The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-04

gulf between striking success and hope
 less failure.
 An additional reason for caution il
 dealing with corporations is to be foun
 in the international commercial condi
 tions of to-d day. The same business con
 ditions which have produced the grea | aggregations of corporate and individ
 ual wealth have made them very poten
 factors in international commercial
 competition. Business concerns whicl
 have the largest means at their dsposa
 and are managed by the ablest men arc
 naturally those which take the lead il
 the strife for commercial supremacy
 among the nations of the world. Amer. 1 ica has only just begun to assume that 1 commanding position in the information 1 al business world which we believe vii
 more and more be hers. It is of the ut
 most importance that this position be
 not jeoparded, especially a q. time wher | the overllowing abundance of our owr | natural resources and the skill, busi- | ness energy and mechanical aptitude of | our people make foreign markets es- l sential. Under such conditions it would | be most unWiSe to cramp or to fettel the youthful strength of our Nation. | Moreover, it cannot too often be | pointed out that to strike with ignor- ant violence at the interests of one set
 of men almost inevitably endangers the interests 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 adver-
 sity some will suffer far more, than
 others; but speaking generally, period of good times means that all share more or less in them, and in d period of hard
 times all feel the stress to greater or
 less degree. It surely ought not to be
 necessary to enter into any proof of this
 statement; the memory of the lean
 years which began in 1898 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-
 terprise can never have it's effects limit
 ed to the men at the top. It spreads
 throughout, and while it is bad for ev-
 erybody. it is worst for those facthest
 down. The capitalist may be shorn of
 his luxuries; but the wage-earner 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 it in spirit of rashness or ignorance. Many of
 those who have made it their vocation to denounce the great industrial com- binations which are popularly, although with technical inaccuracy, known as
 trusts" appeal especially to hatred and fear. These are precisely the two emotions, particularly when combined with ignorance which unfit men for the exercise of cool and steady judgment. In facing new industrial conditions. the whole history of the world shows that Legislation will generally be both unwise and ineffective unless undertaken after calm inquiry and with sober self-re straint Much of the legislation direct ed at the trusts would have been ex- ceedingly mischievous had it not also been entirely ineffective. In accordance with well-lnown sociological law, the ignorant or reckless agitator has been the really effective friend of the evils which he has been nominally opposing. In dealing with business interests, for the Government to undertake by crude and ill., considered legislation to do what may turn out to be bad, would be to in- cur the risk of such far-reaching na- tional disaster that it would be prefer able to undertake nothing at all. The men who demand the impossible or the serve as the allies of the forces with which they are nominally at war, for they hamper those who would endeavor to find out in rational fashion what the wrongs really are and to what extent and in what manner it is practicable to apply remedies
 All this is true; and yet it is also true that there are real and grave evils, one of the chief being over-capitalization because of it's many baleful conse- uuences; and resolute and practical effort must be made to correct these evils.
 There is a. widespread conviction in the minds of the American people that the great corporations known as trusts ! are in certain of their features and ten- dencies hurtful to the general welfare. This springs from no spirit of envy or uncharitableness, nor lack of pride in the great industrial achievements that | have placed this country at the head of | the nations struggling for commercial | It does not rest upon a | lack of intelligent appreciation of the | necessity of meeting changing and | changed conditions of trade with new methods, nor upon ignorance of the fact that combination of capital in the effort to accomplish great things is nec- ,ssary when the worlds progress de- | nands that great things be done. It $ based upon sincere conviction that combination and concentration should De. not prohibited, but supervised and within reasonable limits controlled, and n my judgment this conviction is right
 It is no limitation upon property lights or freedom of contract to require hat when men receive from Govern nent the privilege of doing business un- Ter corporate form, which free them rom individual responsibility, and en- Ible them to call into their enterprises he capital of the public, they shall do o upon absolutely truthful representa- ions as to the value of the property in which the capital is to be invested. Cor ,oratious engaged in interstate com oerce should be regulated if they are ound to exercise a license working to ,., .,,,El;,, infII,y " SIo,rlI l1n S e ,,,,roI7