The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-12-06

by gambling in any form, are always
| source OF menace not only to themselves
but to others IL the business world
loses its head, il loses what legislation
| cannot supply. Fundamentally the
welfare Of each citizen. and therefore
the welfare of the aggregate OF citizens
which makes the nation. must rest upon
individual thrift and energy. resolution
| and intelligence. Nothing can take the
| place of this individual capacity; but
wise legislation and honest and in
| telligent administration can give II the
| fullest scope, the largest opportunity
| to work to good effect.
| The tremendous and highly complex
| industrial development which went on
| with ever accelerated rapidity during
| the latter half of the nineteenth century
| brings us face to face at the beginning
| of the twentieth, with very serious So
cial problems. The old laws, and the
| old customs which had almost the bind
| ing force of law, were once quite suffi-
| cient to regulate the accumulation
| and distribution of wealth. Since the
| industrial changes which have so enor-
! mously increased the productive power
of mankind, they are no longer sLffi-
| cient
| The growth of cities has gone on be-
yong comparison faster than the growth
of the country, and the upbuilding of
| the great industrial centers has meant
| a startling increase, not merely in the
| aggregate of wealth. but in the number
of very large individual, and especially
Of very large corporate fortunes. The
| creation of these great corporate for
| tunes has not been due to the tariff nor
TO any other government action, but to
| natural causes in the business world,
operating in other countries as they op-
| crate in our own
| Largo Corporate Fortunes
! The process has aroused much antag-
| onism a great part Of which is wholly
| without warrant. 1t is not true that
as the rich have grown richer the poor
| have e own poorer. On the contrary,
never before has the average man, the
wage-worker, the farmer, the small
| trader, been so we'll off as in this coun-
| try and at the present time. There
| have have been abuses connected with
the accumulation of wealth; yet it re-
mains true that a fortune accumulated
in legitimate business can be accumu-
lated by the person specially benefited
only on condition of comforting immense
incidental benefits upon others. Sue
cessful enterprise, of the type which
benefits all mankind, can only exist if
the conditions are such as to offer great t
prizes as the rewards of success.
The captains of industry who have
; driven the railway systems across this
continent. who have built up our COM
merce, who have developed our manu-
factures, have on the whole done great
1 good to our people. Without them the
!, Material development of which we are
so justly proud could never have taken
place. Moreover, we should recognize
the immense Importance to this mate
rial development of leaving as unharnp-
cred as is compatible with the public
good the strong and forceful men upon
whom the success of business opera
tions inevitably rests. The slightest
study of business conditions will salts
fly anyone capable of forming a judg-
ment that the personal equation IS the
most important factor in business
operation; that the business ability of
the man at the head of any business
concern, big or little, is usually the fac
tor which fixes the gulf between strik-
ing success and hopeless failure.
Canton in LEGISLATION Against Trusts
An additional reason for caution in
dealing with corporations is to be found
in the international commercial condi-
tions of today. The same business con-
ditions which have produced the great
aggregationS of corporate and indiYid-
ual wealth have made them very potent
factors in international commercial
competition. Business concerns which
have the largest means at their dispo-
sal and are managed by the ablest men
| are naturally those which take the lead
in the strife for commercial Suprema-
cy among the nations of the world.
| America has only just begun to assume
| that commanding position in the inter
national business world which we De-
| Heve will more and more be hers. 1t
is of the utmost Importance that this
| position be not jeoparded, especially at
of our own national resources and skill,
business energy, and mechanical apti-
tude of our people make foreign mar
ketS essential. Under such conditions
it would be most unwise to cramp or
to fetter the youthful strength of our
nation.
Moreover, it cannot too often be point
ed out that to strike with ignorant vio-
lence at the interests of one set Of men
almost inevitably endangers the inter-
ests of all. The fundamental rule in
our national life-the rule which un-
derlies all others-is that, on the whole,
and in the long run, we shall go up or
down together. There are exceptions:
and in times of prosperity some will
prosper far more, and in times of ad-
versity some will suffer far more, than
others; but speaking generally, a period
OF good times means that all share more
or less in them, and in period Of hard
llIHSS ali Iee1 Cne stress 10 a greater OF
less degree. 1t surely ought not to be
necessary to enter into any proof of this
statement; the memory of the lean
years which began in 1893 is still vivid
and We can contrast them with the con-
ditions in this very year which is now
closing. Disaster to great business en-
terprises can never have it's effects linn
tied to the men at the top. 1t spreads
throughout, and while it is bad for
everybody, it is worst for those farthast
down. The capitalist may be shorn of
his luxuries; but the wage-worker may
be deprived of even bare necessities.
/ The mechanism Of modern business is
so delicate that extreme care must be
taken not to interfere with 1t in a spirit
Of rashness or ignorance. Many of
those who have made 1t their vocation
to denounce the great industrial COM
binations which are popularity, although
with technical inaccuracy, known as
trusts" appeal especially to hatred
and fear. These are precisely the TWO
/. eunntionS narfir,r1o II xrhan cor,hspoI