progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL in completely controlling them in the interest of the public welfare. For that purpose the Federal Bureau of Corporations is an agency of first importance. Its powers, and, therefore, its efficiency, as well as that of the Interstate Commerce Commission, should be largely increased. We have a right to expect from the Bureau of Corporations and from the Interstate Commerce Commission a very high grade of public service. We should be as sure of the proper conduct of the interstate railways and the proper management of interstate business as we are now sure of the conduct and management of the national banks, and we should have as effective supervision in one case as in the other. The Hepburn Act, and the amendment to the act in the shape in which it finally passed Congress at the last session, represent a long step in advance, and we must go yet further. The establishment of personal criminal liability to officers and directors would become a substantial burden and it has been enacted through many laws over the past century. Yet the view of Roosevelt at the time, and progressives in general, was that corporations were in some sense static in that once they captured a market position it could never be challenged because they had gathered so much power. They totally failed to see market cycles, the effects of the entrepreneur and the results of aging management in monopolistic companies. One need just look at the companies dominating Wall Street in 1910 and compare them 25, 5, 100 years later. Roosevelt then continues to look poorly upon those who have achieved. He states: The absence of effective State, and, especially, national, restraint upon unfair moneygetting has tended to create a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power. The prime need is to change the conditions which enable these men to accumulate power which is not for the general welfare that they should hold or exercise. We grudge no man a fortune which represents his own power and sagacity, when exercised with entire regard to the welfare of his fellows. He does not state what is unfair other than the getting of money. He seeks national Government restraint against this group. The progressives were rebelling against what they saw as a major evil, the large corporations and trusts. The irony of course is that at the time the US was still a predominantly agricultural economy and even in business it was dominated by many small companies. The problem was in certain more visible sectors such as the railroads, and even telecommunications, the large and monopoly prone industries, those with great economies of scale. Thus Roosevelt calls for Government control. as a basis for his progressive movement. Roosevelt then presents his support for a graduated income tax. He states: Page 88
The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned. Every dollar received should represent a dollar's worth of service rendered - not gambling in stocks, but service rendered. The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in another tax which is far more easily collected and far more effective - a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate. This was a class warfare issue, in that he was speaking to farmers who looked eastward and saw the bankers in New York and the industrialist in other eastern cities and saw them making money by manipulating businesses. He then saw this as a way both to win votes and equalize the wealth. Roosevelt then proceeds to detail his proposals for unemployment insurance and the minimum wage. He states: The fundamental thing to do for every man is to give him a chance to reach a place in which he will make the greatest possible contribution to the public welfare. Understand what I say there. Give him a chance, not push him up if he will not be pushed. Help any man who stumbles; if he lies down, it is a poor job to try to carry him; but if he is a worthy man, try your best to see that he gets a chance to show the worth that is in him. No man can be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living, and hours of labor short enough so that after his day's work is done he will have time and energy to bear his share in the management of the community, to help in carrying the general load. Roosevelt then stresses the importance of a strong and powerful central Government. This idea is the cornerstone of the progressive movement. He states: I do not ask for over centralization; but I do ask that we work in a spirit of broad and farreaching nationalism when we work for what concerns our people as a whole. We are all Americans. Our common interests are as broad as the continent. I speak to you here in Kansas exactly as I would speak in New York or Georgia, for the most vital problems are those which affect us all alike. The national government belongs to the whole American people, and where the whole American people are interested, that interest can be guarded effectively only by the national government. The betterment which we seek must be accomplished, I believe, mainly through the national government. This stress on all being Americans, and that New York, Georgia, Kansas, are all Americans is prefatory to his stating that the central Government should be empowered to do what is necessary. We will see that in many ways this was akin to what Wilson wrote of as well but for Roosevelt it was written as a stump speech and for Wilson the esoteric verbiage of the academic. Page 89
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progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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