Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1923-06-13


through the advancing application Of
science we create new forces with
which men may dNnlinate-railway
power, Oil, and what not. They may
produce temporary hockades 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
twin 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 distri-
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 Ightful initiative, are
in keeping with our social foundations.
Naturalization 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 it main
tain the initiative of our people? For
In the first must lie the deadine
/ 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 our 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-
tons 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 own 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 a consideration of
thn <hnA
whether our system shows signs Of de-
cay, whether Its virility Is maintained;
and by the touchstone Of time we can
find out whether these forces have
been powerful enough to overcome the
-, maiign Influences that would lessen
', the welhbeing Of our system.
II 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 indl
| vidualism In stimulation to invention;
large constructive vision intensity in
| production with decreased phyaical
] 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
| struction, 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-
ton 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 accredt the exposures
Of failure In our government and bust
ness as evidence of standards of a low
er order than in some other nations.
A considerable experience leads me
to the conviction that while we do
wash our dirty linen in public most
others never wash it.
1t is easy to arrafgn any existing In
stitution. 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
e%n lr,~. t-sk