Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-01-04

YESTEi.DA.-
ING.
RoOsEvELTs MESSAGE READ.
THE VIEWS OF THE GOVERNOR up
ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Modern Industrial Conditions Were
the Leading Theme of the Rec
marks of the Executive, and He
Gave His Ideas Full Swing-The
Text of His Remarks.

ALBAN4, N. T., JANUARY o. Hc
State Legislature convened in annual
session to-day. In the Senate Timothy
E. Ellsworth, of Niagara county, was
reelected President pro tenn, and, in the
House Frederick Nixon, of Chautauqua
county, was reelected Speaker. A
feature of the Senate chamber was
floral arch over the desk of Lieut.. Gov.
Timothy L. Woodruff, showing the
word Excelsior" in red. white and
blue letters. After the organization
of the two houses had been completed,
the annual message of Gov. THEODORE
Roosevelt was read.
The Governors views.
In the course of his message Gov.
Roosevelt treats at considerable length
Of the subjects OF modern industrial
conditions and trusts He says:
"The contrast offered in the highly
specialized Industrial Community be-
tween the very rich and the very poor,
is exceedingly distressing, and while
under normal conditions the acquire
ment Of wealth by an individual is nee
essarily of great. Incidental benefit to
| the community as whole, yet this is
| by no means always the case. In our
| great cities there is plainly in evidence
much wealth contrasted with much pow
| erty, and some OF the wealth has been
| acquired, or is used in a manner for
which there is no moral justification"
In further discussion of the subject
the Governor says in part:
I Probably the large majority of the
| fortunes that now exist in this coun-
try have been amassed, not by injuring
| mankind, but as an incident to the con-
ferring of great benefits on the COM
munity whatever
The Conscious Purpose
of those amassing them may have been.
The occasional wrongs committed or
injuries endured are On the whole far
outweighed by the mass Of gopso3sdl , which
asked are: Has any given individual
been injured by the acquisition of
wealth by any man? Were the rights
of that individual, if they have been
violated, insufficiently protected by
law If so, .11Ese rights, and all SINH
lar rights, ought to be guaranteed by
additional legislation. The point to be
| aimed at is the protection of the i1idi-
! vidual against wrong, not the attempt
to limit the acquisition and output of
wealth.
ut is almost equally dangerous either
| to blink evils and refuse to acknowl-
| edge their existence, or to strike at
them in a spirit of ignorant revenge,
thereby doing far more harm than is
remedied. 1t is well to remember on
the one hand that the adoption of what
/ is reasonable in the demands Of re-
formers is the surest way to prevent the
adoption of what is unreasonable, and
on the other hand that many of the
worst and most dangerous laws which
have been put upon statute books have
been put there by jealous reformers
with excellent intentions.
This problem has
| A Hundred Phases.
| The relation of the capitalist and the
/ wage worker makes one; the proper
attitude of the State towards extreme
poverty another; the proper attitude
of the State towards the questions of
| the ownership and running of so-called
| public utilities third. But among
all these phases, the one which at this
time has the greatest prominence is
the question Of what are commonly
termed trusts meaning by the name
those vast combinations of capital,
usually fourishing by virtue of some
monopolistic element which have be-
come so startlingly common a feature
in the industrial revolution which has
progressed so rapidly during the re-
cent years.
Every new feature of this industrial
revolution produces hardship, because
in its later stages it has been literally
a revolution instead of an evolution.
The new. inventions and discoveries
and the new methods Of taking advan-
tage of business facilities afforded by
the extraordinary development of our
material civilization Have caused the
changes to proceed with such marvel
GUS rapidity that at. each stage some
body of workers finds itself unable to
accommodate itself TO the new condi-
tons with sufficient speed TO escape
hardship.
I'm the end the accommodation of
the class takes place; at times too late
for the well being of many individuals.
In some cases, while recognizing the
evil, it is impossible without present
knowledge to discover any remedy. In
others a remedy can be applied, but as
yet only at a cost that would make it
worse than the trouble itself In yet
others it is possible by acting with
wisdom, GOODNESS and fearlessness. to
apply a remedy which will wholly or