Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-12-07
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

effect.
The tremendous and highly complex in
| dustrial development which went on with
ever accelerated rapidity during the lat
| ter half of the nineteenth century brings
us face to face, at the beginning of the
twentieth, with very serious social prob
| lens. The upbuilding Of the great in
dustrial centers has meant a startling in
| crease, 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 fortunes has not been due
| to the tariff nor to any other govern
mental action, but to natural causes IN
lthe business world, operating in other
| countries as they operate in our own. The
| process has aroused much antagonism, 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 contrary, never before
has the average man, the wage worker,
| the farmer, the small trader, been so well
| off as in this country at the present time.
| There have been abuses connected with
! the accumulation of wealth; yet it re-
mains true that fortune accumulated III
| legitimate business can be accumulated
| by the person specially benefited only on
condition of comforting immense incident
| al benefits upon others.
C,ution Is Advised.
The captains of industry who have driv-
en- the railway systems across this cont
nent, who have built up our commerce,
who have developed our manufactures,
have on the whole done great 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 i'm
mense Importance to this material devel-
| opment of leaving as unhampered as is
compatible with the public good the
strong and forceful men upon whom the
success of business operations inevitably
| rests.
An additional reason for caution in
dealing with corporations is to be found
| in the international commercial cOndi-
tons of to-day. The same business con-
ditions which have produced the great
aggregations of corporate and individual
wealth have made them very potent fac
| tors in international commercial cOmpetl-
ton. America has only just begun to
assume that commanding position in the
| international business world which we
believe will more and more be hers 1t
| is of the utmost Importance that this DO-
sition be not jeopardized, especially at a
time when the overlooking abundance Of
| our own natural resources and the skill,
| business energy, and mechanical aptitude
of our people make foreign markets es-
sential. 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 VIC
lence at the interests of one set of men
almost inevitably endangers the interests
| of all. Disaster to great business enter
| prises can never have its effects limited
to the men at the top. 1t spreads
| throughout, and while it is bad for every
| body, it is worst for those farthest down.
The capitalist may be shorn of his lux
uries; but the wage worker may be de-
priyed of even bare necessities.
In facing new industrial conditions, the
whole history of the world shows that leg
| islation will generally be both unWise and
ineffective unless undertaken after calm
| inquiry and with sober self-restraint.
Much of the legislation directed at the
! trusts would have been exceedingly mis-
| chievous had it not also been entirely in
| effective. The men who demand the I'M
| possible 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 IA
| tional fashion what the wrongs really are
! and to what extent and in what manner
it is practicable to apply remedies. Yet
| it is true that there are real and grave
evils, one Of the chief being over-capital-
! ization because of it's many baleful con-
sequences; and a resOlute and practical
+ effort must be made to correct these
/ evils.
Publicity a Cure for Trusts.
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 tendencies
| hurtful to the general welfare. COmbina-
! ton and concentration should be, not pro-
hibited, but supervised and within rea
! sOnable limits controlled.
The first essential in determining how
| to deal with the great industrial combina-
| tons is knowledge of the facts-publicity.
! In the interest of the public, the govern
ment should have the right to inspect and
: examine the workings of the great cOrpo-
rations engaged in interstate business.
| Publicity is the only sure remedy which
| we can now invoke. What further rem
| edies are needed in the way of govern
mental regulation, or taxation, can only
be determined after publicity has been
| obtained, by process of law, and in the
course of administration.
! The large corporations, commonly call
cd trusts, though organized in one State,
! always do business in many States, often
doing very little business in the State
where they are incorporated. There is
utter lack of uniformity in the State laws
about them; and as no State has any ex-
elusive interest in or power over their
acts, it has in practice proved impossible
to get adequate regulation through State
action. Therefore, in the interest of the
whole people, the nation should, without
interfering with the power of the States
in the matter itself, also assume power
of supervision and regulation over all cor
porations doing an interstate business. l
believe that law can be framed which
will enable the national government to
exercise control along the lines above in
dictated. There should be created a cab
met officer, to be known as Secretary Of
Commerce and Industries, as provided in
the bill introduced at the last session of
| the Congress. 1t should be his province
to deal with commerce in its broadest
sense; including among many other things
whatever concerns lapor and all matters
affecting the great business corporations
and our merchant marine.
Would Exclude Chin
With the sole exception CO the farming
interest, no one matter is OF such vital
moment to our whole people as the well
fare of the wage workers. If the farmer
and the wage worker are well off, it is
absolutely certain that all others will be
we'll off, too. 1t is therefore matter for
hearty congratulation that on the whole
wages are higher to-day in the United
States than ever before in our history,