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JUNE 9, 1111
The Commoner
ty ' it
right of the Individual we are no
longer fond of regarding &g his op
portunity to serve his own selfish
purposes. , We are now thinking
rather of the obligations Involved to
conform his purposes to the general
interest. We now think of the right
of the individual as an obligation to
be just rather than as an opportunity
to be selfish. Similarly, thinking of
the rights of the states not as their
prerogative to serve their own in
terests without regard to the in
terests of the country as a whole but
rather as their opportunity to play
their part in the general development
and in the readjustment of those re
lations which have threatened to be
come radically unsatisfactory and
dangerous both in the field of Indus
try and in the field of politics, both
in the matter of the use of capital
and in the field of legislation, we
assert them again for the service of
the people.
"Almost of a sudden, It would
Beem, the states have stepped for
ward and reasserted themselves as
full partners with the federal govern
ment in the insnirins: Drotrrain of De
gressive reform.
THE TRYING-OUT GROUNDS
"They are the trying-out grounds
of our political system. Each state
is. at liberty to develop its own
opinion to Bult Its reforms to its
own life, to try this experiment and
the other with Its laws and institu
tons in order that no hopeful pro
gram may be neglected or fail of be
ing neglected. It is. very noteworthy
that some of the most alert and pro
gressive of state communities, like
those of several of our western states,
have set the ' pace for the country,
have fortunately, exercised their
rights of independent choice in such
a' way as to blaze ja. trail for the
more conservative states. In many
instances theyhave made mistakes,
no doubt, but the mistakes have
been instructive and profitable to
themselves and to the rest of the
country hardly less than their suc
cesses have been. At any rate, what
ever betide, they do not hold back
dull and acnuiescent and honeless.
They are no longer beating about in
a nameless routine of legislation
without large plan or program, and
" they are diligently setting them
selves to face the circumstances of a'
new age, adjusting the conditions of
their life to the new forces, checking
those things which are sinister and
menacing and permitting those things
which are honest and hopeful and
full of legitimate force.
"Our states therefore are again
proving themselves the source of our
variety and individuality. They are
proving themselves again the foun
tains of our legal strength, the
sources of our legal growth. The
federal government can in the nature
of the case go no further tnan me
broad outlines of regulation, the
establishment of those conditions of
law which will fit the country as a
wHo'le, which will prevent the colli
sion, the undesirable rivalry and
opposition of its several parts. It
can only sketch in broad outline the
economic and political regulation
which is necessary for the life of the
country. The states must fill in
the detail, must undertake the regu
lation which adjusts enterprise to
the dally life of the community, must
see to it that there is no essential
antagonism between the use of
wealth and the development of a
wholesome life, that the gates of
opportunity are kept open, that men
are everywhere free to work, that
communities are protected against
disease, particular classes against
the crushing burdens of certain kinds
of labor, that the streams are utilized
as the sources of power and refresh
ment, that the forests are conserved
within their borders, that the re
ources which ought to be common
are not monopolized and used ex
clusively for private benefit and
profit.
WHERE SERYICE IS NEEDED
"More and more, thereforo, it
would seem, will the energetic men
of this country find their profitable
field of service in the politics of our
states. It Is becoming evident that
they are to be the battle ground of
political reform. It has never been
possible so far to maintain anything
that could be fairly called a national
political machine. It has only been
to speak figuratively when we have
spoken of any man as a national
boss. The machine which wo fear,
which we mean to control, which con
stitutes the main problem of political
reform for us, 1b a local affair. Wo
find it in cities and in states, xne
states are the units of organization
in our politics, and being the units of
of organization are also the units of
reform, the units of purification, of
simplification and of correction with
regard to everything that threatens
to go wrong in our national life.
Mnronvor f h pv fira of necessity the
chief battle ground of economic re
form. It is the states which incor
porate the great undertakings which
threaten to bulk larger than the
states themselves in power which
they exercise. The whole problem
of the regulation of public service
corporations, for example, is a state
problem except in so far as the great
railway systems of the country are
concerned, which are the arteries
of interstate commerce. For the
daily convenience and freedom of
our people the control of trolley
lines, of gas companies, of electric
light and power companies, is even
more important than the control of
crrnf rnHwavB. The way in which
these local public service corpora-
ii mnnfMi1 Vina n vnnr. deal to I
do not only with the convenience and
comfort of our several communities
but with their development, with
their actual existence, with the whole
question of the congestion of popu
lation and the maintenance of whole
some and sanitary and convenient
conditions. Their control is neces
sarily a question for the states and
. atnfon ant. wisely or unwisely,
courageously or hesitatingly in their
control, or will the life of the people
be clogged or cleared, assisted or im
peded, so will political and economic
conditions be improved or rendered
worse.
