The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1923-03-15

invigorating appeal to individual ini-
pulse. to individual action. The state
must educate. The state must assist
where necessary The state must
shield the weak against the arrogance
of the strong. That is one view. What
is the other? That private enterprise
! is failure. tried and found to be
wanting A complete failure. These
are great challenges for us to decide
We say that the ills of private enter
prise can be averted. Unemployment
with it's injustice for the man who
seeks for employment and cannot ger
lit, and who is. punished for the fail
ure he is not responsible for the star
walton of his children. That torture
! is something that private enterprise
ought to remedy for its own sake. =
| Now, dear reader, has private en-
terprise any such responsibility and
does it recognize its Or does private
enterprise of this day accept public
service as fat pasture for gratis Is
not the standard of privte enterprise
| in the most part and with most people
all that they can get out of the other
fellowq Of course we can point to a
few noticeable exceptions, and there
are very many in all walks of life who
accept the Golden Rule and the princi-
pie of the brotherhood of man and
practice them in their life. But until
the spirit of the Golden Rule is enact
ed into every bit of legislation and is
established in every department. of our
government with adequate penalties,
Golden Rule will be questionable.
| One of the exceptions to the rule
of greed is the offer Ford has made
to the government for. the lease and
completion of the Mussen Shoals nj
trate plant and power. That offer, it
is said, has raised more quiet interest
than anything that has happened for
long time, because of its farreachr
ing effect through establishing the
Ford policy, which is production at a
normal profit. He is to sign an agree
ment whereby he would sell power for
ten million that NOW sells for one
hundred His price of fertilizer would
be very much reduced. That princi-
pie not only antagonizes the power
and fertilizer people, but reaches al
most every special privilege, price
maintaining interest. The opposition
is strong in finance and propaganda,
but the principle is the key to wha.
the common people are after: That is.
to establish prices in relation to cost
instead of in relation to what can be
exacted
In 1884 common nails could be
bought at Portland at 21a cents a
pound. Why's Because few men
thought that they had the freight haul
from Pittsburg to Seattle in their
power and started nail factory.
Nails had been cents, but the nail
trust started the price downward, and
there was no law to stop them from
lSehnG at loss at one place and
make up their loss by raising the price
at another place. In short, that is the
story of how our great monopolies
were built. The Inland Empire fought
the through haul for many years.
mention these old matters merely 60
illustrate the difference betwent graft
and service.
Are these things the will of the
peoplei I think not; but 1 do think
that republic requires the new phil
osophy of life, which is service. To
state the point concisely, big business
exists theoretically by sovereign grace,
which is rendered instead of being re-
quired.
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