The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-02

l ing to the enforcement of law; I be- lieve in it. It is an unfortunate CO., |! incidence, however, when an effort to correct evils finds the public mind in an inflamed state, which renders ca m, unsensa tional operations impossible, and what starts out as proper check to law-breaking degenerates into a wild hue and cry of persecution" And you think this will wear itself out in tine?I'
 Tt cannot continue indefinitely, it seems to me, without bringing about a radical change in our system of gov ernment- The advocates of the initia- tive and referendum and recall have recognized their opportunity, and are reforms on the plea that they mean the restoration of the people to pow CT; yet every thinking man must real- ize that, with a vast population like rule is out of the question. We have grown up under representative gov ernment; why change it? You know that even a Massachusetts town meet ing elects officers to whom it intruStS the towns business. It doesn't at tempt to do that itself; it can't. What would become of a railway like that over which I preside, if all the stock holders had to be consulted every time we spent a hundred dollars on the repair of a freight-house? The stockholders elect to their directorate a small body of men in whose buSi-
  and these men run the road. And even in that little managing group there must be one responsible head. If an emergency cOnfrontS me as presi- dent, can't always wait to call my directors together before acting. I have to do what appears to me wiSest under all the circumstances, and later report it to the directors and ask their approval. That is the way all large business is done, and the government of this country is the largest business in it.
 Will Work Itself Out.
 "To go back to your question, I must believe, as a good American, itself out eventually if we left it alone; but a good deal can be done meanwhile to forward that end. In view of the ever larger and larger in- in the affairs of both public and pri- vate business, the education of that sentiment, so that the mass of the people will think sanely and without prejudice, would be of immense value. Let the newspapers and other agencies of general information try to impress upon their constituencies a realization that this is a country of equal opportunity; that, in spite of those natural differences in capacity between man and man which always did and always will exist every one who makes the most of such capacity as he has been endowed. with has
 
 him; that, as long as mankind con tinues to inhabit the earth, there will be some who get ahead of others; but that the man who never gets anywhere has usually himself most to blame for his failure, and the poorest recreation in which he can indulge is an effort to pull down his neighbors who have used their tal- ents to better advantage.'
 DO the recent decisions of the su- preme court in the trust cases seem to you to have cleared the air al all ?''
 "They were what we had every req son to expect, of course; but for any large effects from them, in the di- rection popularly looked for, we may have to wait a good while. It is plain, l isn't it, that the mere resolution of the Standard Oil trust into it's com- ponent parts does not mean neces- sarily that these corporations are go- ing to change the personeI of their | And if the same man agers remain in charge, what changes | are we to look for in their policies | and conduct? It is possible that in | purse of time, with the gradual dis of the sharehoIdings. the | separate companies may undergo | notable changes, even to the extent | of becoming rivals in trade; but in | the natural order of things this se- QueI is still a long way off,
 ''In the meantime we shall proba- | bly, see no practical results from the | of the trust except an in- | crease in the price of oil, which seems l