSt Is
| the Knight Sugar Trust case. IN that the
Supreme Court of the United States un-
der cover of what man whose interest re- s,,f IS
can only call a highly technical legal
subtlety, handed down q decision which
rendered it exceedingly difficult for the ma
| ton effectively TO control the use of masses
of corporate capital in interstate business
as the nation obviously was the sole power
| that could exercise this control (for II was
quite beyond tie power of any one state),
! This really decision rendering 1t ex-
any method OF controlling and regulating
| the business use of great capital in IN
terstate commerce It Twas was .,,fs decision hon
really against popular rights.
| The second case is the so-called New
York bakeshop case case, In ~ New dork hns;ness G;
| is likely to be carried on under unhyglen1e
conditions. conditions which tell on the wei
| the welfare Of the general public The New
| York Legislature passed and the New YORK
Governor signed bill ren1edylns these :s I'M m
proper conditions. New York state was me
| only body that could deal with them; the
nation had no power in the matter
information Seemed Sufficient.
Acting on information which to them
| seemed ample and sufficient. acting in the
interest of the public and IN accordance
| with the demand of the public, the only
governmental authority having affirmative
power in the matter, the Governor and the
| Legislature of New York. took the action
which they deemed necessary alter What
inquiry and study was needed TO satisfy
them as TO the condition and as to the rem
| edy-
| The Governor and the Legislature alone
| had the affirmative power to remedy the
abuse. But the Supreme Court OF the omteu
states possessed and unfortunately eXer-
cised the negative power Of not permittlns
| the abuse 20 be remedied. BY a five to four
vote they declared the action in the state
| of New York unconstitutional, because, for
sooth, that men must not be deprived OF
| their liberty to work under unhysienlc
selves powerless to make the remotest at
tempt to provide remedy for the wrong
which undoubtedly existed, and their re-
fusal to permit action by the state ala not
| confer any power upon the nation 20 act:
| in effect, reduced 10 impotence the on!y
| body which did have power. so that In this
| case the decision, although nomlnally
against state rights was really against pop
| uIar rights, against the democratic pr1nci-
| pie of government by the people undef tha
# such decisions as these two indicated
| the courts permanent attitude there would
! be real and grave cause to give alarm, Tor
| such decisions. if consistently followed up,
| would upset the WnOIe system VI pcpoil
government. am, however, convinced
| both from the Inconsistency OF these de-
cisions with the tenor of other decisions,
and furthermore from the very fact that
| they are in such fragrant and direct con-
tradiction TO the spirit aad needs t5;1 OF or me
| plcitIy or implicitly reversed.
! l mention then. merely to illustrate the
need Of having truly national system or
| government under which the people car
| deal effectively with all problems. meeting
| those that affect the people as a whole by
/ affiTna tive federal action ana those that
affect merely the people of one locality by
/ affirmative state action.
| l am most earnest and convinced be-
lever in exercising the power of the na-
| ton where that power alone can be really
! effective, yet | am no less a convinced Pc
! states he made effective where 1t affords
! the best means of affirming popular rights;
Above all there should be no neutral ground
! cisions. it shall appear that neither the
state nor the nation has power, and Where,
in consequence, able and unscTtpuiITnus iiT s-,tI n
! out the possibility Of checking or control
ling them in the interest of public welfare,
More Coherent Work Needed.
want now. as man recently connected
with the national government. to call at
| tention to the great need that there should
be more coherent work in the future than
| In the past between state and nattonal
! governments. We have what I think is
t the most satisfactory form of government
that has yet been devised by man. But
the construction of laws by the courts and
! governmental action, Legislative and eX-
ecutive, have not kept pace with the indus
! trial development of the nation.
| Times have changed Now the relations
! OF employers and employees are slightly dlt-
ferent than they were before. Unfortunate
| ly the courts, instead of recognizing the
new conditions, have Jagged behind: .,sr,
! The worst enemy or wise conservatism
! is that type of conservative who tries 10
prevent wrongs from being remedied be
| cause the wrongs have existed for SO long
! a time. And on the other hand the worst
enemy of true progress is the demagoSue
ress leads the people to make some blunder
which will result in reaction. DfStrust the
! demagogue and the mere visionary just as
! you distrust the others who hide behind
| conservatism.
| Be progressive; a great democracy has
| got to be progressive. or 1t VIII soon cease
| to be either democracy or great. But
| remember that, no matter what your en-
| thusiasm may be, if you make rapid prog
ress in the wrong direction you will merely
| have to undo it before you get along.
| Although ! deSpise crooked PUBIC
! servant though | wished to see him pun
! ished with the utmost severity of the
no greater than for the man who, by
| Tnendacity and through slander, attacks the
character of an honest man just as he at
tacks the character of a dishonest man
Such a ore il unchecked, would pull down
the temple and bury all in the ruins.
| ! speak of the man who writes IN the
daily press / will go with you to the last
public press writes untruth, If you will
go with ME to the last point in demanding
equal condemnation of the legislator who
acts crookefly. | speak of the men who