EDITORIAL 



293 



into lumbering, rather than into mining, 

 railroading, merchandising, stock- 

 speculating, or what-not, there seems 

 absolutely nothing about the situation 

 to occasion comment. "Business is 

 business." Men enter business to make 

 money. One way in which money has 

 been made and in which some will prob- 

 ably still be made is by buying up at a 

 low figure a tract of timberland, clear- 

 ing it, selling the timber, mineral rights, 

 or anything else "thereunto appertain- 

 ing" and then, when the lemon has been 

 well squeezed, discarding it and seeking 

 new worlds to conquer. This is what, 

 in Europe, Asia, Africa and the isles 

 of the sea, as well as in America, men 

 "on the make" have been doing in in- 

 creasing measure since the beginning 

 of our modern industrial era, say 200 

 years ago. It is also quite in harmony 

 with the methods frequently employed, 

 in a measure at least under the forms 

 of law, by Roman provincial governors, 

 who were assigned choice territory 

 nominally to "administer" but, from 

 their own standpoint if not from that 

 of the public, to exploit and plunder. 

 Had such a governor failed to improve 

 his opportunities to make a fortune out 

 of his office, and left something worth 

 while for his successor in the territory' 

 assigned him, to say nothing of the 

 population presumably dependent for 

 their livings upon the resources of that 

 territory, he would, thereafter have 

 been regarded by his contemporaries 

 with cynical smiles, as a man incapable 

 of appreciating a "good thing." 



The policy pursued by Warren Hast- 

 ings in India was similar in principle. 

 He saw his chance, improved it, and 

 expected the approval of those who ob- 

 served how well he had taken care, not 

 only of the interests of the company 

 he served, but of himself. 



But sentiment sometimes changes. 

 Verres, it will be recalled, realized this 

 truth when, after listening to the first 

 of the powerful orations by Cicero on 

 his methods in Sicily, he found it advis- 

 able to flee with his booty. Hastings, 

 likewise, on returning to England dis- 

 covered that public opinion in that 



country had undergone a "sea change, 

 into something new and strange." 

 Methods which were once winked at 

 or applauded now raised grave ques- 

 tions. Under the eloquence of Burke, 

 Fox, Sheridan and Grey the Hastings 

 administration assumed an aspect wide- 

 ly different from that in which it had 

 hitherto been viewed. 



Indications are not wanting that a 

 similar change in public opinion regard- 

 ing the conduct of private business is 

 in progress in the United States and 

 throughout the civilized world. It is 

 probable that the Roosevelt administra- 

 tion will stand in history as the land- 

 mark indicating the beginning of this 

 change in the United States. We read- 

 ily remember the time when a "private 

 business" was supposed to be a private 

 concern pure and simple. The idea of 

 operating it with a regard for the pub- 

 lic well-being, or for the interests of 

 posterity, was thought chimerical, senti- 

 mental and unworthy of consideration 

 by practical people. "Money" was the 

 one thing that "talked," and each was 

 supposed to get money, honestly, if he 

 could, but nevertheless, to get it. If, 

 in so doing, he manufactured plugged 

 armor plate, sold goods infected with 

 disease germs, "sweated" women and 

 children in factories, or ravished the 

 resources of a continent, it was the 

 affair of no one save those immediately 

 concerned. Even the individuals in- 

 jured had little ground for complaint, 

 because, if workers, they were "free" 

 to work or desist, and if buyers, to buy 

 the goods or leave them alone ; while, 

 as for the public, its interests were not 

 to be seriously thought of. 



Are we not conscious, however, of 

 the acceptance to-day by increasing 

 numbers of a different viewpoint? Do 

 we not now speak of "human re- 

 sources" which must be conserved ? Do 

 we not admit that the rights of the 

 public are, after all, paramount to the 

 rights of the mere money-maker ; and 

 do we not agree that future generations 

 have rights which the present is bound 

 to respect? If such be true, is it not 

 probable that the day will come— is, in 



