Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], November 07, 1914, Image 1

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
A. H B w vH IT Hk H v b H 1 H B h b iL L -- 11 lk 11 1
P Vol.23 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, NOVEMBER 7, 1914 No 20 H
-An Independent Paper Published Under
! :: tfie Management of J. T. Goodwin ::
EDITORIALS B Y JUDGE C. C. GOOD WIN
No Government Ownership
TN his speech before the Bonneville club, Mr.
Untermyer discussed the possibility of a final
resort to public ownership as a remedy for exist
ing conditions. There should be public ownership
of the telegraph business for two reasons at least.
Telegraph charges are exhorbitant considering the
original cost, the cost of maintenance and the
service rendered. None of these statements need
discussion they are apparent to the naked eye
even when not a very brilliant brain is behind
the eyes. They should belong to and be a part
of the postal system.
, ' But the case of the railroads is vastly differ-
ent. The kind of warfare that for years has been
waged against the railroads has been from the
first misdirected. It Is easy for an accomplished
J lawyer with the law before him to frame a suit
against a great corporation, and holding that a
case bears direct relation to the penalty proceed
to try to exact that penalty. It Is natural before
i he proceeds far to begin to believe that he is a
f chosen instrument to correct a great wrong and he
I is not -unconscious of the fact that one of the
f infirmities of the majority of the human race, Is
8 to like to see a rich man or company punished
whether guilty or innocent. Let a man be charged
with crime and arraigned in court and the secret
assumption of men of that class is that the ac
cused is guilty before one word of testimony has
been spoken.
I Such lawyers and such men will proceed on
a general showing, knowing nothing of the diffi
culties of raising funds for the building and
equipping of railroads and terminals to meet the
cost of repairs and accidents and to prevent so
far as human sagacity can such accidents and re
! pairs.
' As one result of these prosecutions which not
unfrequently become persecutions, none but the
most prosperous roads can obtain the money to
keep their roads up to a condition to meet the
' growing traffic of the country.
But the remedy is not government ownership.
That would be a concentration of power most
dangerous were a few gifted but -unscrupulous
men to become the real directing force of our
government.
!No tyrant ever stole away the liberties of a
people, no tyrant ever precipitated a great war
that he did not come before the world with tears
in his eyes and cry out "see how clean my hands
are, the God above knows I was forced into this
1t awful war."
: We saw a striking example of this in a little
vfr way in the campaign of 1912. All through that
campaign we heard one candidate declaring that
"he was in the field only because of an irresistible
' , pressure of the people pushing him forward.
" ; The first essential of the go" ;rnment is to pur
chase at a fair price' so large . ock of the stock
in two or three trunk lines o railroad as will
give Its agents places in the directory of those
roads.
In that way those agents would learn enough
about the business of railroading to be able to
advise the president and congress what new laws
are needed for their perfect government. Then
1? necessary a new railroad code would be formu
lated which would at once enable the railroad
companies to do any needed thing and at the
same time protect the public in their dealings
with the roads. Then no public ownership would
be needed, which at best is less effective than
private ownership. The postal service has been
vastly extended, but not greatly improved in a
hundred years, because the men employed have
been only anxious about theL salaries. In those
same years in private hands the superb present
railroad has been created.
No republic could ever be entirely safe if a
few government officials had control of 250,000
miles of railroad and of the great army needed
to keep those roads in a condition to meet the
land traffic of a continent.
The Elections
THE returns of the election show that in the
great eastern states the people believe that
it Is right for a man who has a rich harvest ma
turing to fence his fields against the ravenous
derelict stock of the outside world. The notice
the election in those states served upon Presi
dent Wilson was that tariff revision does not mean
assassination, and that "Industrial Freedom" car
ries with it the right of self protection.
The results to certain individuals are pleasant
to contemplate. Col. Roosevelt invented the abuse
which has been heaped upon Senator Penrose.
The people of Pennsylvania have entered their
protest against that abuse and at the same time
given a finish to the pestiferous Pinchot who
long ago demonstrated that there Was nothing In
him except his capacity to fawn upon Roosevelt
that thrift might follow fawning.
Were Col. Roosevelt any one else, we would
say he Was politically dead, but It will not be
strange to see him coming to the front two years
hence advocating any principles that he may
think will win, and doing it of course because
"driven to it by a popular pressure from the rear
that makes It necessary for him to come out of
his much-loved retirement to save his country."
Locally the state Is to bo congratulated on
the re-election of Senator Smoot, Congressman
Howell, Judge McCarty, and a majority of the
legislature. When we think what the combined
Democratic and Progressives' vote was two years
ago in Utah and the way the two were amalga
mated this year, it Is wonderful that any Repub
lican was elected. As it is, some good men
and women were beaten, who deserved to fare
better.
The Democracy still holds both houses of con
gress, but the president and his friends, If wise,
will see the writing on the wall made by this
year's election, and govern themselves accordingly.
The Colorado Problem M
HTHE dispatches inform us that the president H
is seeking to find whether ho has the author- H
ity to close down tho mines in Colorado around H
which tho strikers have made chaos for many H
months. H
We have no doubt that he is seeking to do H
what is right and what will be for tho best inter- H
ests of all concerned. H
But to close down the mines would leave un- H
settled a question which will eventually have to B
be settled. H
An organization which was started in Mon- H
tana several years ago was organized on a de- H
termination to control tho mines of the west with-
out regard to the rights of owners and with the
purpose to obtain and continue that control if H
necessary by open murder and secret assassin- H
H
It caused many deaths and vast losses of H
property in Colorado, it culminated in Idaho with H
the assassination of Governor Stunenberg. The H
self-confessed assassin declared that he was H
prompted to and paid for his bloody work by the H
chief officers of this organization in Denver. H
Of course no jury could convict anyone on H
his unsupported testimony even if they believed H
his statement to be true. H
One of those officers has since become an H
outspoken anarchist and at last accounts was go- H
ing about publicly declaiming defiance of all law H
and seeking to crystalize a like sentiment in the
hearts of open ruffians and weak-minded dupes. M
His teachings are behind the misguided men H
who for months have been terrorizing Colorado. H
The question presented is, "Shall these men sue- H
ceed in their nefarious determination, or shall it M
be definitely settled that owners of property shall M
control it in peace, subject only to tho laws which M
protect them?" M
To close down the mines would not settle the M
question at all, moreover, the federal government M
is bound to give each state a republican form of M
government, and when the state fails, to protect M
every citizen in life and property. M
When the same question was presented in Chi- M
cago and the then governor refused to act, Pres- H
ident Cleveland saw clearly his duty and per- jH
formed it. Did he or his-party lose prestige by H
the act? Does not his precedent supply PresI- H
dent Wilson with the courage to do what the M
laws demand of him? I
The "quality of mercy" would not be strained I
by it, but justice would be satisfied and, after
all, justice is what Is looked for antl what Is 8
needed. The question Is very simple to those I
who understand the real situation. I
Sometimes out on the desert a weary traveler I
falls asleep at night, only to be awakened by B
what seems to him the howls of innumerable I
wolves. He lies in mortal terror until the dawn H
breaks, then rising he sees half a dozen coy- H
otes slinking away in the distance. In this case IH
President Wilson should cause a new dawn to H
Colorado and insure a sun lighted quiet day, H
M