New-York tribune., 1919-08-24
Arbitrary Demands
VS.. General Prosperity


the war were willing to make sacrifices
lot the common interest, to deny them
selves or give their labor to uphold the
government and the nation in q conflict
with foreign powers, should suddenly
lose apparently all sense of obligation
to the common interests. There can
be no prosperity for the people Of this
country except by willing cooperative
industry, each individual and group do
ing its duty in its own field, without
arbitrary demands, satisfied with a rea-
sonable adjustment of it's relations to
others.
AS though the managers Of industry
did not have troubles enough at this
time, with labor demands, price fuctua-
tlons and all the uncertainties Of the
situation, the government, through its
various departments and commissions,
is resuming its attacks.
The perennial attack upon the beef
packers has been renewed by the De-
partment of Justice, and following a
report by the Federal Trade Commits
radical legislation aimed primarily at
the packers, but Of a character which
may we'll be regarded with concern by
all business interests. 1t is nothing
less than for a permanent licensing
system, which would perpetuate one Of
the expedients of the war period Dur
ing the war, when all were agreed that
it was necessary to concentrate the en-
ergles of the country in support of the
government, there was a strong argu-
ment for the licensing system, giving
autocratic powers to the authorities at
Washington. 1t was necessary that
there should be control at Washington
not because of a permanent thing. all
industry could be conducted most in
telligently and efficiently from Wash
ington, but because certain policies
were desirable during the war. Now
the people who think that government
officials are competent to conduct
everything, wish to make some of these
powers permanent. They want to put
great industries under the imme diate
supervision of government officials,
with complete power in the hands of
! the latter. not merely to prosecute vio-
lations of law by common legal pro-
cedure, but to act as prosecutor, judge
and eXecutioner, or, in other words, to
exercise arbitrary powers.
Proposals of this kind are foreign to
our system Of government, and as a
menace they extend beyond the immc-
date industry threatened. They con-
stitute an encroachment upon individ-
lal rights, upon that individual free
QOM ana INITIATIVE which mas DeeH tne
chief factor in the wonderful progress
of industry in this country. 1t is an
attempt to extend the authority of bu-
reau chiefs and commissions at Wash
ington over the management of busi-
ness All experience with such au-
thority warns against it. There are
fields in which governmental supervi
sion is necessary, Is in that of trans
portation, but even in this field, where
it is unavoidable, experience has taught
how difficult it is to obtain wise super
vision. There is no assurance that the
individuals in whom such powers are
vested will have the experience, busi
ness capacity and judicial temperament
required for such functions. The sur
rounding conditions are all such as to
make it probable that men of mediocre
ability, interested in political advance
ment and eager for publicity, will fill
the positions. They do not understand
the business mans problems or appre-
ciate his difficulties or services, and
their attitude is likely to be one of sus-
picion and hostility, watching for evil
derce to support a case they have al
ready imagined.