Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-07-09

is the real thing that the world de-
mands. The practical ideal is the
ideal in it's everyday form that has
the power to uplift because it is
firmly braced on the ground.
Altruistic democracy is not mean
ingless phrase. The Declaration of
Independence begins with altruism
in the appeal it makes for the pur-
suit of happiness. Democracy in it's
| essence means equality Of oportun-
ity; it's function to build up to the
higher plane, not to cut down to a
dead level. And in our Constitution,
the declared purpose to promote the
general Welfare" is a guarantee that
this nation takes no narrow view Of
business questions such as those now
before the American people. 1t is in
human welfare that ethics and econ
Omics find common ground.
Too much stress can not be placed
upon the human factor in these prob
lens. The student Of politics does
we'll to think less of artificial meas
ures Of value, to talk less Of
monometallic or bimetallic standards
and to realize that the human stan
dard is the real measure. Reduced
to lowest terms, property, whether
real or personal, gold or silver, prai
RE land Or skyscraper, derives its
value from what mans labor has put
into it or can take out of it.
A working minority of American
citizens have come to realize that
unregulated private monopoly and
good citizenship are antagonistic
terms. And, now that popular clamOr
is giving place to sober second
thought the other side of the
monopoly question is receiving the
consideration it deserves; there is
widespread recognition Of the com
mon interdependence of big business
and the general public. On the one
side, the people are realizing that
they are and have been in reality
silent partners in big business, and
now that there has come the promise
Of some regulation that will in large
part prevent monopolistic centraliza-
ton, the people are interested in get
ting their share of the returns which
can come only with operation at a
profit. On the other hand, the man
ayers of the large corporations, who
are really the trustees of the in
vesting public, are beginning to see
that a certain financial security
goes with public confidence. The pub
lie can not be left out Of the reck-
oning, and that aforementioned atti
tude toward the public so tersely ex-
pressed 80 years ago by pioneer in
railroad affairs does not pay divi
dends today.
To whom, then, belongs the re-
ward of efficiency? [ find a simple
answer to that question in the opin-
cisions of public utility commissions,
and in recent or pending legislation.
Industrial enterprises as conducted
by corporations are inherently coop
erative. Owner, workman, and con-
sumner are in reality partners, and
as such deserve to share in the prof
it's. The public can demand low
prices only after adequate profit has
been provided for capital and fair
wages for labor. This basal princi
pie of profit-sharing among all three
partners seems to me the corner
stone among the practical ideals of
the present day.
The trouble with too many of the
business men of the day, and espec-
| tally with those who come to Wash
ington to oppose new legislation, is
their nearsightedness. They can not
see countrywide public opinion and
do not appreciate the obvious fact
that the financial centers are not
| also the CenterS OF natlOnal thought.
The result of this, as 1 expressed it
in conversation last winter with a
New York gentleman who was large
Wy interested in water-power develop
ment, is that the business interests
oppose something at one Congress
which two years later they would
accept; but the next Congress is
already considering more advanced
legislative proposition. We are all
more or less progressive, l told him,
but the opposition has been just one
lap behind
The bright light of publicity is
coming to shine more and more upon
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