The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-08-09

al Interpretation of what the peopl,
mean by the constitutions which they
have framed and laws passed by the
people are nullited because the courts
say those laws are contrary to the peO
pies will as expressed in their consti
tuition there must be a reference tc
the people Of the public effect of suct
decisions under forms securing full de.
liberation to the end that the people
may rectify this alleged defect in theil
constitution by a popular vote having
all the force of a constitutional amend
ment. Our purpose is not to impugn
the courts, but to emancipate them
from a position whenever they stand
finally in the way of social justice.
l am we'll aware that every
u%pholder of privilege, every hired
agent or beneficiary of the special in
terests, including many well meaning
parlOr reformers, will denounce all this
as socialism or 'anarchy'-the same
terms they used in the past in denounc-
ing the movements to control the rail-
ways and to control public utilities.
As a matter of fact, the propositions /
make constitute neither anarchy nor
socialism, but, on the contrary, a cor
receive for socialism and an antidote
to anarchy"
Constructive Control of tho Trusts.
In addition to punishment for wrong
doing by the trusts. the imperative de-
mand is effective and complete regu-
lation. The views of President Van
Hise of the University of Wisconsin in
his scientific work on trust regulation
the National Progressiyes. THE pres
ent conditions Of business cannot be
accepted as satisfactory" The reason
for this is explained. in Mr.. Rooseyelt's
opinion, by the fact that those dealing
with the subject have attempted to di
as the other" One camp has fixed it's
attention only on the need for pros
perity-"prosperity to the big man on
top, trusting to their mercy to let some
thing leak through to the mass of their
c%ountrymen below, which, in effect,
ul6duS ludt luClC SlIOuii bC ho htShAPe
to regulate the ferocious scramble in
which greed and cunning reap the
largest rewards" The other camp has
so fixed it's attention upon the injus
tees of the distribution of prosperity,
"omitting all consideration Of having
something to distribute. and advocates
action which, it is true, would abolish
most of the inequalities of the distri-
button of prosperity. by only the un.
fortunately simple process Of abolish
ing the prosperity itself" The ten
dency of those now in control of the
Republican party is to give special
privileges to big business" and to cor
rect the evil Of such a course when
they become crying by sporadic law
suits under the antitrust law. The
tendency of the Democrats, judged
both by their record in congress and
by the Democratic platform. is to abol-
ish all business Of any size or eff
cheney, on the ground hat all bigness
is badness and littleness and weakness
a sign of virtue. What Is needed is
action directly the reverse of that thus
confusedly indicated"
There should be applied to all indus
trial concerns engaged in interstate
in which there is either
monopoly or control Of the market the
principles already adopted Gin regulat-
ing transportation concerns engaged in
such commerce. The antitrust law
should be kept on the statute book to
be invoked against every big concern
tending to monopoly or guilty OF anti
social practices. At the same time a
national Industrial commission should
be created which should have complete
power to regulate and control all the
great industrial concerns engaged in in
terstate business which practically
means all of them In this country.
This commission should exercise over
these industrial concerns like powers
to those exercised over the railways by
the interstate commerce commission
and over the national banks by the
comptroller Of the currency and addi-
tional powers if found necessary" The
commission should have free access
to the books of each corporation and
power to find out exactly how it treats
It's employees, its rivals and the gen.
eral public. Any corporation
voluntarily coming under the commits
sion should not be prosecuted under the
antitrust law as long as it obeys in
good faith the orders of the commits
sion. The commission would be able to
interpret in advance to any honest man
asking the Interpretation what he may
do and what he may not do in carrying
on a legitimate business" When cor
porations not submitting themselves to
the regulations of the commission or
clearly evading or violating its orders
are prosecuted under the antitrust law
and convicted, the commission should
have the duty of seeing that the de-
cree Of the court is put into effect COM
pletely."' Only in this way can there
be avoided ''such gross scandals as
those attendant upon the present adj
illustrations prosecution Of the Stand
ard Oil and the tobacco trusts" a pros
ecution which has merely resulted in
increased prices to the public. injury to
the small competitor and actual finan-
cial benefit to the trusts themselves.
'The Progressive proposal is definite.
1t is practicable. We promise nothing
that we cannot carry out, WI promise
nothing which will jeopardize honest
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