The Jennings daily record., 1902-12-02
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.


I
We still continue in a period of un-
bounded prosperity. This prosperity is
not the creature Of law. but undoubtedly
tic laws under which we work have been
Instrumental IL creating the conditions
v..ich made Il possible and by unwise leg
iG!ct:on it would be easy enough to destroy
il. There will undoubtedly be periods Of
{ p.' oss.oo The wave will recede, but the
i.te va advance. This nation is seated
C.! a continent Ganked by two great
c2ec!,s. 1t is composed Of men the de-
rIe;4~."il:s OF i.icnccrs or, in sense, pio-
nacr3 t!ie-isclvcs-of men winnowed out
.:0;i N, o::S the nations of the old world
by the energy, boiGncsi and love of ad-
venture found in their own eager hearts
Such a natiCn SO placed will surely wreSt
success from fortune.
AS people we have played Il large part
in the world, and We are bent upon MAX
Ing cur future even larger than the past
In particular the events of the last four
%CaIj !.ve definitely decided tnat for woe
OF Tor veal our place must De great among
the nations. c may either tail Srea tIy
o. Succeed greatly, but we cannot avoid
the cnde:vor from which either great
failure or great success must come. Even
If we would we cannot play small part
ii We shou.u try, ali that would follow
Wo,!ld be that VIC should play u large part
ignOnly and Shanetuiiy.
l:ut cur people, the sons of the men OF
the civil war the sons of the men VINO
lad iron in their b!ood, rejoice IN tne
and reso!utc of will ours is not the
creed of the wcakling and the coward
ours is the gospel OF WI hope pc "ma INC, el sbrinl
from the struggle before us. Iherc are
many problems for US to face at the out-
set of the twentieth century-EIaVe pfoH.
lens abroad and still sraver at taomc-buS
we know that we can solve them, ana
solve them we'll. provided only that we
bring to the solution the quantities OF h''id
and heart which were shown by the men
who in the days Of Washington founued
this government and IN the Gays OF Lin
coin preserved it.
No country has ever occupied Il higher
plane of material we'll being than ours at
the present moment. This well being is
due to no sudden or accidental causes. but
to the play OF the economic forces IN TINS
above all to the high individual average
CT our citizenship. Great fortunes haxe ",
lead in this phenomenal industrial devei-
opnent and most OF thc&e fortunes have
cdent % to action Which has benefited the
community IS a whole Never neloTe mas
n1atcri& we'll being been .o so widely or.
have been accumulated. ana yet IN the
aggregate these fortunes are small in
decd when compared 10 the wealth OF the
people as q whole. The plain people are
better off than they have ever been he
fore. The insurance comnaanies, which
especially helpful to men of 1noderat"
rleans-reprcsent accu!nuIati tons OF cap!-
tai which are among the largest in THIS
country. There are NOR" deposits in the
savings banks, more owners OF iar!nS
try now than ever before IN our hstory'
OF course when the conditions nave IA
yored the frowth ,ea OF 50 nHn Ts sda that Tai n
the growth OF what was evil. 1t is e:ni-
ro:ltly necessary that We should cndeayor
TO cut cut this evil, but let US keep :; due
sense of proportions; let US not in il%inS
our gaze upon The lesser evil forget the
greater good The evils are real, and
! n g q
the outgroWth not OF misery or d"cadenre,
but OF. pro&perity' ct the lroSres5r rni ni our ~,
dustrial development must not be checked,
! but side by side with it should 90 sich
! the evils We ShCll!,! fail in our duty if
We did not try to remedy the evils, bul we
shall succeed only if We proceed nahnn1,, pa n'o,,
| as resolution. separating the good from
the bad and holding on to the former
while cnt2avoriGe to get rid of the latter.
In my rnessa sc to the present congress
at It's iirst session l discussed at i"n%th
| the question Of the regulation OF those
! torstatc business. often with som" tendon
| cy to monopoly. which ar" popularity
| known as trusts. The experience of the
! past wear has c!?lph:! sized, in my opinion,
! he dcsra hiIity Of the steps J then pro-
! posed \ fundamental requisite OF social
! ci..cicncy is Il high standard of individual
.snorgy ana excellence. but this is in no
wise Inconsistent with power to act IN
combination for aims which cannot so
we'll be achieved hy the Individual acting
alone. 4 Fundamental base OF civili@a ton
/ is the invio"hility Of property; but this is
/ in nowise inco"Sistent with tn" riGnt OF
( society. to regulate tn" exercise OF the
artificial powers which it confer& upon the
I Ov'norS Of property under the name of cor
! r0ratc franchises in such Il way to
/ prevent the misuse Of these powers Cor
/ rorati0nS. and especially combin1 tons OF
/ corporations. should he managed under
! public regulation. Experience has shown
thai Under our system of government the
necessary supervision cannot be obtained
by state action. 1t must therefore be
achieved by national action. Our aim is
not to do away with corporations. On the
/ contrary. these big aEgreGatonS are an
, inevitable Development Of modern indus
trialism. and the effort to destroy them
! would hc futile unless accomplished in
, wa VS. that would work the utmost mis-
chief to the entire body polite. We can
do nothing of coed in the way of rcgulat-
ing and supervising these corpora tons
until we fix clearly in our minds that we
are rot attacking the corporations, but
enGcINoTln:; to DO away with any cVil IN
them VIC are not hostile to them We
are merely dctcrrl ned that they shall be
so handled to SIhSerVe the public good.
We draw the line against misconduct. not
against wealth. The capitalist who, alone
or in conjunction with his fellows, per
forms some great industrial feat by which
he wins money is q wclidoer, not n wrong
(ocr provided only he works in proper
and legitimate lines. We wish to favor
to supervise and control his actions only
to prevent him from doing i'll Publicity
can do no harm to the honest corpora ton
and need not be Ovcrtcndcr about
Sparing tho dishonest corporate ton
In curbing and regulating the conbina-
tOtS of capital which are or may become
injurious to the public must be care
ful not to stop the great enterprises which
have lcgi:ir!atcly reduced tho cost of pro.
duction, not to abandon the place which
our country has won in the leadership OF
thc international industrial world. not tt
strike down wealth with the result Of
closing factories and mines. of turning
the wageworker idle in the streets nnc
leaving the farmer without Il market fol
what he grows. hsiStcnce upon the i'm
pGssibl" means delay in achieving the pos
siblc exactly rs. on the other hand. the