The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1931-01-23
7he.Cherry
" Where with sar
about many things. sometimes pro-
fonndly. sometimes nippantly,
sometimes recklessly.

Our social system and our political
system rest upon just two of three
basic things. One of these is the pri-
vate ownership of property. 1t is
fundamental with us that a man can
gain title to and hold property in his
own right, privately, for himself and
thereon he can be king.
That right is too valuable to be
sacrificed. Beyond any right of ques-
ton it has contributed nightly to,
the American spirit, or psychology, or
whatever you want to call it. If
man be sweeper of the streets and
can yet come lawfully by the price of
a farm or a factory he can buy the
farm or the factory and. he can
own it.
AS long as America retains any
thing like it's present character we
shall defend and maintain that right.
But we constantly modify the title
in one respect. We constantly i'm
pose more conditions that limit what
| ownership means when that owner
ship stretches out and affects the lives
of other people.
We regulate railroads, which are
private property. We are feeling for
a way to regulate power. We make
difference between so-called public
service properties and other proper
ties and we are not always clear in
our mind as to what are public serv-
ice properties. The line is subject to
| change.
The truth is that when the right of
| private ownership was established a
man could not, by the aid of ma
chinery, stretch out his jurisdiction to
cover nation. He could not stretch
out his authority and bring thousands
under his domination.
That changing character of prop
erty is giving statesmen headache.
| y
Also it is giving some owners
headache. When private property be-
comes an industry, Incorporated and
| given the protection of the state, with
| limitations of it's liabilities, it takes
itself out of the class of house or
| farm and enters a different property
category.
1t is all, perhaps, very confusing
and yet it is something to think about
and something that will have to be
thought about.
Moreover, those who think about it
in the lofty and languid manner of
the metaphysician will get nowhere.
A railroad down in Texas thought
that, as private property, it could
determine the allegiance of it's en-
ployes. But the supreme court of
the United States said that idea was
no good.
In countless ways we limit the free
dom of owners of private property to
do as it pleases.
The truth is that mighty change
is taking place. The law says unions
are lawful organizations and there
fore it is lawful for them to function.
Wherever they function they put re-
straints upon owners of private prop
erty.
Where men like Harry Fitzgerald,
owner of mills at Danville, Va, stand
out and demand that they have a
right to run their own business as
they like they find that their busi-
ness can't run unless others help and
| give their service That is a very
effective limitation upon the rights
of owners of private property. Then
we discover that most of the people
of the United States begin talking
about certain other rights-the right
| to decent living for those who work.
| the right to join a union that will
compel the payment of decent wages,
the right of men to have a say about
| the conditions under which they will
work on somebody's private property.
| We shall maintain the right to own
property privately, but it begins to
appear that the question of what
power shall go with ownership is not
yet settled-and maybe never will
be. Certainly, however, it can no
longer carry the right of life or death.
26,000 checks for old age pensions,