The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1902-12-04
ROOSEVELT TO CONGRESS
his Annual Communication Upon Questions
of Importance to the Nation.
VIEWS ON TIE TRUC. : IND TARIFF
"A Lowerinseof Import Duties Would Not Remedy the
Evils of Monopoly Believes in a T arff Com
missiop-Much That Is Good in Labor
Unions and Corporations-Many
Needs of the Nation.

TO the Senate and House Of Representa-
yves: We still continue in period Of
unoounded prosperity. This prosperity Is
aeser q law but
Monumental In creating the conditions
which MADE II possible. and by unwise leg
siatlon II would be easy enough to destroy
T. There will undoubtedly be periods OF
tide will advance This nation is seated on
. continent fianked by two great oceans.
~ 10 composed Of men the descendants Of
selves; Of men winnowed out from among
nations Of the OLD world by the energy,
qpidness. and love of adventure found In
kneir own eager hearts. Such nation, SO
placed, will surely wrest success from for
tune.
As people we hkve played large part
In the world, and We are bent upon making
our future even larger than the past. In
se ee Sse d h Ss last T -four Se G
iiSSr veal, our place must be great among
or succeed greatly; but we cannot avoid
the en6eavor from which either great fall
We would. We cannot play small part.
II We should try. all that would follow
would be that We should play large part
tgnobly and shamefully.
Causes of Prosperity.
No country has ever occupied a higher
plane of material well-being than ours
at the preseni moment. This well-being
10 due to no sudden or accidental causes,
but to the play of the economic forces
In this country for over century; TO
our laws, our sustained and continuous
policies: above all. to the high indlvid-
ual average Of our citizenship Great
fortunes have been won by those who
have taken the lead in this phenomenal
industrial development, and most of these
fortunes have been won not by doing
evil, but as an incident to action which
has benefited the community as a whole.
Never before has material well-being
been so widely diffused among our peo-
pie. Great fortunes have been accum-
ulated and yet in the aggregate these
fortunes are small indeed when COM
pared to the wealth of the people as a
thar thry-hfve ever been hefOre. The
Insurance companies, which are nrac-
tically mutual benefit soc.eties-eSpecial-
Nly helpful to men OF moderate means
yepresent accumulations of capital which
Ke among the largest In this country.
Mere are more deposits In the savings
bdnks. more owners of farms, more we'll
paid wage workers In this country now
than ever before in our history. OF course,
when the conditions have favored the
growth of so much that was good, they
have also favored somewhat the growth
of what was evil It is eminently neces-
sary that we should endeavor to cut out
this evil but let us keep due sense Of
proportion; let US not in fixing our gaze
upon the lesser evil forget the greater
good The evils are real and some OF
them are menacing. but they are the
outgrowth, not OF misery or decadence,
gigantic Industrial development This
Industrial development must not he
checked. but side by side with ii should
go such progressive regulation as will
diminish the evils. We should fail In
our duty II we did not try 10 remedy the
evils, but we shall succeed only II we
proceed patiently, with practical common
sense as we'll as resolution, separating
the rood from the bad and holding on tn
the former while endeavoring to get rid
Of the latter.