At this moment the most stable Government in the world is our own, and it is solely because, in its real essence, it is the most free, in the only sense in which Freedom really exists; where men can act at their own free discretion, restrained only by the necessities of Justice. If the spirit of the Constitution is to be observed, that great instrument is always self-preserving. It needs only to be followed to be safeguarded. To the present time, the great fundamental principles which it buttresses have never been departed from. The wealth producing doctrines of free competition and an unhampered play of the law of supply and demand (as stated in the Patten case[1]) have ever been adequately protected by the Supreme Court of the United States. That great tribunal, however difficult its task, has on the one hand defended men from the pernicious taxing power of monopoly, whilst, on the other, it has as certainly defended our citizens in their rights both freely "to pursue happiness," through all that is necessary to preserve untrammeled competition in commodities, and freedom from threat or danger of persecution. It has always shown a consciousness that excess profits are, of necessity, the result of excess needs, but their only permanent cure. Whilst Governmental necessity has unfortunately resulted in such profits being, in greater part, diverted to Governmental needs, and thus inevitably delaying the cure, it is mere folly to imagine that a complete prevention of this only effective restorative to business could be other than disastrous in the extreme. It must result in the development of all essential industries by our foreign competitors and by the destruction of our own productive enterprises unless the Government
- ↑ United States vs. Patten, 226 U. S. 525 (see page 542). 1913.
