The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-11
MARSHALL SCORES
 USURlOUS PROFITS


 dent Marshall delivered the prfnci- pal address here to-day at the Uni versity- of Maine commencement ex- ercises. He dWeIt upon the need of education for the young man taking up the business of life The Vice President said in part:
 Slight knowledge will not enable the young man to assume the man agement of life's affairs. If the irr6- pressible conflict between labor and capital, he cannot assume that eith- CT property or labor is everything class in America or an oligarchy of wealth. Complete Knowledge may convince him that it will be better for the republic to be controlled by neither of these classes
 "In5 1850, we had a republic where labor was satisfied, where respect for religion and reverence for law and order and a sincere attachment to the constitution were strong. In that year the proportion of the annual wealth created in the country by the Joint efforts of labor and capital was 6one-fourth to labor and tnree-fourtlls to capital Sixty years later, the proportion had changed to less than one-hfth to labor and more than four-hfths to capital This sdispro- portion, to my mind. has much to do with our present discontent,
 ssUsurious interest is no more but usur1ous profit has taken its place. When our statutes regulating the rates of interest were enacted, the laborfng man, generally speaking, was a. skilled 1aborer He could produce a completed article. The advent Of and put them in the hands of capi-- Hal. Money no longer is borrowed by 1aborers to enable them to carry on their trades, but money is crafty and boring man, it is now buying the la boring mans machinery constantly enhancing its own profit thereby and constantly decreasing the labori4lg man s share of oIrs prod uced wealth.
 s~The young man in assuming lead and develop moral sentiment gainst usurious profit as against usurious interest Evidence of a dis position on the part of corporate wealth to accept this view is not lacking. [ dare the. prediction that the railroads of the country would welcome a permanent five per cent or six per cent accuTaulative profit in exchange for the1r greater profit and the doubt, risk and abuse which come with 1t.
 "The doctrine of states rights is now seldom heralded save in oppo- sition to needed reforms. I must subscribe to the doctrine but I realize that ,subjec which formerly were purely of state cognizance have be- come of common interest between the states and that the doctrine of states rights must be supplemented by the doctrine of states duties.
 ITO control our corporations, 1t be- comes a states duty to place in office vigorous and honest officials who will hail offenders into court and vfndi- cate the honor of their state laws in stead of e1eSaEng into office men who will quietly sit by and wait for the general government to devise some plan to prevent the evil and to pun ;sh the wrong-doer. To conserve our natural resources, 1t becomes a states duty to adopt a system for the wise and economic use of the resources and the prevention of private control by greedy spectators.
 -'If states rights are to be pre- served, the young men of to-morrow must take up this cry of states du- ties; otherwise, our pleasing vision of Uncle Sam as patriarchaI gentleman with a beni1cent smile on his face toward American manhood striving for success, will change to that of d quack doctor p1aearded.- hen oth- CTS fail, consult me.
 We Americans are not dishonest, neither at heart nor Intellectually but am fearful that many of us are 1 intellectual towards. When getting on' involves us with our consctences and with the laws of the land, we do ] not fight the battle out with ourselves.