The Washington times., 1911-08-08

Investigate the causes Of those tenden-
cies, but thought they could stop them
by legislation, What they should have
done, to accomplish their desires, was
to pass laws against certain inventions
that were forcing concentration OF peo-
that, and concentration has gone on
apace. For an all important piece OF
Legislation, the Sherman act was dis
cissed less before and more after Its
the question Of passing the Sherman
law as 1t stands were up today and
were left to a popular vote, and a cam
[paign of education, pro and con, car
ried out. II never in the world would
be enacted. In a multitude of counsel
in craftsmanship.
II, during the years since the Shsr-
man law was passed, American busf-
ness men had literally followed COM
petitive policy, does any student oi
affairs pretend to the belief that our
people as a whole would be as well
off today as they are? General net
results are the touchstones In every
undertaking. .E-.
There is more than one kind Of a
revolution. We are accustomed to think
only Of revolutions at arms: and who
ever heard of a people going on, after
a successful revolution, under the Old
conditions that existed before the revo-
luton? II So. Of what earthly use
would have been the revolution? Dur
ing the last quarter Of century, par
ticularly. inventors have wrought a
mighty revolution in the machinery and
methods by which business Is trans
acted. No revolution at arms ever
wrought more radical changes. How
long Is 1t going to take US to wake ul
TO this fact and govern ourselves ac-
cordingly? 1t Is as important to dis
card out-of-date mental processes as
out-of-date material machinery. We
have prided ourselves on consigning an
tiquated material machinery to the junk
heap. Have we the courage to do the
same thing with lot Of our antiquatec
mental machinery?
Our National Government first under
took the supervision of our States: then
1t undertook the supervision of oul
banks; then II undertook the supervision
of our railroads. Why not at least try
to. undertake the supervision or ou:
big business concerns before we smash
them to pieces? why not try to reg
ulate before we strangulate2"
President a Safeguard.
The strong light of publicity shines
on our Chief Executive, and II is pow
erful enough to protect the people
against any serious abuse Of the great
powers conferred upon him. Adopt the
same methods with our large business
concerns, and who knows but that the
results will be eminently satisfactory.
The very universe teaches US regula-
ton, supervision. and control by one
great central power. Every thoughtful
student of affairs knows that for COM
mercial purposes our State lines have
been obliterated. Indeed, national lines
have almost been obliterated. What
the situation imperatively requires is
a constructive national policy in COM
merciaI affairs. Any man who is above
petty prejudice and political party lines
knows, deep down in mis- mind, that
what this country needs today is ma
tionaHsm, and We will have this when
We have more statesmanlike repre-
sentatives in our Congress. Individual
ism must be preserved, but rather
through emulation in collective effort
than through competition by individual
effort.
Stupendous things have been happen
ing in the last ten years, but one some
times trembles at the thought OF what
may happen in the next ten years.
Think of the time, the momentum, that
have already been lost to this country