The Washington herald., 1911-06-05

Louisville. June L-The Courier-Journal
tomorrow morning will print the follow
ing editorial from the pen of Henry Wat
terson:
| Never in the history of government has
such a flood Of light irradiated the depths
and revealed the mysteries Of a subject
Of legislative inquiry as comes in answer
| to the summons Of the Stanley steel
| trust committee. Never the writer OF
| romance had more startling tale to tell
or told it with greater effect than Judge
Gary. the head Of the United States Steel
Corporation. The hearings read like
chapters out Of Walter Scott or Alexan-
der Dumas.
They are bewildering in the magnitude
Of the interests and the figures, breath
less In the dramatic impressions. awe
inspiring In the portents and possibilities
High finance has in Judge Gary a high
priest worthy to sit upon Olympus. Steel.
the magic wand Of common life-the
master-builder Of the modern world
speaks to mankind through this wizard
Of constructive business In thunder tones.
and II good to man is to follow. these
tones must be heard and needed. II will
remain for Mr.. Stanley to show whether,
he is a constructive statesman or merely
party politician. for Mr.. Littleton to
show whether he is a leader or Just a
lawyer. The opportunity for both Of them
IL paramount.
The only good that is likely to come
Of the more or less insincere activities
touching the trusts and trustism, In later
years always prefacing a Presidential
election. is publicity. The penalizing Of
one or q hundred violators of the law will
bring no manner Of permanent relief II
the sytem be not completely overhauled
and read1usted. Judge Gary makes this
plain enongh. We now know the truth
about Tennessee Coal and Iron; about
what actually happened: about what
did, and Roosevelt and Root did.
We know that all Of them violated the
law. What are we going to do about II?
Was II O clear case Of murder for money
or a case Of justifiable homicide?
There are undoubtedly mitigating
circumstances put with persuasive force
by Judge Gary. And there is the law
itself-the double-dealing Sherman act-to
be taken into account.
II.
1t is not possible for any one familiar
with the career. the character, and the
methods of the late John Sherman to be-
lieve that the act Of Congress which bears
his name was intended to put a curb
upon the trusts and trustism. or in any
wise to restrain Illicit gain.
John Sherman was nothing II not a
slave Of the money devil. He began his
public life poor young man and ended
II a rich old man. Cold as an iceberg,
unrelenting as wrought iron. he became
In office the very prime minister Of plu-
tocracy. He was an able, quick-seelng
and far-seeing politician; the incarnation
OF the get-rich-quick spirit as applied 20
the evolutions of party through the op-
erations of government; the engine-driver
OF predatory wealth, with one hand in
the pockets Of the people and the other
upon the tiller ropes Of legislation de-
signed to rob the people under the forms
OF law.
The tarif his fulcrum. public finance
his lever. he knew precisely how and
when to adjust, and to balance, to
hoist and to lower the power of cor
ruption over the two Houses of Con-
gress, in both Of which he served so
long. according to circumstances and
condition, the needs of his clients, the
few, having never very long to wait
upon the temper Of the many, whom II
was the business OF his days and nights
to hoodwink and pillage.
That such a man meant to serve the
people whom all his life he had con-