The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-05-16
Capitalization vs.. Ipdividus,i.m

lHcTc Is, anu always Hioos W. "
conflict between individual liberty
and centralized powed The greater
the liberty of the individual, the
greater the opportunity for his de-
velopment. Centralized power re-
lieves the individual citizen of re-
sponsibility and deprives him Of the
opportunity and the incentive for in
itiative and energetic action. The
broadest practicable liberty is bene-
fetal to all because it gives the larg-
est opportunity to all.
The taking over of the railroads
by the government and their opera
tion as one system by q director gen.
eral, may possibly prove Of tempo
rary advantage to the country. If so,
it will be solely by reason Of the fact
that this change in management sus-
pends, for the time being, those reg
ulatory laws which have very largely
hampered the railroads in meeting an
unprecedented emergency. Because
of this change, we may reasonably ex-
pect that traffic conditions will be
somewhat improved, though time
alone will demonstrate.
But coincident with those expected
advantages we are confronted with
some dangers. Unless human nature
has changed, we shall not avoid the
menace of the inclination Of the indi
vidual to reward his friends and pun
ish his enemies, nor the temptation
to favor some sections Of the coun-
try to the relative neglect Of others.
Capitalization of power, when ap-
piled, can produce a result equivalent
only to the integrity, ability and ex-
perience of the individual in whom
that power is centered. Greatly CEN
tralized power must always be a men,
ace to the nation and sometimes to
the world, as is evidenced by the con-
sequences of centralized power in the
German Kaiser. We have also an il
lustration nearer home, for we have
but recently seen the serious and in
furious delays practiced by admins
trative agents in whom power had
been centralized and who were denied
the assistance of cooperative joint,
bipartisan congressional committee
on the conduct of the war. We had
there an illustration of the fact that
operation under centralized power is
limited by the integrity, ability and
experience of the persons in whom |
power is vested.
By Capitalization of control over
the transportation system of the
United States, we shall, perhaps get
temporary relief from the congested
conditions from which we have suf-
fered, much of which congestion was
due to attempted legislative and ad-
interference with eco
imposed upon the railroad managers.
But if this centralized control shall
be long continued, we shall suffer the
evils necessarily incident to central
ization, namely, the probable injec-
tion of politics into transportation,
and the domination of single per-
sonal equation over the vast trans
oortation system so vital to the
health, happiness and prosperity of
our nation. Those students of human
nature who believe that selfishness is
he main spring of human action,
must necessarily view with alarm
wen temporary Capitalization of
'uch enormous power in an individ-
lal. 1t will be a misfortune to de-
nocracy in government and democ-
acy in industry if we shall develop
situation which makes one-man
'ower a permanent institution.
Mrs. M. B. Moscon left on one of