Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-21


| ought to take. He showed the proper
sense Of proportion in his relative es'
Inmates Of capital and labor. Of human
| rights and the rights OF wealth. Above
| all, in what he thus said, as on SO many
other occasions. he taught the indis'
/ pensable lesson OF the need OF wise
kindness and charity. OF sanity and
one with another.
Genuine Champion of the People.
Il hold that he is the real progressive
that he is the genuine champion Of the
people, who endeavors to shape the policy
| alike Of the nation and of the several
states so as to encourage legitimate and
honest business at the same time that he
| wars against all crookedness and injus'
tice and unfafrness and tyranny In the
business world. This is the reason why
1 have for 50 many years insisted as
regards our national government. that II
is both futile and mischievous to en-
deavor to correct the evils Of big busi-
ness by an attempt to restore business
conditions as they were in the middle OF
the last century, before railways and tele-
graphs had rendered larger business or
ganizations both inevitable and desirable.
1.-The effort to restore such conditions,
and to trust for justice solely to sucn
proposed restoration. is as foolish as II
we SlOul0 10 arm our lIOOpS WIN
the flintlocks of Washington's conttnen-
tails instead Of with modern weapons OF
precision. F1intlock legislation, Of the
kind that seeks to prohibit all complna,
tons. good or bad, Is bound to fali, ana
the effort, in so far as it accomplishes
anything at all. merely means that some
of the worst combinations are not check
ed, and that honest business Is checked.
Modern Business Conditions.
What is needed is, first, the recogni-
ton that modern business conditions
have come to stay, in so far, at least, as
these conditions mean that business must
be done in larger units, and then the
cool-headed and resolute determination
to introduce an effective method of regu-
lating big corporations SO as to help
legitimate business as an incident 10
thoroughly and completely safeguarding
the interests Of the people as whole.
THE middle-sized business men form an
element Of strength which Is of literally
incalculable value to the nation. The
average business man of this type Is,
as a rule, leading citizen of his COM
munity. foremost in everything that tells
for its betterment, a man whom his
neighbors look up to and respect.
yet nowadays many men of this kind,
when they come to make necessary trade
agreements with one another, find them
selves In danger of becoming unwilling
transgressors Of the law, ana are at a
loss to know what the law forbids and
what it permits. This is all wrong. There
should be fixed governmental policy, a
policy which shall clearly define and
punish wrongdoing, and shall give in
advance full information to any man as
to just what he can and just what he
cannot legally and properly do.
''It is absurd and wicked to treat the
deliberate law-breaker as on an exact
par with the man eager to obey the law;
whose only desire Is to find out from
some competent governmental authority
what the law is and then live up to it.
1t is absurd to endeavor to regulate
business in the interest Of the public
by means of 1ong-drawn law suits
without any accompaniment Of admins
trative control and regulations and with
out any attempt to discriminate between
the honest man who has succeeded in
business because Of rendering a service
to the public and the dishonest man who
has succeeded in business by cheating
the public.
Supervision of Big Business.
ut is imperative to exercise over big
business control and supervision which
is unnecessary as regards small busi-
ness. / do not believe in making mere
size of. and by itself, criminal. The mere
fact Of size, however, does unqueston-
ably carry the potentially of such grave
wrongdoing that there should be by law
provision made for the strict supervision
and regulation of these great industrial
concerns doing an interstate business,
much as We now regulate the transporta-
ton agenoes which are engaged in inter-
st1te business.
1.-THE antitrust law does good in so far
as it can be invoked against combina-
tions which really are monOpolies, or
which restrict production, or which arti-
ficially raise prices. But, in so far as its
workings are uncertain, or as 1t threatens
of anti-social conduct. it does harm.
Moreover. it cannot by itself accomplish
more than trifling part of the govern
mental regulation of big business which
is needed. The nation and the states
must cooperate in this matter.
Wisconsin a Leader.
among the states that have entered
this field, Wisconsin has taken a leading
place. Following Senator La Toilette. a
number of practical workers and think
ers in Wisconsin have turned that state
into an experimental laboratory Of wise
governmental action in aid of social and
Industrial justice. They have initiated
the kind of progressive government
which means not merely the preservation
Of true democracy, but the extension OF
the principle OIL true ueHoOA0Cy INV III
dustri ism, as well as into politics.
.'Our demand is that big business give
the people a square deal, and that the
neople give a square deal to any man
engaged in big business, who honestly en-
deayors to do what Is right and proper.
On the other hand, any corporation, big
or little, which has gained its position by
unfair methods and by interference with
the rights Of others. which has raised
nrices or limited output in improper fash
ion and been guilty of demoralizing and
corrupt practices. should not only be
broken UP, but it should be made the
business of some competent government
al body by constant supervision to see
that it does not come together again.
sure the community against all danger
of a repetition of the bad conduct.
"rhe chief trouble with big business
has arisen from the fact that big busi-
ness has so often refused to abide by
the principle of the square deal; the op.
position which ! personally have encoun-
tered from big business has In every case
arisen not because did not give square
deal, but because l did.
Regulation Where Monopoly Exists.
IAN business into which the element
of monopoly in any way or degree en-
tiers, and where 1t proves in practice i'm.
possible totally to eliminate this ele'
ment of monopoly, should be carefully
supervised, regulated and controlled by
governmental authority; and such con.
troll should be exercised by administers
tive, rather than by judicial. officers. Nc
effort should be made to destroy a bic
corporation merely because it is big
merely because it has shown itself q