Woodruff County news., 1902-12-11
HIS ANNUAL MESSAGE
President Roosevelt's Communica-
 tion to Congress.
He Gives the Greatest ttent tion to the Subjects of the Trusts and the Tariff--MRny Recomm endationH
 Along Various Lines.

President Roosevelt's second annual messase to the tl1ty-seVenth congress is unusually pref for an annual presidential message. The trusts and the tariff are the two subjects to which the greatest atten- ton Is gwen. Ot the trusts the president says in part:
 In my message to the present congress at Its hrst sess4on 1 discussed at length the question of the regulation of those pig corporations commonly doing an in- terstate business, often with some ten- dency to monopoly, which are popularly known as trusts. The experience of the past year has emphasized, in my opin- Ion, the des1rability of the steps 1 then proposed; A fundamental requisite of social efficiency is high standard of lndlVldual energy and excellence; but thls is In MO wise inconsistent with pow CT to act in combination for aims which cannot so well be achieved by the indi- vidual acting alone. A fundamental base or clYlNzation is the inviolability of prop erty; but this is in TO wise inconsistent Wltn the right of society to regulate the exercise Of the artificial powers which it conters upon the owners of property, un- der the name of corporate franchises, in s9ch sg way as to prevent the misuse or the powers. Corporations, and espe- ciaIiy combinations of corporations, should be managed under public regula ton. Experience has shown that under our supervision cannot be obtained by state action. It must therefore be achieved by away with corpora tions; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile work the utmost mischief to the entire body polite. We can do nothing of good In the way of regulating and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our mines that We are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; We are merely determined that the. public good. We draw the line The capitalist who; alone or in conjunc- tion with his fellows, performs some great industrial feat by which he wins pro8ded only ye0ST he works aat n prGpeF an legitimate lines. We wish to favor such a man when he does well. We wish to prevent him from doing i'll. Publicity can do no harm to the honest corpora tion; and we need not be overten6er about. sparing the dishonest corporation.
 believe that monopolies unjust determinations, which prevent or cripple competition, fraudulent overcapita alization. practices. which injurously affect inter- state trade can be prevented under the pow CT of the congress to regulate commerce with foreign rduons and among the sev- eral states through regulat ations and re- quirements operating directly upon such commerce. the .rstrumentalities thereof, and those engae ed therein.
 II earnestly recommend this subject to the consideration of the congress with view to the passa ge of law reas sonable in its provisions and effective in it's opera tions, upon which the questions can be
 finally aGjudcated that now raise doubts as to the necessity of constitutional amend ment If it prove impossible to accomplish the purposes above set forth by such law, then, assuredly, We should not shrink from amenCirg the constitution so as to secure beyond peraGventure the power sought"
 On the subject of the tariff the president says il has been advocated that the pre- vaiiing duties be reduced as a means of reaching the evils of the trust problem, but of this he says:
 "* Not merely would this be wholly ineffective, but the diversion of our efforts in such a direction would mean the aban- doEment of all intelligent attempt to do away with these evils Many of the largest corpora tions, many of those which should certainty be incluCeG in any proper scheme Of regulation, would not be affected in the slightest degree by change in the tariff, save as such change interfered with the general prosperity of the country. The tions as :, whole is that the tariff makes manufactures profitable, and the tariff remedy proposed would be in effect simply to make manufactures unprotitable To remove the tariff as a punitive measure directed against trusts would inevitably re- suit in ruin to the weaker competitors who should De not by unwise tariff changes to to give foreign products the advantage over domestic products. but by proper regula- tion 10 give domestic competition fair chance; and this end cannot be reached by any tariff changes which would affect un- favorably all domestic competitors, good and bad alike. The question of regulation of the trusts stands apart from the ques- tion of tariff revision"
 On the subject of changing the present schedules in our tariff system the presi- Gent says
 Stability of economic policy must al- ways be the prime economic need of this country. This stability should not be fos- siliza tion. The country has acquiesceG in the wisdom of the protective-tar princi- pie. It is exceedingly undesirable that this system should bG destroyed or that there should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past experience shows that great prosperity in this country has always the country cannot prosper under fitful tar If changes at short intervals. Moreover if the tariff laws as whole work well, and if business has prospered under them and Is prospering, it Is better to enC ure for time slight inconvenience and inequalities in some schedules then to upset business by most earnestly to be wished that we could treat the tariff from the standpoint solely of our business needs. It is perhaps, too much to hope that partisanship may be en- tirely excluded from consideration of the subject, but at least it can be made second ary to the business interests of the country that is, to the interests of our people as a whole. Unquestionably these business in- terests will best be served if together with combine a system which will permit us from time to time to make the necessary reapplication of the principle to the shift ing national needs. We must take scru- puious care that the reapplicaton shall be made in such way that it will not amount to dislocation of our system, the mere threat of which (not to speak of the per formance) would produce paralysis in the business energies of the community. The first consideration in making these changes 1 would, of course, be to preserve the prin- cipe which uEjerMes our whole tariff sys- tem-that is. t.e principle of putting Amer ican business interests at least on full equality with interests abroad, and of al- ways allowing sufficient rate of duty to more than cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-be- ing of the wage-worker, like the well-be 1 ing of the tiller of the soil, should be treat ed as an essential in shaping our whole economic policy. There must never be any change which will jeopardze the standard of comfort the standard of wages of the | American wage-worker.
 "Wherever the tariff conditions are such that a needed change cannot with ad- vantage be made by the application of the reciprocity idea, then 1t can be made outright by a lowering of duties OH a given product If possible, such change should be made only after the fullest | consideration by practical experts. who