The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1912-02-29

eilner ID or OuBnt 10 De eViuehs W
every one that business has to pros
per before anybody can get any bene-
at from It, Therefore / 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
80 as 10 encourage legitimate and
honest business at the same time that
he wars against all crookedness and
injustice and unfairness and tyranny
In the business world (for Of course
we can only get business put on
basis Of permanent prosperity when
the element of injustice IL taken out
of it, This is the reason why | have
for so many years insisted, as regards
our national government, that 1T is
both futile and mischievous to en-
deavor to correct the evils OF big bus
mess by an attempt to restore bust
ness conditions as they were In the
middle Of the last century, before rail-
ways and telegraphs had rendered
larger business organizations both In
evitable and desirable.
What is needed is, first, the recog-
milton 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 deter
mination to introduce an effective
method of regulating big corporations
so as to help legitimate business as an
incident to thoroughly and completely
safeguarding the interests of the peo-
pie as a whole. We are a business
people. The tillers of the soil, the
wage-workers, the business men
these are the three big and vitality i'm
portant divisions of our population.
The welfare of each division is vitality
necessary to the welfare of the people
as whole. The great mass of bust
ness Is either small or of moderate
size. The middle-sized business men
form an element of strength which is
of literally incalculable value to the
nation. Taken as a class, they are
among our best citizens. They have
not been seekers after enormous for
tunes; they have been moderately and
Justly prosperous, by reason Of dealing
fairly with their customers, competi-
tors, and employees. The average bus
mess man of this type is, as a rule, a
leading citizen of his community, fore
most In everything that tells for its
betterment, q man whom his neighbors
look up to and respect; he is in no
sense dangerous to his community,
Just because he is an integral part of
his community, bone of its bone and
flesh Of It's flesh. His life fibers are
intertwined with the life fibers of his
fellow citizens. Yet nowadays many
men of this kind, when they come to
make necessary trade agreements
with one another, find themselves in
danger Of becoming unwilling trans
gressors of the law, and are at loss
to know what the law forbids and
what 1t permits. This is all wrong.
There should be a fixed governmental
policy, a policy which shall clearly de-
fine and punish wrong-doing, 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
Control of "Bie Business"
So much for the small business man
and the middle-sized business man.
Now for big business. 1t is impera-
tive to exercise over big business a
control and supervision which is un-
necessary as regards small business.
All business must be conducted under
the law, and all business men, big or
little. must act justly Blu; wicked
big interest is necessarily more dam
gerous to the community than a
wicked little interest Big business"
in the past has been responsible for
much of the special privilege which
must be unsparingly cut out of our
national life l do not believe in max
ing mere size of ard by itself Grimm
al The mere fact of size, however,
does unquestionably carry the po-
tentiality of such grave wrong doing
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 trans
portation agencies which are engaged
In interstate business The antitrust
law does good in so far as il can be
invoked against combinations which
really are monopolies or which restrict
production or which artificially raise
prices. But in so far as its workings
are uncertain, or as it threatens cor
porations which have been guilty OF
anti-social conduct. it does harm.
Moreover. it cannot by itself accom-
plish more than.a trifing part of the
governmental regulation of big bust
ness which is needed. The nation and
the states must cooperate in this mat
ter. Among the states that have en-
tered this field Wisconsin has taken a
leading place. Following Senator La
Toilette, number of practical work
ers and thinkers in Wisconsin have
turned that state into an experiment.
al laboratory of wise governmental ac-
tion in aid of social and Industrial JUS
tice. They have initiated the kind Of
progressive government which means
not merely the preservation of true
democracy, but the extension of the
principle Of true democracy into in
dustrialism as well as into politics
One prime reason why the state has
been so successful in this policy lies
in the fact that it has done justice to
corporations precisely as it has ex-
acted Justice from them. Not