The Penn's Grove record., 1912-08-09

prises Of the country; until special
favors Of every sort have been abso-
lutely withdrawn and every part of
our laws of taxation shall have been
transformed from a system of govern
mental patronage into a system Of
Just and reasonable charges which
shall fall where they will create the
least burden. When we shall have
done that, we can fix questions of rev.
enue and of business adjustment In a
new spirit and with clear minds.
Control of the Trusts.
The governor spoke of how recent
investigations have revealed the con
nection between the tariff and the
movement of prices, and this brought
him to the subject of trusts, concern
ing which he said in part:
am not n of those who think
that competition can be established
by law against the drift of a world.
wide economic tendency; neither am
one OF those who believe that bust
ness done upon a great scale by a
single organization-call 1t corpora
ton, or what you willis necessarily
dangerous to the liberties, eve the
economic liberties, of a great people
k our own, full of intelligence and
of indomitable energy.
Power in the hands Of great bust.
ness men does not make me apprehen.
sive, unless it springs out of advan-
tages which they have not created for
themselves. Big business is not dan
gerous because 1t is big, but because
its bigness is an ~unwholesome infar
ton created by privileges and exemp
tons which it ought not to enjoy
While competition cannot be created
oy statutory enactment, it can in large
measure be revived by changing the
laws and %forbidding the practices that
killed 1t, and by enacting laws that
Will give 1t heart and occasion again
Concentration of Credit.
But the problem and the difficulty
are much greater than that. There
are not merely great trusts and com
binations which are to be controlled
and deprived Of their power to create
monopolies and destroy rivals; there
is something bigger still than they
are and more subtle, more evasiVe
more difficult to deal with. There are
vast confederacies (as l may perhaps
call them for the sake of convenience
of banks, railways, express compa
MES, insurance companies, manufac
turing corporations, mining corpora
tons, power and development com
panies and all the rest of the circle
bound together by the fact that the
ownership of their stock and the
members Of their boards of directors
are controlled and determined by com
p%aratively small and closely inter
related groups of persons who, by
their Informal c~onfederacy, may con
troll, If they please and when they
will, both credit and enterprise.
Their very existence gives rise tc
the suspicion Of a money trust" 6
concentration of the control of credit
which may at any time become in
initely dangerous to free enterprise
II such a concentration and contro
does not actually exist, 1t is evident
that 1t can easily be set up aud used
at Will. Laws must be devised which
will prevent this, If laws can be
worked out by fair and free counse
that will accomplish that result with
out destroying or seriously embarras
sing any sound or legitimate business
undertaking or necessary and whole
some arrangement.
Free to Serve the People.
In concluding. the governor said:
A presidential campaign may easily
degenerate into a mere personal con
test and so lose its real dignity anG
significance. There is no indispensable
man. The government will not col
lapse and go to pieces If any one O.
the gentlemen who are seeking to b.
intrusted with it's guidance should bc
left at home. But men are instru
ments. We are as important as thu
cause we represent, and In order t
be important must really represent {
cause. What is our cause? The PEG
pies cause? That Is easy to say, bu
what does it mean? The common a.
against any particular interest what
ever? Yes, but that, too, needs trans
lation into acts and policies. We rep
resent the desire to set up an unen
tangled government, a government
that cannot be used for private pur
poses, either in the field of business o.
in the field Of politics; a government.
that will not tolerate the use of thu
organization of a great party tt servt
the personal aims and ambitions o
any individual, and that will not per
nit legislation to be employed to fur
Their any private interest. 1t is
great conception, but I am free t.
serve it, as you also are.
To be free is not necessarily tt
be wise. But wisdom will
counsel, with the frank and free cor
ference of untrammeled men united
in the common interest. Should l b,
intrusted with the great office o
president, l would seek counsel wher
ever it could be had upon free terms
l know the temper of the great con
~yention which nominated me; l know
the temper of the country that la,
back of that convention and spok,
through 1t. / heed with deep thank
fulness the message you bring m,
from it. feel that I am surrounde,
by men whose principles and ambi
tons are those of true servants of tn,
people. l thank God, and will tax,
! courage.