Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1901-12-07
OUR PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
Delivered to Congress---Glowing Tribute to
McKinley---All Important Topics
Carefully Reviewed.

Jur own folly.
The tremendous and highly complex
Industrial development which went or
With ever accelerated rapidly during
he latter half of the nineteenth cen
ury brings us face to face at the be
ginning of the twentieth with very Sc
ious social problems. The old laws
md the old customs which had almost
he binding force of law, were once
| luite sufficient to regulate the accum-
llat.on and distribution of wealth.
Since the industrial changes which
nave so enormously increased the pro
| tuctive power of mankind, they are
no longer sufficient.
1t is not true that as the rich have
grown richer the poor have grown
| Joorer. On the contrary, never before
las the average man, the wageworker
he farmer, the small trader, been so
| we'll off as in this country and at the
| present time.
The captains Of industry who have
triven the railway systems across this
continent, who have built UP our com
nerce, who have developed our manu-
tactures, have on the whole done great
material development of which we are
90 justly proud could never have taken
place Moreover, we should recognize
he immense Importance to this ma
erial development of leaving as I'M
hampered as is compatible with the
public good the strong and forceful men
upon whom the success of business OPP
erations inevitably rests.
An additional reason 70 rcaution in
dealing with corporations is to be
found in the international commercial
conditions of today. The same bust
ness conditions which have produced
he great aggregations of corporate and
individual wealth have made them very
potent factors in international com.
mercial competition. 1t is of the ut
most Importance that this position be
not jeoparded, especially at a time when
The overlooking abundance of our own
natural resources and the skill, bust
ness energy, and mechanical aptitude
Of our people make foreign markets
essential. Under such conditions it
would be most unWise to cramp or 20
fetter the youthful strength of our ma
tior.
Moreover, it cannot too often be
pointed out that to strike with ignorant
violence at the interests of one set of
X EN- almost inevitably endangers the
nt<rests of all. The fundamental rule
IN our national lfe-the rule which
all others-is that, on the
whole, and in the long run, we shall go
up or down together.
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. The
men who demand the impossible or the
undesirable 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-capitaliza.
uon because of its many baleful con-
sequences; and a resolute and practical
effort must be made to correct these
evils:
Trusts
There is a widespread conviction in
he minds of the American people that
The great corporations known as trusts
are in certain of their features and ten
denotes hurtful to the generl welfare.
Ghls springs from no spirit of envy or
nor lack of pride in
the great industrial ach ievements that
have placed this country at the head of
The nations struggling for commercial
supremacy. 1t does not rest upon a lack
OF intelligent appreciation of the ne
ceSslty OF meeting changing and chang
ed conditions of trade with new meth
DDS, nor upon ignorance of the fact that
combination of capital in the effort to
accomplish great things is necessary
when the worlds progress demands
chat great things be done. 1t is based
upon sincere conviction that combina-
ton and concentration should be, not
prohibited, but supervised and within
reasonable limits controlled; and in my
judgment this conviction is right.
1T is no limitation upon property
rights or freedom of contract to re-
quire that when men receive from gov
eminent the privilege of doing business
under corporate form, which frees
them from individual responsibility.
and enables them to call into their en-
terprises the capital of the public, they
snail do SO upon absolutely truthful
representations as to the value of the
property in which the capital is to be
invested. Corporations engaged in in
terstate commerce should be regulated
II they are found to exercise a license
working to the public injury. 1t should
be as much the aim of those who seek
for social betterment 10 rid the bust
ness world of crimes of cunning as to