Connecticut western news., 1901-12-05
ADVICE TO CONGRESS-
PRESIDENT RooseveLT's FIRST AN
 NUAL MESSAGE.

In It He Deals With the Trusts. the
 Tariff, Reciprocity, Colonial Prob
 lems and Many Important Domes-
 tic Questions.
 President Roosevelt's first annua' message has been delivered to con gress. Its chief features are as fol. lows:
 The message opens with a forceful comment on the assassination of the late President Me hinley. This crime. it says, justifes grave alarm among all loyal American citizens because it is of sort heretofore unknown in this republic. President Lincoln fell a victim to the terrible passions aroused by four years of civil and President Garfield to the reyengeful vanity of A disappointed ofieeseeker. President Mckinley was killed by utterly deprayed criminal be. longing to that body of criminals who object to all governments, good and bad alike, who are As hostile to the upright exponent of free peo- ple's sober will to the tyrannical and ire sponsible despot.
 The president cor.'aues with a oulogy of Mir. Mckinley, then turns to the subject of anarchy, denouncing its doctrines and preachers. He urges the exclusion from the country of all professors of ansrchistic doctrines who may seek to come here. These who found here should be de. ported to the country whence they came. The president says further that the federal courts should be given jurisdiction any who kills or attempts to kill the president any man who by the constitution by law is in line of succession for the presidency, while the pun. ishment for unsuccessful attempt should be proportioned to the enormity of the ofense against institutions.
 The president next considers business conditions, which he finds highly satisfactory. He speaks of the tremendous and hugely complex industrial development which has been going in the past few years and says that the old laws and customs which were once quite sufficient to regu- late the accumulation and distribution of wealth so no longer. Great industrial fortunes have increased in number to a startling degree. The creation of these vast corporate fortunes has not been due, the president says, 10 the tariff nor to any other governmental action, but to natural causes in the business world, operating in other countries in The industrial combi- nations which these fortunes control are not nee esssrily harmful to the country. It is only when they are managed in an unrighteous manner that they work against the common interests
 The laws as they are now cannot check the combinations if they < to their vast pow CTS to the detriment of the common interests, but there many reasons for caution in dealing with corporations.
 The mechanism of modern business is deli cate that extreme must be taken not to in terfere with it in spirit of rashness or igno- In dealing with business interests, for the government to undertake by crude and i'll con sidered legislation to do what may turn out to be bad would be to incur the risk of such far reaching national disaster that it would be pref erable to unden=Se nothing at all. The men who demand the impossible the undesirable the allies of the forces with which they nominaly at war, for they hamper those wno would endeavor to find out in rational fashion what wrongs arising from the conditions really and to what extent and in what it is practicable to apply remedies.
 Publicity to Curb the Trusts.
 The first essential in ,letermining how to deal
 
 edge of the facts-publicity. In the interest of the public the government should have the right to inspect and examine the workings of the great corporations engaged in interstate business. Publicity is the only remedy which we can now invoke. What further remedies needed in the way of governmental regulation or taxa ticn can only be determined after publicity has been obtained hy process of law and in the course of administration. The first requisite is knowl- edge, full and complete knowledge which may be made public to the world
 Artificial bodies, such corporations and joint stock other associations depending upon any statutory law for their existence or privileges should be subject to proper governmental super vision, and full and accurate information as to their operations should be made public regularly at reasonable intervals.
 The large corporations, commonly called trusts, though organized in 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, no state has any exclusive interest in or power over their acts, it has in practice proved impossible to get adequate regu- lation 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 super vision and regulation all corporations doing an interstate business.
 The president says he believes that law can be framed which will enable the national gov ernment to exercise control along the lines above indicated, proiting by the experience gained through the passage and administration of the in terstate commerce act. If, however, the judgment of the congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to pass such an act, then constitutional amendment should be submitted to confer the power There should be created cabinet officer, to be known as secretary of commerce and industries. as provided in the bill introduced at the last session of the congress. It should be his prov ince 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 president declares that he regards is necessary to re-enact the Chinese exclusion law In regard to labor he says that the government | should provide in its contracts that all work should be done under fair conditions and that | all night work should be forbidden for women | and children well excessive overtime. He asserts that the immigration law is unsatis- | factory and that law should be enacted to keep | out not only anarchists, but persons of low | moral tendency or of unsavory reputation and | those who below certain standard of eco- homie fitness to enter industrial field com petitors with American labor.
 The Tariff and Reciprocity. The president declares that nothing could be more unwise than to disturb the business interests | of the country by any general tariff change at | this time. He adds:
 | Yet it is not only possible but eminently de- srable, to combine with the stability of eco homie system a supplementary system of recipro- cal benefit and obligation with other nations Such reciprocity is incident and result of the firm establishment and preservation of pres | ent economic policy. It specially provided | for in the present tariff law.
 Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden | of protection. Our first duty is to see that the | protection granted by the tariff in every case | where it is needed is maintained and that reci- ! procity be sought for far it can safely be | done without injury to home industries. Subject to this proviso of the proper protection | necessary to our industrial well being at home, | the principle of reciprocity must command our | hearty support. The phenomenal growth Of our | export trade emphasizes the urgency of the need | for wider markets and for a liberal policy in | dealing with foreign nations.
 l The condition of the American merchant ma
 rine is such to call for immediate remedial ac- | tion by congress.
 | At present American shipping is under certain great disadvantages when put in competition with | the shipping of foreign countries Many of the fast foreign steamships, at speed of fourteen knots or above, are subsidized, and all our ships | sailing vessels and steamers alike, cargo carriers | of slow speed and mail carriers of high speed, | have to meet the fact that the original cost of | building American ships is greater than is the i case abroad, that the wages paid American off, cers and seamen are very much higher than