Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1912-02-22

his community, foremost I'm ever"'h'"
that tells for Us bettcrment a mar
whom his neighbors look up to and re-
spect. He il in no sense dangerous e
his community just because he il an In
tegral part Of his community. bone Of il.
bone and flesh Of its flesh His life fibers
are interviewed with the life fibers OF
bis fellow citizens. Yet nowadays man,
men OF this kind when they come t.
| make necessary trade agreements witt
one another find themselves I'm danger
OF becoming unwilling transgressors
OF the law and are at loss to know
what the law forbids and what Il per
mits. This il all WRONG. Thee should
be fixed governmental policy, policy
which shall clearly define and punish
wrongdoing and shall give In advance
full Information to any man as to just
what he can aud just what he cannot
legally and properly do. II 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 compe-
tent governmental authority what the
law Is and then live up to IT, 1t Is alb
surd to endeavor To regulate business
In the interest of the public by means
Of long drawn lawsuits without any
accompa nlment Of administrative con.
troll and regulation and without any
attempt TO discriminate between the
honest man who has succeeded IN bust
ness because OF rendering a service to
has succeeded in business by cheating
the public.
So much for the small business man
and the middle sized business man
Now for big business. 1t Il imperative
to exercise over big business control
and supervision which are unnecessary
al regards small business All bust
ness must be conducted under the law
and all business men, big or little, must
act justly. But IA wicked big interest
Is necessarily more dangerous to the
community than wicked little inter
est. big business" In the PAST has
been responsible for much Of the spe-
cial privilege which must be unspar
ingly cut out OF our national life |
do not believe in making mere size OF
and by itself criminal. The mere fact
Of size. however. does unquesttenably
carry the potentially Of such grave
wrongdoing that there should be 10y
Law provision made for the strict super
vision and regulation of these great in
dustrial concerns doing an interstate
business. much as we now regulate the
agencies which are Ell
gagged in interstate business. The anti
trust law does good in SO far as it can
be invoked gainst combinations which
really are monopolies or which restrict
production or which artificially raise
prices. But in so far rs its working
are uncertain or as 1t threatens corpor-
atoms which have not been guilty OF
anti-social conduct 1t does harm. More
over, IL cannot by itself accomplish
more than Il trifing part Of the gov
ernmental regulation of big business
which Is needed. The nation and the
states must cooperate in. this matter
Among the states that have entered
this field Wisconsin has taken lead
Ing place. Following Senator La Fol
lette, number Of practical workers
and thinkers In Wisconsin have turned
that state into an experimental labora-
tory of wise governmental action In aid
Of social and industrial justice. They
have initiated the kind Of progressive
which means not merely
the preservation OF true democracy. but
the extension OF the principle OF true
democracy into industrialism as well
rs into politics. One prime reason why
the state has been so successful In this
policy lies In the fact that Ii has done
Justice to corporations precisely IA II
has exacted justice from them.
This Is precisely the attitude we
should take toward big business. 1t
ID the practical application Of the prin-
ciple Of the square deal. Not only as
4 matter OF justice, but In our own
we should scrupulously re-
spect the rights Of honest and decent
business and should encourage 1t
where It's activities make, as they often
DO make, Tor the common gooo. Ill
other words, our demand is that big
business give the people square deal
and that the people give a square deal
to any man engaged in big business
who honestly endeavors to do what is
right and proper.
On the other hand. any corporation,
big or little, which has gained its pc
sition by unfair methods and by inter
ference with the rights Of others,
which has raised prices OF limited out
put In improper fashion and has been
guilty Of demoralizing and corrupt
practices, should not only be broken
up, but 1t should be made the business
Of some competent governmental body
by constant supervision to see that 1t
does not come together again, save un-
der such strict control as to insure the
against all danger Of rep
etition Of the bad conduct.
Control Should Be Administrative.
All business into which the element
Of monopoly in any way or degree en-
tiers and where it proves In practice
tmDoSSible totally TO eliminate this ele-