The suburban citizen., 1901-12-07
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE,

been obtained, by process of law. and in
the course of administration The first
requisite is knowledge, full and COM
plete-knowledge which may be made
public to the world
Artificial bodies, such as corporations
and joint stock or other associations,
| depending upon any statutory law for
| their existence or privileges, should be
subject to proper governmental super
vision, and full and accurate informa-
ton as to their operations should be
made public regularly at reasonable in
tervals.
The large corporations, commonly
called trusts, though organized in one
| State, always do business in many
States. often doing very little business
in the State where they are incorpor-
ated There is utter lack of uniformity
in the State laws about them and rs
no State has any exclusive interest in
or power over their acts, it has in prac-
tice proved impossible to get adequate
| regulation through State action. There
! fore, in the interest of the whole peo-
| pie, the Nation should. without inter
fering 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.
! This is especially true where the cor
poration deives a portion of its wealth
from the existence of some mOnopo-
listic element or tendency in its busi-
ness. There would be no hardship in
such supervision; banks are subject to
it,, and in their case it is now accepted
as a simple matter of course.
When the Constitu ion was adopted,
at the end of the eighteenth century,
no human wisdom c1Jld foretell the
sweeping changes, alike in industrial
and political conditions, which were to
take place by the beginning of the
twentieth century AT that time it was
accepted as a matter OF course that the
several States were the proper author
| ties to regulate, so far as was then
! necessary, the comparatively insignih-
cant and strictly localized corporate
bodies of the day The conditions are
now wholly different and wholly differ
ent action is called for l believe
that a law can be framed which will
enable the National Government to eX-
ercise control along the lines above in
dicated profitable by the experience
gained through the passage and admin
/ istraton OF the Interstate Commerce
! Act If, however. the judgment of the
| Congress is that it lacks the constitu-
/ tiOnal power to pass such an act, then
a constitutional amendment should be
| submitted to confer the power
There should be created a Cabinet
/ officer. to be known as Secretary Of
/ Commerce and Industries, as provided
/ in the bill introduced at the last ses-
/ sion of the Congress. 1t should be his
/ province to deal with commerce in its
/ broadest sense; including among many
/ other things whatever concerns labor
and all matters affecting the great
/ business corporations and our merchant
marine
The Farmer and Wage'WOrker
With the sole exception of the farm
ing interest, no one matter is of such
vital moment to our whole people as
the welfare of the wage-workers. If
the farmer and the wage-worker are
we'll off, it is absolutely certain that all
others will be we'll Off too. 1t is there
fore a matter for hearty congratulation
that on the whole wages are higher to-
day in the United States than ever be-
fore in our history, and far higher than
in any other country. The standard of
living is also higher than ever before.
Every effort of legislator and admins
traitor should be bent to secure the
permanency of this condition of things
and its improvement wherever pos
sble. Not only must our labor be pro-
tected by the tariff, but it should also
be protected so far as it is possible
from the presence in this country OF
any laborers brought over by contract,
or of those who, coming freely, yet rep
resent a standard OF living, so depressed
that they can undersell our men in the
labor market and drag them to a lower
level | regard it as necessary, with
this end in view to re-enact immedi-
ately the law excluding Chinese labor
ers and to strengthen it wherever nee
essary in order to make its enforce
ment entirely effective,
Our present immigration laws are
/, unsatisfactory. We need every honest
and efficient immigrant fitted to be-
come an American citizen, every in-
migrant who comes here to stay, who
, brings here a strong body, a stout
heart, a good head. and a resolute pur-
+ pose TO do his duty well in every way
and TO bring up his children as law
abiding and God-fearing members Oh
the community But there should be
comprehensive law enacted with the
object Of working a threcfold improve
ment over our present system. First
we should aim to exclude absolutely
not only all persons who are known tc
be believers in anarchistc principles
or members of anarchistic societies
but also all persons who are of low
moral tendency or of unsayory reputa-
ton This means that we should re-
/, quire more thorough system of in
/ spection abroad and a more rigid system
, Of examination at our immigration
ports, the former being especially neces-
sary.
? The second object of a proper immi-
grafton law ought to be to secure by q
/ careful and not merely perfunctory ed
, ucation test some intelligent capacity
to appreciate American institutions
, and act sanely as American citizens
, This would not keep out all anarchists
, for many Of them belong to the intel
ligent criminal class But it would dc
what is also in point, that is, tend tc
decrease the sum OF ignorance, so po