The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-03
TRUST PHASES.
They Are Discussed by Gov
ernOr Theodore Roosevelt
In His Annual Message to the
New York Legislature.
MORE GOOD THAN BAD
Has Resulted, He Says, From
AmasSing Great Fortunes.
It Is the Individual Who Is In
Need Of Protection.
MORE GOOD THAN BAD

islature convened in annual session to- |
day In the senate Timothy E. Ellis |
worth of Niagara county was reelected |
president pro tenn and in the house |
Frederick Nixon, Chautauqua county, |
was reelected speaker.
A feature of the senate chamber was |
a floral arch over the desk ofLieutenant |
Governor Timothy L. Woodruff. show
ing the word Excelsior in red, white !
and blue letters. After the organiza-
ton of the two houses had been COM
pleted the annual vessage of Theodore
Roosevelt was read. In the
course Of his message Gov. Roosevelt
treats at considerable length of hesub-
jects of modern Industrial conditions
and trusts.
''The contrast offered in the highly
specialized industrial community be-
tween the very rich and the very poor"
says the governor, ''is exceedingly dis
tressing, and while under normal con-
ditions the requirement of wealth by an
individual is necessarily of great Incl
dental 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 con-
trasted with much poverty and some
of the wealth has been acquired, or is
used in a manner for which there is no
moral justification"
In further discussing the subject the
governor says in part: Probably the
large majority of the fortunes that now
exist in this country have been amaSS-
ed, not by injuring mankind, but as an
incident to the comforting of great bene-
fits on the community, whatever the
conscious purpose of those masSing
them may have been. The occasional
wrongs committed or injuries endured
are on the whole far outweighed by
the Of pRnd wi has
The true questions to be asked are:
Has any given individual been injured
by the acquisition of wealth by any
man? Were the rights of that individ-
ual, if they have been violated insult
ficient1y protected by law? If so these
rights and all similar rights ought to
be guaranteed by additional legisla-
tion.
The point to be aimed at is the pro-
lection of the individual against wrong,
not the attempt to limit and hamper
the acquisition and output of wealth.
1T is almost equally dangerous either
to blink at 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
WOISl anu ulOSL 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 at
titude of the state towards extreme
poverty another; the proper attitude
of the state towards the questions of
the ownership and running of so-calIed
public utilities a 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 fiourishing by virtue of some
mOnopolistic element, which have be-
some so Startlingly common a feature
in the industrial revolution which has
progressed so rapidly during the rec
ent years
Every new feature of this industrial
| revolution produces hardship, because
in it's later stages, it has been literally
a revolution instead of an evolution.
The new inventions and discoveries and
the new methods of taking advantage
of business facilities afforded by the
extraordinary development of our ma
teriaI civilization have caused the con-
ditions to proceed with such marvellous
rapidity that at each stage some body
of workers finds itself unable to ac-
commodate itself to the new conditions
with sufficient speed to escape hard
ships.
In 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 knowl-
edge to discover any remedy. In others
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 in great
part remove the evil, while leaving the
good behind
The machinery of modern business
is so vast and complicated that great
caution must be exercised in introduce
ing radical changes for fear the unfore-
seen effects may take the shape fWide-
spread disaster. Moreover much that
is complained about is not really the
abuse so much as the inevitable devel-
opment of our modern industrial life.
Very many of the anti trust laws which
have made their appearance on the
statute books of recent years have been
cause they have blinked at the all i'm
portant fact that much of what they
thought to do away with was incidental
to modern industrial conditions and
willing to turn back the wheels of mod
ern progress by also eliminating the
forces which had brought about these
Industrial conditions. Not only trusts
but the immense Importance of ma
chinery the congestion of city life the
capacity to make large fortunes by
speculative enterprise and many other
features of modern existence, it is be-
ueved thoroughly changes by doing
away with steam and electricity; but
the most ardent denouncer of trusts
would hesitate to advocate so drastic
a remedy. What remains for us to do
as practical men, is to LOOK the con-
| ditiOnS squarely in the face and not to
/ hermit the emotional side Of the 01les-