Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1912-09-05
ROOSEvELTS CONFESSION OF
FAITH"
Fifth Installment.)

Mise Radical Is Not MisIed.
Unfortunately, those dealing with
the subject have tended to divide
INTO two camps, each as unwise as
the other. One camp has fixed its
eyes only on the need of prosperity.
loudly announcing that our attention
must be confined to securing it in
Dulk, and that the division must be
left to take care of itself. This is
merely the plan, already tested and
found wanting, of giving prosperity
to the big men on top, and trusting
to their mercy to let something leak
through to the mass of their coun-
trymen below-which, in effect,
means that there shall be no attempt
to regulate the ferocious scramble in
which greed and cunning reap the
largest rewards. The other set has
fixed its eyes purely on the injustice
OF distribution, emitting all consider
alton of the need of having some
tkn9 TO distribute, and advocates ac-
tion which, it is true, would abolish
most of the inequalities of the dis
tribution of prosperity, but only by
the unfortunately simple process of
abolishing that prosperity itself
This means merely that conditions
are to be evened, not up, but down.
so that all shall stand on a common
level, where nobody has any prosper
ity at all. The task of the wise rad
ical must be to refuse to be misled
by either set of false advisers; he
must both favor and promote the
agencies that make for prosperity,
and at the same time see to it that
these agencies are so used as to be
primarily of service to the average
man.
Again and again while | was presi-
dent, from 1902 to 1908, | pointed
out that under the antitrust law
alone it was neither possible to put
a stop to business abuses nor posi-
BILE to secure the st>'efficiency
in the service rendered by business
to the general public The antitrust
law must be kept on our statute
books, and, as hereafter shown, must
be rendered more effective in the
cases where it is applied. But to
treat the antitrust law as an ade-
quate, or as by itself a wise, meas
ure of relief and betterment is a sign
not of progress, but of toryism and
reaction. 1t has been of benefit so
far as it has implied the recognition
of real and great evil, and the at
least sporadic application of the prin-
ciple that all men alike must obey
the law. But as sole remedy, uni
versally applicable, it has in actual
practice completely broken down; as
now applied it works more mischief
than benefit. 1t represents the waste
of effort-always damaging to a
community-which arises from the
attempt to meet new conditions by
the application of outworn remedies
instead of fearlessly and in common
sense fashion facing the new condi-
tions and devising the new remedies
which alone can work effectively for
good. The antitrust law, if inter
preted as the Baltimore platform de-
mands it shall be interpreted, would
apply to every agency by which not
merely industrial but agricultural
business is carried on in this coun-
try; under such an Interpretation it
ought in theory to be applied uni
versally, in which case practically all
industries would stop. AS a matter
of fact, it is utterly out of the ques-
tion to enforce it universally, and,
when enforced sporadically, it causes
continual unrest, puts the country at
disadvantage with its trade CON-
petitors in international commerce,
hopelessly puzzles honest business
men and honest farmers as to what
| tbnir riUhtc nd hoe inc
been shown in the cases of the Stan
dard Oil and Tobacco trusts, it is no
real check on the great trusts at
which it was in theory aimed, and
indeed operates to their benefit.
Moreover, if we are to compete with
other nations in the markets of the
world as we'll as to develop our own
material civilization at home, we
must utilize those forms of industrial
organization that are indispensable
to the highest industrial productiv-
ity and efficiency
Words of Van Hise Quoted.
An important volume entitled
Concentration and Control" has
just been issued by President Charles
R. Van Hise of the University of
Wisconsin. The University of Wis
consin has been more influential
than any other agency in making
| Wisconsin what it has become, a lab
oratory for wise social and industrial
experiment in the betterment of con-
ditions. President Van Hise is one
of those thorough-going but sane and
intelligent radicals from whom much
of leadership is to be expected in
such matter. The subtitle of his
book shows that his endeavor is to
turn the attention of his countrymen
toward practically solving the trust
problem of the United States. In
his preface he states that his aim is
to suggest a way to gain the eco
nomic advantages of the concentra-
tion of industry, and at the same
| time to guard the interests of the
public, and to assist in the rule of
enlightenment, reason, fair play, mu-
tual consideration and toleration In
sum, he shows that unrestrained
competition as an economic principle
has become too destructive to be per-
mitted to exist, and that the small
men must be allowed to cooperate
under penalty of succumbing before
their big competitors; and yet such
cooperation, vitally necessary to the
small man, is criminal under the
present law. He says:
/