The Gavelyte, December 1907

• 1):: the East, but these great empires of wealth and power have sprung up with– in the present generar,ion. Their p·oi,;sibilities are limited only by the tolera– tion of the people. It is evident to all thinking men that if the principle of individual liber– ty is to be preserved, the present course of economic evolution, which is cnrnhing out the -principle from the very fields of commenie and industry, must be directed into other channels. Just as it was necessary in order that inrlividual liberty might be presP.ned in the political world, that the power o"f kings should be crushed, so in this day and age it is necessary, in order that individual liberty may be preserved in the economic world, that the ol igarchic power of the owners of great. industrial combinations should be crushed. J nst as it was necessary for the development of the individual that the government should be controlled by the people as a whole, instead of by a few kings and lords, so now, for the same reason, it is necessary that the gnrnt public utilities, even more necessary than government for individ– ual liberty and developm~nt, should be controlled by the people as a whole, instead of by a few despotic, economic kings. Whether this control is to take the form of the government regulation proposed by President Roo~e– velt, or of the government ownership proposed by others, time and experience .alone can demonstrate But one thing is c:1rtain: if individual liberty is to be preserved, to go on and accomplish its beneficent mis8ion, these great common utilities, upon which all depend, must be so controlled that they will exi~t for the good of all. Ceasele~s vigilance is the price of eternal liberty. We must not think that the battle has been once fought and the victory forever _gained. The µrinciple of individual liberty can only be perpetuaterl by constant warfare against all forms of oppression that interfere with the development of the inrlividual, \vhether that oppression comes from a despotic king or a gigan– tic Trust. But of one thing we may rest assured. The message which the An<Ylo-, axon race has so loudly and so earnestly heriilded to the rest of the .... world, it will not fail to apply to itself. One more battle will be fought, one more victory recorded, anrl then the principle of individual liberty shall go on to new conquests to fresh triumphs, until in the providence of Cod, xome new race, with some new message, some new principle, still grander and nobler. shall rome to advance mankind to heights as yet unrlreamed of hy rnrirtal mind.