Vindauga

This is not the place to dwell on elementary propositions or expose the miserable fallacies of plutocratic organs. But it is proper to premise the discussion now entered upon by stating that matters of policy and expediency are not within the discretion of the executive department of the national government so far as it is concerned with enacted legislation. Powerful as the president is, he cannot set aside the most trivial or most objectionable law of the United States.

The above comments were written by Victor Yarros in his essay The Trust Problem Restudied which appeared in The American Journal of Sociology Vol. 8, No. 1 (July 1902). He is referring to a contemporary resurgence of interest in the anti-trust legislation of the day. The president he is concerned with is Teddy Roosevelt. I am as impressed with the thought and concern for the topic as I am with the manner in which Yarros writes; “If they are at sea, perplexed, dubious, and anxious for light and guidance, what do the ’schools,’ the thinkers and reformers, have to offer them?”

I don’t think I have anything substantive to say about this article. I don’t think it has any particular bearing on my current project. Mostly, I just wanted folks to read how folks used to criticize the president.

post script

I thought this was worth adding

“The leading Republican newspaper of the country, the New York Tribune, objects to the application of the term ’socialism’ to municipal ownership and operation, and states sententiously that ‘public ownership of public utilities is not socialism’”