Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1912-06-04


due advantage to the big merchant at
distance and to the far-away mail
order houses.
Regulate Corporations.
l favor government regulation of
corporations. No thinking citizen can
say that corporations when operated
according to the law are an evil. They
are necessary to the economic and in
dustrial growth of the country. Prop
erly maintained and legally conducted
they are beneficent agency rather
than otherwise. But the tendency of
so many of these heavily capitalized
concerns has been to operate solely
for their own ends, and in their own
interest, rather than with due regard
for the public good and forthe laws of
the land, that the Intervention of the
government has been necessary in
many cases. l believe that the gov
eminent, having taken the very wise
step of establishing a Court of Com
merce, should not relax it's vigilance
but should see to it that there is a rib
id enforcement of the laws
! am opposed to the dominance of our
! legislative bodies by the special in
terests." When we consider that in 3
great majority of cases these special
interests are engaged in the utilization
of public or natural resources for pri-
vate gain, that they are suppressors of
fair competition, that they pay unfair
| ly small wages to the workers who
are in truth the producers of their
wealth while they themselves are pill
| ling upon enormous and swollen for
tunes, we realize that the menace from
the special interests" is great. That
they should maintain Hobbies and seek
to control the law-making bodies Of
the country is a peril that should be
handled with severity and dispatch.
Dangers of Intemperance.
I am in favor of all laws that tend
to suppress and restrict intemperance
in the use of alcohol liquors and del
eterious narcotics. Just how to han
die the problem so as to secure the
desired results is matter for the Sc
rious consideration of all good citiz-
ems. | am we'll aware that in many
cases a strict legal prohibition of the
sale of spirituous liquors has the effect
of adding to the evils which it was de-
signed to remove. Whatever will teach
the dangers of intemperance and
whatever will impress upon commun-
tiles the immense Importance of reg
ulating the traffic and holding it in
stern check ought to be made a part
of our code. l am in favor of having
the truth concerning the dangers of
alcoholism and other intemperance
impressed upon the youth of our land,
and l believe that our schools should
teach as far as possible what these
dangers are and what they mean to
the future of the race. | favor the
legislation already enacted looking to
the safeguarding of the shipment of
liquors from other states into prohibit
ton communities.
Opposes "LOOphOle" Laws.
| strenuously oppose laws that are
| franz cd with sTiolynrcO n, 1ooDboIoc Cor
the purpose of defeating or offsetting
the very result which the law itself, or
the spirit of the law, was designed to
secure. The child labor law is an ex-
ample of what mean. Exempted from
the provisions of this law are children
who have no parents or disabled pa
rents. Such children are the very
ones who should be provided with an
education in order that they may be
enabled to maintain themselves and
| be come useful citizens. The govern
ment is able to provide an education
for this class and should see that it is
done. Another example of the loop
hole" law is the framing of a law
against unlawful business deals and
then leaving to some court the inter-
probation of such terms as "unreas-
enable restraints of trade"
l favor a strong Department of La
Dor, to be maintained separately from
the Department of Commerce. | be-
| lieve that the man who fills the cabi-
| net office of Secretary of Labor should
come from the ranks of the laboring
people. The emphasis that such an
appointment would lay upon demo-
cratic freedom from "class" would, I
| believe, go far toward strengthening
the bonds between the government
and labor. 1t would not only be a
merited recognition of this great ele-
ment of our national population, but
sure method of securing desirable
and friendly cooperation.
SiX-Year Term for President.
l favor an amendment to the Con-
stitution fixing the term of the Presi-
dent at six years and making him in
eligible to reelection for the succeed
ing term. The examinations and re-
examinations INDUCED by the candi-
dates and their advocates in the pres