The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-06-27


through the advancing application Of
science we create new forces with
which men may dominate-railway,
power, oil, and what not. They may
produce temporary blockades upon
equality of opportunity.
To curb the forces in business which
would destroy equality of opportunity
and yet to maintain the initiative and
creative faculties of our people are the
win objects we must attain. To pre-
serve the former we must regulate that
type of activity that would dominate.
To preserve the latter, the government
must keep out of production and dlstr1-
button of commodities and services.
This is the deadline between our sys-
TEN and socialism. Regulation to pre-
vent domination and unfair practices,
yet preserving rightful initiative, are
in keeping with our social foundations.
Standardization of industry or business
is their negation.
When we come to the practical prob
lens of government in relation TO these
economic questions the test lies in TWO
directions Does this act safeguard an
equality of opportunity? Does 1t main
tain the initiative Of our peoplef For
in the first must lie the deadllne
against domination. and in the second
the deadline in preservation of indi-
vidualism against socialism. Exclud-
ing the temporary measures of the
war, the period of regulation has now
been long enough with us to begin TO
take stock of its effect upon u social
system. 1t has been highly beneficial,
but it has also developed weaknesses
in the throttling of proper initiative
that require some revision. We have
already granted relief to labor organi-
cations and to agriculture some
forms of regulation. There is, how
ever, a large field of cooperative pos
sibilities far outside agriculture that
are needlessly hampered.
The most important of considera-
tions in any attempt to pass Judgment
upon social systems is whether we
maintain within them permanent and
continuous motivation toward prog
ress. These forces must be of two Or
ders, one spiritual and the other eco
nomic.
We may discover the situation in
our WI social system either by an
analysis of the forces that are today
in motion or by noting the strides Of
progress over the century or over the
last ten years. BY Il consideration of
the forces that move us we can see
whether our system shows signs of de-
cay, whether its virility is maintained;
and by the touchstone Of time we Il
find u whether these forces have
been powerful enough to overcome the
malign influences that would lessen
the well-being of our system.
If we should survey the fundamen-
tails of our civilization from the point
of view of its progress by the test of
time, we can find much for satisfaction
and assurance. 1t is unnecessary to
recount the values of economic indi-
vidualism In stimulation to invention;
large constructive vision; intensity In
production with decreased physical
effort our increased standards of living
and comfort. 1t is of course easy to
enumerate our great economic prog
ress, but the progress of the social
forces that will sustain economic prog
ress is infinitely more important-for
upon them depends the real future Of
our people. Education in its many
phases has made much advance. The
actual equipment, the character of in
structlon, the numbers reached, period
of instruction show improvement
with every decade. Public opinion has
become Of steadily increasing potency
and reliability in its reaction. The
great strides in development of
processes and equipment for produc-
tion and distribution are being fol
lowed by increasing devotion to the
human factors in their execution.
Moral standards of business and com
merce are improving vicious city gov
ernments are less in number; invisible
government has greatly diminished
public conscience Is penetrating deep
er and deeper; the roofing up of
wrong grows more vigorous; the agen-
cies for their exposure and remedy
grow more numerous, and above all
Is the growing sense of service. Many
people confuse the exposure of wrongs
which were below the surface with de-
generation their very exposure is
progress. Some accredit the exposures
of failure in our government and bust
hess as evidence of standards of a low
or order than in some other nations.
4 considerable experience leads me
to the conviction that while we do
wash our dirty linen in public most
others never wash it.
It is easy to arraign any existing in
stitutlon. Men can rightly be critical
because things have happened that
never ought to happen. That our social
system contains faults no one disputes.
One can recite the faulty results of
our system at great length; the spirit
of lawlessness the uncertainty of en-
ployment In some callings; the dead
ening effect Of certain repetitiye proc
esses Of manufacture the twelye-hour
day In a few industries unequal voice
In bargaining for wage in some en-
pl0yment; arrogant domination by
some employers and some labor lead
ers; child labor In some states; made
quate instruction In some areas; I'M
fair competition In some industries
some fortunes excessive far beyond
the needs of stimulation to initiative