Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-02

sage to the ffty-seyenth congress to-
day:
70 the Senate and House of Representa-
tives:
We still continue in period of uns
bounded prosperity. This prosperity is
NOT tne creature of law, but undoubtedly
the laws under which we work have been
usHrumental in creating the conditions
which made it possible and by unWise leg
lsiatlon 1t would be easy enough to DESTROY
There will undoubtedly be periods of
depression. The wave will recede but the
tide will s6vance. This nation is seated
On sazet.sent fianked by two great
oceans. Il , composed of men the de-
scendants of pioneers or, in sense, pio-
neers themselyes-of men winnowed out
from among the nations of the old world
Dy the energy, holiness and love of adj
venture found in their own eager hearts.
Such a nation so placed will surely wrest
success from fortune
AS people we have played large part
"a the world, and we are bent upon max
ing our future even larger than the past.
An particular the events of the last four
years have definitely decided that for woe
or Tor veal our place must be great among
the nations. We may either fail greatly
Or succeed greatly, but we cannot avoid
the endeayor from which either great
failure or great success must come. Even
If we would we cannot play, small part
II we should try, all that would follow
would be that we should play large part
tgnobIy and shamefully.
But our people, the sons OF the men OF
the civil war, the sons of the men who
had iron in their blood, rejoice in the
present and face the future high OF heart
and resolute Of will. Ours is not the
creed of the weakling and the coward;
onrs is the gospel of hope. and of tri-
umphant endeavor. We do not shrink
from the struggle before us. There are
MANY problems for us to face at the out
set of the twentieth century-grave prob
lens abroad and still graver at home-but
we knew tS 1n xEalI we nravided only That we
bring to the solution the qualities OF head
and heart which were shown by the men
who in the days of Washington founded
this government and in the days of Lin
colin preserved it.
No country has ever occupied higher
the present moment. This well being is
due to no sudden or accidental causes, but
country for over a century; to our laws.
our sustained and continuous policies;
of our citizenship. Great fortunes have
been won by those who have taken the
lead in this phenomenal industrial deVel-
opment, and most of these fortunes have
been won not by doing evil, but as an in
cident to action which mas benefited the
material well being been so widely diff
fused among our people Great fortunes
have been accumulated, and yet in the
aggregate these fortunes are small in
deed when compared to the wealth of the
better off than they have ever been be-
fore. The insurance companies, which
especially helpful to men of moderate
means-repreSent accommodations of capt.
tai which are among the largest in this
savings banks, more owners of farms,
more well paid wageWorkers in this , coun-
OF course when the conditions have fa-
vored the growth of SO much that was
the growth of what was evil 1t is emil
nentfy necessary that we should endeayor
fe ros sx let ns us not teHp n
our gaze upon the lesser evil forget the
some of them are menacing, but they are
the outgroweh not of misery or decadence,
P H ut indaatrial development' This in
dustrial development must not be checked,
but side. by side with it should go such
the evils We should fail in our duty if
we did not try to remedy the evils, but we
shall succeed only il we proceed patient,
ly, with practical common sense as well
as resolution, separating the good from
the bad and holding on to the former
while endeayoring to get rid of the latter
In my message to the present congress
at its first session I discussed at length
the question of the regulation of those
big corporations commonly doing an in,
terstate business, often with some tenden-
cy to monopoly. which are popularity
known as trusts. The experience of the
past Aear has emphasized, in my opinion,
the desirability of the steps / then pro-
posed. A fundamental requisite of social
energy and excellence. but this is in no.
wise inconsistent with power to act in
combination for aims which cannot so
well be achieved by the individual acting
alone. A fundamental base of civilization
Is the inviolability of property; but this is
In nowise inconsistent with the right of
society to regulate the exercise of the
artificial powers which it confers upon the
owners of property under the name of cor
porate franchises in such way as to
prevent the misuse of those powers. Cor
poratfons, and especially combinations of
corporations, should be managed under
public regulation. Experience has shown
that under our system of government the
necessary supervision cannot be obtained
by state action. It must therefore be
achieved by national action Our aim is
not to do away with corporations. On the
contrary, these big aggfegations are an
inevitable development of modern indus
trialisn1 and the effort to destroy them
would be futile unless accomplished in
ways that would work the utmost mis-
chief to the entire body polite. We can
do nothing of good in the way of regulat-
Ing and supervising these corporations
until we fix clearly in our minds that
are not attacking the corporations, but
endeayoring to do away with any evil in
them. We are not hostile to them. We
are merely determined that they shall be
SO handled as to subserve 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 a welldoer, not a wrong
and legitimate lines We wish to favor
such a man when he does we'll We wish
to supervise and control his actions only
to prevent him from doing i'll. Publicity
can do no harm to the honest corporation,
and we need not be overtender about
sparing the dishonest corporation.
In curbing and regulating the con1bina-
tons of capital which may become
Injurious to the public we must be care
full not to stop the great enterprises which
have legitimately reduced the cost of pro-
duction, not to abandon the place which
our country has won in the leadership of
the international industrial world, not. to
strike down wealth with the result of
closing factories and mines, of turning
the wageworker idle in the streets and
leaving the farmer without market for
possible means delay in achieving the pos
sibIe exactly as, on the other hand. the
stubborn defense alike of what is good
and what is bad in the existing system
the resolute effort to obStruct any at
tempt at betterment, betrays blindness to
the historic truth that wise evolution is
the sure safeguard against revolution.
No more important subject can come
before the congress than this of the regu-
laffon of Interstate business This country
cannot afford to sit supfne the plea
that under our peculiar system of govern
ment we are helpless In. the presence of
the new conditions and unable to grapple
( with them or to cut out Wha tever of evil
has arisen in connection with them. The
power of the congress to regulate inter-
state commerce Is an absolute and I'M
qualified grant and without limitations
other than those prescribed by the cOnSti-