South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-03-23
MANUFACTURING REACTION.


papers with plenty Of free copy. news
like. editorial and otherwise. including
occasional CONSIGNMENT Of boiler plate,
appears to have become a business
unusually active. Anything. it seems.
to help out the poor, oVer-worked ed
itCr, in both city and country. espe-
cially If ne lacks the insight that
would enable MIN 10 distinguish be-
tween being assisted" and worked"
The evident plan is to reach the public
any way possible with line of mat
ter. apparently designed to save the
country. It does not however, re-
ouire much of a dissecting mind. if
one will but apply it, to ascertain the
hypocrisy. for quite without exception
it develops upon analysis 10 be mere
sophistries calculated TO lead the I'M
sophisticated backward. The work of
the muckraker Of fifteen years ago.
and later. is being smeared over with
white-wash brush.
Take this for an example. coming
from New York and Calculating on an
accompanying article by Ebert II.
Gary. chairman of the United States
Steel corporation. Read il:
IL is time the business men, the
banker. the lawyer, the mer-
chant, had something to say
about our government and laws.
If the business men
of the country viii get together;
If they viii speak out, they can
get ineligible laws and good
laws. and this means the removal
OF one of the greatest present OBJ
stacles TO prosperity.
In the old days of Lord Mans
field and the Law Merchant
the politicians were not suffered
To weave laws out of the abstract
theory of their brains
And from this we are supposed to
assume that the business man. the
banker. the lawyer, the merchant"
had been having nothing Ito say about
our government and laws" We are
expected to explode with pity for the
return of the "old days of Lord Mans
field and the Law Merchant The
purpose. il would seem. is 10 help us
forget the era OF government by the
business man. the banker. the law
yer and the merchant" that followed
the election OF Pres't Mckinley and
the full recognition of Mark Hanna's
political kingship, and from which we
have never recovered. 1t was this era
OF eapitalstc pillage. protected by the
government and encouraged by spe-
ciaI privilege, that regarded as the
last straw ina wealth concentration,
gave rise to the movement TO put GER
tain types of business under govern
ment regulation and control, but even
at that "the business man. the bank
err. the lawyer and the merchant"
have never been known to be sufii-
GENTLY disorganized, but what they
have been able TO WELD suppressing
influence.
The interstate commerce commits
sion is one OF the undertakings of this
regulative order At first il was de-
nounced by capital. but since then
denunciation has changed 10 praise.
though we notice. quite in proportion
TO the extent To which the commission
is controlled rather than interstate
commerce regulated. The law under
which the commission has been oper-
ating for the regulation of rates has
broken down. and bowling 10 political
and railway influence. cooperating
with the businessman. the banker
the lawyer and the merchant" always
willing To forego an everlasting prin-
ciple for an immediate reward. we
md the commission now undoing all
that il previously did. even going TO
the extent of reopening the matter of
express rates. our regulating COM
mission. convinced from some source
chat IL is void of relief for the shipper
and consumer, is now directing its at
tention TO the guaranteeing of profits
and dividends for the railroad owners.
which according TO the supreme court,
Is ats proper function.
And through the columns of the
press fed by these clever press agents.
the public is wanted To be supplied
with mental pabIum that is calculated
20 make them like the transformation;
actually relish IT, and want for more
1t is manufacturing reaction. and that
il all there is 10 il. 1t is SO self-satis-
fying 10 be able 20 pity big railroad.
a steel trust. OF something of that
kind Under proper physiological in
nuence il sort OF makes you feel as
though YOU We're one Of the magnates.
There isn't SO very much difference
between being the possessor of mill
lion and being intoxicated into imagin-
ing you possess il. and an undue psy-
GEOLOGICAL influence is quite as much
an intoXication as though il were pro-
duced by champagne. or cheap beer.
IL Is mainly "A condition of tho mind