OCR Text |
Show H THE CREED OF GREED. H - Now and then the Standpat organs unburden themselves of a H , profundity of political ideas which, if not acceptable to the great j majority of the people, at least disclose the underlying motive of the j men who stand opposed to reforms in public affairs Here is the f San Francisco Chronicle, one of the strongest defenders of the ad- Hl i ministration, assailing La Follette, Roosevelt and Bryan. The K, Chronicle says: 0" "The effusive cordiality observed in both Senator La H -Follette and Colonel William J. Bryan the other day, when Hl they met by chance or arrangement in a railroad station, M is vcrysuggestive. H j .. "It may be, as alleged, that they only talked about di- H rect election of Senators, but there could never have been " H such an exhibition as is described of unspeakable delight at H the meeting except between two souls -with but u single H - thought, two hearts that beat as one. There can be no j -" question that in all thoso matters which both think para- B mount issues Bryan and La Follette are in hearty accord. flj "Without reference to any particular measure, it is a Hl fact that fundamentally, and in their tendency, and with HI I disagreements only on minor points, Colonel Roosevelt and M j Senator La Follette stand substantially for those policies M which are held and advocated by Mr. Bryan. M I "Fundamentally these views are that private enter- M , prise and initiative exerted for profit are to be super- M vised, hampered and repressed by non-expert officials." H j ' While Andrew Carnegie was before the Steel Trust investigating M I committee on Thursday, he admitted the need of government con- H ij trol of the powerful combinations of wealth in the United States and M if he pointed to government regulation of railroad competition by the H i Interstate Commerce commission as one of the greatest blessings H- ever conferred on the American people by congressional enactment. H' And we refer to this point, because that is where the Progressives H , and Standpatters come to the parting of the ways. The Stand pat- M ' ters do not like La Follette or Roosevelt, and they class them with M Br3Tan because those two distinguished statesmen have stood for H , government regulation of the gigantic trusts and the other combina- H tions which-thrcaten destruction to every other interest that stands H in their path. H La Follette and Roosevelt are warding off Socialism: by elim- H; inating from the commercialism of today that which is most of- H' fensive to the great body of the people, namely the tendency of H, large corporations to disregard fair methods and to ignore the un- W written law of fair play. H There has not been a single forward movement in national legis- H lation, hang for its object the equalizing of opportunity in this H countr3r and the improving of the moral atmosphere of big bus- H aness that has escaped the condemnation of papers aligned with the H Standpatters, and forendost among those organs of greed has been H the San Francisco Chronicle, ably edited, but woefully perverted. |