The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1912-08-06

This commission should exercise over
these Industrial concerns like powers
to those exercised over the railways by
the interstate commerce commission
and over the national banks by the
comptroller Of the currency and addi-
Honal powers il found necessary" The
commission Should have free access
to the books of each corporation and
power to find out exactly how it treats
its employees, its rivals and the gen
eral public. - Any corporation
voluntarily coming under the commits
sion should not be prosecuted under the
antitrust law as long as it obeys in
good faith the orders Of the commits
sion. The commission would be able to
interpret in advance to any honest man
asking the Interpretation what he may
do and what he may not do in carrying
on legitimate business" When cor
porations not submitting themselves to
the regulations Of the commission or
clearly evading or violating it's orders
are prosecuted under the antitrust law
and convicted, the commission should
have the duty Of seeing chat the de-
cree Of the court is put into effect COM
pletely." Only in this way can there
be avoided 'such gross scandals as
those attendant upon the present adj
ministra TONS prosecution Of the Stand.
ard Oil and the tobacco trusts" pros
ecution which has merely resulted in
increased prices to the public, injury to
the small competitor and actual fnan.
cial benefit to the trusts themselves.
''The Progressive proposal is definite,
1t Is practicable. We promise nothing
that we cannot carry out, we promise
nothing which will jeopardize honest
business. Our proposal Is to
help honest business activity, however
extensive, and to see that it is reward
ed with fair return, so that there may
be no oppression either of business
men or the common people. We pro-
pose to make it worth while for our
business men to develop the most eff
cient business agencies for use in inter
national trade, for 1t is to the interest
Of our whole people that we should do
we'll in international business. But we
propose to make those business agen-
cies do complete justice to our own peo-
pie. Where these concerns deal with
the necessaries Of life the commission
should not shrink, II the necessity Is
proved. from going to the extent of ex-
ercising regulatory control over the
conditions that create or determine
monopoly prices
1T is imperative to the welfare of our
people that we enlarge and extend our
foreign commerce. We are pre-emi-
nently fitted to do this because as a
people we have developed high skill in
the art Of manufactul -; our business
uen are strong executives, strong or
ganiZers. In every way possible our
federal government should cooperate
in this important matter. Any one
who has had opportunity to study and
observe first hand Germany's course in
this respect must realize that their pol
icy Of cooperation between govern
ment and business has in comparative
~ few years made them leading COM
petitor for the commerce Of the world.
It should be remembered that they are
doing this on national scale and with
large units ef-business, while the Dem
ocrats would have us believe that we
should do it with small units of bust
ness, which would be controlled not by
the national government, but by forty
eight conflicting state sovereignties
Such a policy is utterly out Of keeping
with the progress of the times and gives
our great commercial rivals in Europe
- hungry for international markets -
golden opportunities Of which they are
rapidly taking advantage"
Social and Industrial Justice to the
Wageworkers.
Referring to the opening sentence OF
his address, namely, "that we are now
in the midst Of great economic revo-
luton" Mr. Roosevelt presented an ad-
vanced and comprehensive plan to in.
sure the rights and better conditions
for labor. He gives it the paramount
place in his speech. "The first charge
upon the industrial craftsmanship of
the day." he said, lis to prevent human
waste. The dead weight Of orphanage
and depleted craftsmanship, Of Grip
pied workers and workers suffering
from trade diseases, of casual labor, of
insecure old age and Of household de-
pletion due to Industrial conditions are
like our depleted soils, our gashed
mountain sides and flooded river bot
toms, so many strains upon the ma.
ional structure, draining the reserve
strength of all industries and showing
beyond all peradventure the public ele.
ment and public concern in industrial
health" He proposed several specific
methods for preserving and improving
"our human resources, and therefore
our labor power" Wage scales and
other labor data should be made pub.
lie; all deaths, injuries and diseases due
to industrial operation should be re-
ported to the authorities; wage com
missions should be established in the
nation and state to determine the min
imum wage scale in different indus
tries; the federal government should
investigate all industries with view
to establishing standards Of sanitation
and safety; there should be mine and
factory inspection according to stand
ards fixed by interstate agreement OF
by the federal government: national
and state legislation should establish
standards of compensation for indus
trial accidents and deaths and for dis
eases clearly due to industrial condi
e IL