Evening journal., 1901-12-03
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
PRESENTS MESSAGE
Chief Executive Discusses Important
Subjects 10 the Nation
OPPOSES GENERAL TARIFF CHANGES
Declares Publicity the Only Sure Remedy
Against Evils of Combinations.
DweIIs on Importance of
Building ISthmian
Canal
OPPOSES GENERAL TARIFF CHANGES

in the business world. operating in 9th
er countries as they operate in our
own.
The process has aroused much an
tagonism. a great part of which is
wholly without warrant. 1t is not true
that as the rich have grown richer the
poor have grown poorer. On the con-
trary. never before has the average
man. the wageworker the farmer, the
small trader. been so we'll off as in this
country and at the present time. There
have been abuses connected with the
accumulation of wealth. yet it remains
true that Il fortune accumulated in
legitimate business can be accumulst-
ed by the person specially benefited
only on condition of comforting i'm
mense incidental benefits upon 9th
ers. Successful enterprise Of the type
which benefits all mankind can only
exist II the conditions are such as TO
offer great prizes as the rewards of
auccess.
Reasons For Caution.
The president adds that there are
many reasons for caution in dealing
with corporations. He says:
The same business conditions which
have produced the great aggregations
of corporate and individual wealth
have made them very potent factors in
international commercial competition.
Moreover, it cannot too often be
pointed out that TO strike with ignorant
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-
derles 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 1t in
a spirit Of rashness or ignorance. In
dealing with business interests, for
the government TO undertake by crude
and i'll considered legislation to do
what may turn out to be bad, would
be to incur the risk of such farreach-
ing national disaster that it would be
preferable to undertake nothing at all.
The men who demand the impossible
or the undesirable serve as the allies
of the forces with which they are NOM
inally at war. for they hamper those
who would endeavor to find out in ra-
tional fashion what the wrongs really
are and to what extent and in what
manner it is practicable to apply rene
dies.
How to Correct the Evils.
All this is true, and yet it is also
true that there are real and grave evils
one Of the chief being overcapitaliza'
tion because of its many baleful con
sequences. and a resolute and practical
effort must be made to correct these
evils.
It is no Limitation upon property
rights or freedom of contract TO re
ouire that when men receive from gov
! ernment the privilege Of doing bust
, ness under corporate form. which frees
, them from individual responsibilit!
: and enables them to call into their en-
= terprises the capital of the public, the!
shall do so upon absolutely truthful
represcntations as to the value of tn
property in which the capital is to b
invested. Corporations engaged in in
terstate commerce should be regulates
/, If they are found to exercise licens
? working to the public injury. 1t shoul
/. be as much the aim Of those who see
!. for social betterment to rid the bus
ness world of crimes Of cunning as
3 rid the entire body polite Of crimes Q
Il violence. Great corporations exist onl
q because they are created and sat'
: guarded by our institutions and 1t
/. therefore our right and our duty I
h see that they work in harmony Wit
J. these institutions.
o Publicity the First Essential.
The first essential in determinin
how TO deal with the great industri'
J. combinations is knowledge Of the tacl
q publicity. In the interest of the pul
J. lie the government should have Il
$ right TO inspect and examine the worl
II ings Of the great corporations engage
If in interstate business. Publicity is Il
II only sure remedy which we can no
o invoke What further remedies a
II needed In the way Of government
e regulation or taxation can only be d
q (Contfnued on Second Pagel