The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-08-13

the increasing parLlclpatlOn OF the
, government in the control and direc-
! ton of business affairs.
Now, this has not been accidental.
, 1t Is not matter of individuals. 1t
, has not come because particular men
have been elected to office and other
particular men have failed. 1t has
been a development of the feeling of
the whole country 1t has been to
some degree sectional, but not in the
: old way. The men concerned in ag-
riculture, in the main, have come to
, suspect and misunderstood the men
concerned in business in the main
This is the distinguishing feature of
, this great change which has occurred
since we elected Mckinley.
It has had several causes. 1t has
been partly because of the old hatred
of wealth. Those parts of the country
in which all of the people have been
of comparatively small means have
been filled with men who came to
hate the rich in the great industrial
communities in the north and east.
OF course, / need not tell you that
this hatred of wealth is more than
half mere vulgar worship of wealth.
God knows that too much money does
no man any good; too much money is
/ M thor, M n pIIin hic child
rem and invite for him kidney disease
or hardening of the arteries.
But to the poor farmer on the
prairies of the west or the cotton
fields of the south, it seems as II the
rich men of the eastern cities were
living in heaven at his expense.
Another element of this change
has been an entire or an almost en-
tire failure of understanding of the
processes, the conditions, the require
ments and the results of the vast and
complicated business by which the
, wealth of the country is created and
maintained. Under simple conditions
/, we all understood each other. Every
man of the community understood in
l general about the life, the business
Y and affairs of the other men in the
8 same community But life is so com.
q plicated now, the affairs of this great
: country are so involved, that there is
: very little real understanding by one
r community of the affairs of another
l How can the man who raises CROP
l of wheat in Dakota really understand
3 the complicated machinery by which
l his wheat goes onto the breakfast
l table in Europe, and the price ocmes
Y back to him? So, through feeling
/ of envy of the greater wealth of the
! east and north, of these Industrial
/ communities of which this city is a
conspicuous example, and through
r misunderstanding there has come
about feeling of adverse interest in
) stead of the feeling of common inter-
} est that is so essential to the pros
perity and perpetuity of country.
, And that feeling has had it's result
in a series of laws and in the method
! of administering those laws. We have
: the interstate commerce commission
following every step taken by the
great transportation companies. I'm
} derstand, | am not now criticising
| these laws. | am citing them as ele-
ments-stating them as facts; but
forming elements in general condi-
ton to which they lead. w ehave
J the interstate commerce commission
keeping tab on the railroads. We
have the central reserve board of the
treasury department and the office
of the comptroller of currency follow
ing every move of the banks. We
have the new trade commission which
is empowered to go into your factor
les and mills and inquire into your
personal affairs for the purpose of
seeing whether you conform to that
vague and indefinite standard which
they are to apply to trade. We have
the internal revenue collector en-
powered to go into your personal af-
fairs for the purpose of seeing
whether your returns for the gradual
ed income tax are full and complete
We have the pure food law, under
which vast range of production is
subjected to inspection and regula-
ton in the most minute detail. Every
where, in every direction, supervision
of business is the characteristic of
the day.
And with the exercise of power
over business under the constitution
as it is, comes the desire for enlarge
ment of power, SO we have proposals
for amendments to the constitution
which will give to the national gov
eminent opportunity to extend and
increase its control over the conduct
of affairs in every state and in every
locality. That finds it's outlet first
in matters that have much nonular-