The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-02
American Regulation for the Uni
yepsef

American Regulation for the Uni.
vePsef
Time was when the historic occu-
patton Of Americans consisted very
largely in minding their " business.
After q decade Of domestic politics,
dedicated to the proposition OF an
equality OF citizenship involving the
duty Of minding e~verybOdy's business
but ones own. the American tree OF
liberty 10 bearing the queer but lesiti-
mate fruits of such a cultivation.
Witness the meddlesome disposition
which We are showing toward all the
nations Of the earth. Leaving out OF
the reckoning such private ventures 40
the jitney peace crusade, consider only
such q manifestation as the cotton
futures act passed under the regime
Of benevolent pedantry which has been
alling the place Of power In Wash
ington for the last two and a half
years. A feature Of this wonderful
law was its declared purpose to sub
ject the exchanges Of Europe, the
principal consumers Of u cotton, to
the rules and edicts Of our Depart
ment Of Agriculture.
Observe the scheme which Secretary
REDrIELD Of the Department Of Com
merce is promulgating. Some way
must Ike devised to circumvent the
necessity Of restoring tariff protection
to American industry in order to save
the face Of the modern travesty Of
Je%ifersonian democracy. Accordingly
Mr.. REprItID has invented u plan to
extend the beneficent principles Of our
sring Of antitrust laws to foreign
lands. All he wants Ia to have the
foreign representatives Of u Federal
delnr, -,cnts properly authorized TO
prove unfair competition" from
f"rcie manufacturers and merchants,
snl commissioned to establish the x
Vo.t price level OF other nations 80
that their goods shall not come into
our nl1rketS 'unIulriv.
Thanks 10 Mr.. ANDREW FURusrTH,
the labor leader whose agitation SCENT
"a have been primarily responsible for
that miracle of legislation the So
called La Toilette seamen's law, We
are left in no doubt that II belongs In
the same category Of projected inter
ference with the domestic concerns of
alien peoples. He told an audience in
this city about u week ago that as a
result Of II "the foreign ship owner
now must pay his crew as much as
the American ship owner does"
Allied to this ambitious project for
the regulation Of foreign wages Is the
theory that II the Government mer-
chant marine Of Mr.. McApoo's device
IL established Washington will HI
able to regulate the freight rates o.
ell the oceans.
Were Il conceivable that u teme
sarious attempts to govern the or
ganized exchanges Of foreign coun'
tries. supervise their level Of com
modify prices and control their wage
scales could have a successful issue
all would he well. The presumption
10 that the consequences will be vastly
end most painfully otherwise.
Practical intelligence suggests the
what we are trying to do 10 storing MT
Q mountain Of disastrous trouble fol
us, II there Is any validity in the teach
Ing of history that economic cause,
are at the bottom OF all wars. Ac
cordingly something else would seen
to be required In the way OF n regard
for our own interests than the reliance
Of pacifsts on the ~sacredness OF on,
own peaceful Intentions, somethins
more even than the Wilson Admins
tration's half hearted advocacy Of 9
still more half hearted programme o.
preparedness against military con
tincencieS.
If tho new movement OF American
ISM. that is. the New Freedom. Il
going to make us the greatest uni
vers.,l mcIdlers in the economic condi
ticns Of other peoples that the worlt
ever cav, il will be impossible for vi
tn be over prepared for trouble.