Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-12-06
Communication to Congress
discusses Many Issues
Before That Body.
FOR NO TARIFF REVISION
Wants the Sherman Law Strengthened
as a Means to Handling Evils of
Trusts-Progress in InsuIar
Administration.

sible, and unwise legislation could de-
stroy it.
AS a people we have played a large part
in the world, and we are bent upon max
ing our future even larger than the past:
Ours Is not the creed OF the weakllnS ana
coward; ours is the gospel OF nope ana
triumphant e~ndeaVor. We DO not SHRINK
from the struggle before us.
No country has ever occupied a hlSher
plane of material weli-belng than ours
at the present moment Never has ma
terial weil-being been so widely unused.
Great fortunes have been accumulated,
and yet In the aggregate these are small
compared to the wealth of the people as
a whole. The plain people are better off
than they have ever been before. OF
course, when the conditions have Favored
the growth of SO much that was sood,
they have also favored somewhat the
growth of what was evil. The evils are
real and menacing, but they are the out
growth, not of G-~cadence, beat or pros
perity. The industrial development must
not be checked, but with II sheuld go pro,
Eressive regulation Of evils. We should
fail If &c did not try TO remedy the eNlls;
but we shall succeed only II we proceed
patiently, with common sense, separating
good from bad and holding 10 the former
THE TRUSTS.
In my message to the present congress
at it's first session | discussed the regu!a-
ton of those big corporations commonly
doing an interstate business, often with
some tendency to monopoly popularly
known as trusts. The past year has en-
phasized the desirability of steps then pro-
posed. a requisite of social efficiency is
high Individual excellence; but this is In
no wise inconsistent with power TO act IN
combination for aims which cannot. be
achieved by the individual alone. A fun
damcntal of civilization is the inviolabil-
ity of property; but this is not inconsistent
with the right Of society to regulate the
artificial powers of corporate franchises
to prevent their misuse. corporations
especially combinations, should be under
public regulation. The necessary super
vision annot be obtained by state action.
1t must be by national action. Corpora
ions are inevitable, and effort to destroy
them would work the utmost mlschlef.
We can do no good in regulating
these corporations until we fix clearly
in our minds that we are not attacking
the corporations, but endeaVoring to do
away with evil in them. Publicity can
do no harm to the honest corporation;
we n>ed not be overtender about the
dishonest corporation.
In regulating combinations of capital we
must not stop great enterprises Wnlch
have reduced cost of production, nor ADAM
don our place in the industrial world, nor
strike down wealth with the result of clos
ing factories and mines, of turning the
w~age-worker idle and leaving the farmer
without II market.
PROBLEMS MUST BE MET.
The stubborn defense alike of good
and bad in the existing system, the
resolute effort to obstruet b~etterment,
betrays blindness to the historic truth
that wise evolution is the safeguard
against revolution.
This country cannot plead that we are
helpless in the presence OF new conditions,
unable to grapple with them. The power
Of congress to regulate interstate COM
merce Is absolute and without limitations
other thar prescribed by the constitution.
Congress has authority to make laws for
executing this power, and | am satisfied
this power has not been exhausted by
legislation now on the statute books. A
wise and reasonable law would be a prop
or exercise Of congressional authority to
the end that such evils be eradicated.
| believe monopolies, unjust discriInina-
lions which cripple competition, fraudu-
lent overcapitalization and otner evils
can be prevented under the power Of con-
gress to regulate with for
eign nations and among the several
states
L earnestly commend this subject to
congress with a view to the passage of a
law reasonable In provisions and effec-
tive in operations, upon which the ques-
tons can be finally adjudicated that now
raise doubts as to the necessity of consti-
tutional amendment. If ii prove iInpos-
sible to accomplish the purposes above
set forth by such q law, then, assuredly,
we shOuld not shrink from amending the
constitution so as TO secure the power
sought.
NO TARIFF REVISION.
Congress has not heretofore made any
appropriation for enforcement of the anti
trust law, Much has been done by the
department of justice, but much more
could be done If congress would make
appropriation for this purpose, to be eX-
pended under direction of the attorney
general.
One proposition advocated has been
the reduction of the tariff as a means Of
reaching the evils of the trusts. Not
merely would this be wholly ineffective,
but the diversion of our efforts in such
n direction NynIIIH Faa11 NJ nf
all intelligent attempt to do away with
these evils. Many of the largest COR
porations, many which should certainly
be included in any proper scheme of
regulation, would not be affected in the
slightest degree by a change in the tar
if, ave ae such change interfered with
the general prosperity of the country.
The only relation Of the tariff to big cor
porations Is that the tariff makes manu-
features profitable, and the tariff rem
edy proposed would make manufactures
improbable. To remove the tariff as a
punitive measure against trusts would
ruin weaker competitors struggling against
them. Our aim should be not to give for
eign products the advantage but to give
domestic competition a fair chance; and
this cannot be reached by tariff changes
which would affect unfavorably all do
nestle competitors. The regulation of
trusts stands apart from tariff revision.
STABILITY NEEDED.
STABILITY Oh economic DUllcy must always
quiesccd in the wisdom of the protective
be a prime economic need. This should
not be fossiliZation. The country has ac-
tariff principle. 1t is undesirable that this
system be destroyed or that there be
radical changes. Experience shows that
great prosperity has come under a protec-
tive tariff, and that the country cannot
prosper under fitful tariff changes. More
over, If business is prospecting, 1t is bet
ter to endure for q time Inconvenience
in schedules than to upset business by
radical changes. 1t Is too much to hope
that partisanship may be excluded from
consideration of the subject, but at least
ii can be made secondary to business in
%terests. Unquestionably these business
interests will best be served If with fixity
of principle we combine a system which
will permit us to make the necessary re-
application of the principle to shifting
needs. We must take care that the reap
plicati0n shall not dislocate our system.
would be to preserve the principle of put
on an equality with interests abroad, al
cover the difference between labor cost
here and abroad. There must never be
any change which will jeopardize the
standard of comfort and wages of the
American worker.
RECIPROCITY.
One way in which readjustment can be
reached IL by reciprocity treaties. 1t is
greatly desired that such treaties be