The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-19

cess of law and those who had created them pun .hed as for crime. But there was no law to check the process by Which monopoly was built up until the tree was full grown and it's fruit de- Neloped, or, at any rate, until the full opportunity for monoply had been ere ated. With this new Legislation there is clear and sufficient law to check and destroy the noxious growth in its in- fancy. Monopolies are built up by un- fair methods of competition, and the new trade commission has power to forbid and prevent unfair competition whether upon big scale or upon a little; whether just begun or grown old and formidable. Monopoly Is created also by putting the same men in charge of variety of business enterprises, whether apparently related or unre- lated to one another, by means of in- terlocking directorates. That the Clay ron Dill now in large measure prevents Each enterprise must depend upon its own initiative and effectiveness for suc- cess, and upon the intelligence and bus mess energy of the men who officer it. And so all along the line: Monopoly is to be cut off at the roots.
 Justice Done
 Incidentally, justice has been done the laborer. His labor is no longer to be treated as if it were merely an in- animate object of commerce dscon- nected from the fortunes and happi- ness of living human being, to be dealt with as an object of sale and
 barter But that, great as it is is hard ly more than the natural and inevita- ble corollary of law whose object Is individual freedom and initiative as against any kind of private domination. ''The accomplishment of this legis- lation seems to me singularly signifl-
 cant thing. If our party were to be called upon to name the particular point of principle in which it differs from it's opponents most sharply and in which 1t feels itself most definitely sus- tained by experience, we should no doubt say that 1t was this: That we would have no dealings with monopoly, but repect 1t altogether; while our op- ponents were ready to adopt 1t into the realm of law, and seek merely to regu- late 1t and moderate 1t in its opera tion. It Is our purpose to destroy mo- nopoly and maintain competition as the only effectual instrument of business | liberty
 We have seen the nature and the
 power of monopoly exhibited. We know that 1t Is more apt to control govern
 ment than to be controlled by it; for we have seen 1t control government,
 
 ecutives and courts. We feel that our people are safe only in the fields of free individual endeavor where Ameri- can genius and initiative are not guid- ed by few men as in recent years, but
 made rich by the activities of multi tude, as in days now almost forgotten. We will not consent that an ungovern-
 able giant should be reared to full stat
 ure in the very household of the gov ernment itself. Currency Bill
 'In like manner by the currency bill we have created a democracy of credit such as has never existed in this coun- try before. For a generation or more we have known and admitted that we had the worst banking and currency system In the world. because the volume of our currency was wholly inelastic; that iS because there was more than enough at certain seasons to meet the demands of commerce and credit, and at other times far too little; that we could not lessen the volume when we needed less nor increase 1t when we needed more Everybody talked about the absurd system and it's quite unnecessary embarrassments, sure to produce periodic panics; and everybody said that it ought to be changed and
 changed very radically; but nobody took eIlect.ve steps to change 1t until the present Congress addressed itself to the task with genuine resolution and an in- telligence which expressed Itself in definite action. And now the thing is done. Let bankers explain the technical feat
 ures of the new system. Suffice 1t here to say that it provides currency which expands as 1t is needed, and contracts
 when 1t is not needed; currency which comes into existence in response to the call of every man who can show a going
 business and a concrete basis for extend ing credit to him. however obscure or prominent he may be, however big or lit- tie his business transactions.
 More than that, the power to direct this system of credits Is put into the hands of public board of dsnterested officers of the government itself who can make nc money out of anything they do in con- nection with 1t. No group of bankers anywhere can get control; no one part of the country can concentrate the ad- vantages and conveniences of the system upon itself for its own selfish advantage The board can obl se the banks of one region to go to the assistance of the banks of another The whole resources of the country are mobilized, to be employed where they are most needed. l think We are Justified in speaking of this as de- mocracy of credit. Credit is at thme dis posal of every man who can show energy and assets. Each region of the country is set to study it's own needs and oppor- tunities and the whole country stands by to assist It is self government as well as democracy.
 Rural Credits
 "I understand why 1t was not possible at this sess.on to mature legislation in tended specially for the development of a system for handling rural, or rather, agricultural credits; but the federal re