THE CONSERVATION PROBLEM t
"Even the large matter of con
servation is'more a question for th
states than for the federal govern
ment. The federal government can
act in that matter only Insofar as
It still controls lands and forests and
mines and water courses. The great
wiir nf vi lnnrJ of the continent and
of its resources has passed out of
federal control long ago. It is i the
states which must determine by their
policy whether the natural resources
of the country are to bo exhausted,
or renewed, wasted or conserved, and
the matter will require all the more
careful statesmanship and planning
because it will touch life very inti
mately at many points.
"In short, politics Is not a matter
of broadly outlined plans. It is a
very intensive matter and nowhere
will legislative regulation have to be
more carefully ana juunuuuoijr
planned than within the several
states. Their welfare and develop
ment are in their own hands. It is
well for the stimulation of their
people that it. should be o. They
can depend upon no one but them
selves to effect their emancipation
from conditions which are onerous
to them. Necessity will force upon
them an active role of reform and
readjustment, and we may look for
ward with confidence to a time .of
i HmiiinHnn when state will
follow state to serve the life of the.
people in its detail as advantageously
and as promptly as possible.
LOSING PARTY LINES
"It Is probable that the partial
obliteration of party lines so com
monly remarked upon today is in part
duo to thiB Increased and increasing
activity of the state. The questions
which affect their Internal interests
do not often square with the ques
tions which divide national parties
from one another. It is difficult to
translate the particular interests of
an Individual state and its people
into terms which will sound like a
democratic platform as distinguished
from a republican platform. Men are
beginning to realize that patriotic
endeavor in these fields is not a mat
ter of partizanshlp but a mat
tor or intelligent information, and
that It requires a kind of action from
which it is possible to shut out party
feeling altogether. Civic activity Ib
hard sometimes to translato into
party terms, and what is interesting
men in America nowadays more than
ever before Is the detail of civic
duty. They are more and more dis
playing their anxiety to comprehend
the needs of the communities in
which they live and to meet those
needs in as candid and unselfish a
way as possible. I say 'unselfish,'
and yet it is not altogether a matter
of unselfishness, either. The best
indication of enlightenment of any
community is that its business men
should begin to realize that nothing
benefits them individually so much
as the uniform and equitable develop
ment of the communities in which
they live and of the whole country.
What will bring us out into a new
day, if anything will, is the growing
perception that the common interest
Is synonymous with individual in
terest; that a free, comfortable,
happy, energetic people are the best
capital that a country can possess,
and that only those things which
stimulate the general body of the
people and do them justice will matfq
business in the narrow sense truly
prosperous and profitable.
CAUSE FOR CONGRATULATION "
"Let us congratulate ourselves
that now in each stato in turn men
are addressing thomselves to a now
quest; they are seoklng to find tho
common term of their Ufo, that is to
say, the general interest, in tho con
sciousness that when they have dis
covered it and have by common
counsel got together in common en
deavor they have at last discovered
tho best way to servo thomsolvcs as
well as tho best way to servo tho
country. Modern business is upon a
great and public scale. Modern
business men are engaged in nothing
less than the statesmanship of
economic development, and only, as
they address thcmsolvcs to tho mattor
In tho spirit of statesmon will they
really achievo tho largo. ends at which
they aro aiming."
ritETTY QUICK
He "But couldn't you learn to
love mo, Anna?"
She "I don't think I could,
Harry."
Ho (reaching for his hat) "It is
as I feared you aro too old to
learn." Harper's Bazar.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
"Where aro you going with that
goat, littlo boy?"
"Down to tho lake. Come along
if you wanter see some fun. This
here goat has jest ot a crate of
sponges, an I'm goln' down an' lot
him drink." Toledo Blade. .
THE IMPORTANT THING . '
Wo can understand tho case with
which a fool and his' money are
parted, but what puzzles us Is ,-how
the fool got the money to part with.
Cleveland Plain Dealer.
i
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