Evening star., 1923-02-04
by THOMAS n. MARSHALL,
Former Vice President of the
United States.

United states.
~ NE Of the beauties Of q de-
mocracy is that 1t can in
dulge In fads without any
danger to its institutions
social. economic or political fads.
When we tire of a thing we drop
it and turn to something new.
One winter we jazz until every
body walks as though the Vol
stead act had never been enacted.
The next winter we devote our
selves to whist. and move along
erect as ramrod and with coun-
tenances that outdo q preachers
or a poker players.
Economically We shout the shib-
boleth OF competition for a time.
We are quite sure that England
was the most prosperous when she
was a nation of small shopkeep-
ers. We seem thoroughly con-
vinced that the more competition
there Is and the larger the number
Of persons engaged in a business
and the smaller the transaction.
the greater the safety and pros
gin to talk about overhead ex-
perseS. and the saving and the
greater efficiency to accrue from
combfnat atfons of capital. We bow
the knee to big business and wor-
ship 1t as lord of economies. only
to discover that notwithstanding
benefits to the consumer. injustice
has been done TO the small manu-
facturer So we enact antitrust
laws. and indict and dissolve in the
name Of the individual man, who
must have his chance in America.
regardless of what effect his OPP
portunity may have upon the COM
monweal.
We become convinced that the
labor union Is a menace to the
right Of the individual to labor
when and where and how he
pleases. Then We conclude that
the wrongs and injustices of labor
can be overcome only by united ef-
fort, so we exempt labor organiza-
tions from the operation of the
antitrust laws or course. 1t was
not intended to exempt them from
punishment for creating a monop-
oily or committing any other crime,
nor was 1t contemplated to grant
the unions authority to keep from
work any man who did not care to
join them. But the unions and the
public came to believe that some
such special privilege had been
granted, so recently sprang up the
fad OF putting the unions out of
business even though they at
tempted nothing more than collec-
a n IN o,Rd
of working conditions.
Conservation has not escaped the
faddist. The wild lands Of the
west are to be kept for unborn
generations even though the prices
OF foodstuffs are mounting. The
mesquite deserts Of Arizona are to
be converted into forest reserves.
Oil and mineral lands are to be
preserved for oncoming genera
tions. Water powers are not to- be
used lest somebody should make a
dollar out of them. Conservation
seems TO be prison wherein to
confine the adventurous spirit Of
the conquering pioneer.
We have a political conserva-
tion which i deem of infinite harm
to the American people. 1t is a
sort of conservation of our intel
lectual honesty. We let our heart
throbs go on in international af-
fairs. but we will not permit our
intellectual honesty to be used in
the solution OF those affairs We
know clearly enough there Is but
one of two courses for us to pur-
sue. yet we seem unwilling to
pursue either. 1t ought to be ap-
parent that we are to engage in
the politics of the world or that
we are to return to that pleasing
condition of life wherein we can
say, Let the world go hang"
We cannot be in world affairs and
out Of world affairs at the same
time.
x y *
Personally, I have always felt
that it was the duty Of America
to join the. league Of nations and
remain a member Of it until the
countries OF the old world shall
have recovered from the she'll