The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-12-03


the full text of President RooseveEt's
message as delivered to congress to-
day:
To the Senate and House of Representa-
tives:
We still continue In a period of I'M
bounded prosperity This prosperity is
not the creature of law. but undoubtedly
the laws under which we work have been
instrumental in creating the conditions
which made it possible, and by unwise
legislation it would be easy enough to de-
stroy it. These will undoubtedly be pc
RODS of depression. The wave will re-
cede; but the tide viii advance. This ma
ton is seated on continent thanked by
two great oceans It Is composed of men,
the descendants of pioneers, or in a sense,
pioneers themselves; of men winnowed
out from among the nations of the old
world by the energy, boldness and love
of adventure found in their own eager
hearts. Such a nation, so placed, will
surely wrest success from fortune.
AS a people we have played large
part in the world, and we are bent upon
making our future even larger than the
past In particular the events of the
last four years have definitely decided
that, for woe OF for veal our place
must be great among the nations. We
may either fail greatly or succeed great
ly but we cannot avoid the endeavor
from which either great failure or great
success must come. Even If we would
we cannot play small part. If we
should try, all that would follow would
be that we should play large part ig-
nobly and shaTnefully.
But out 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; ours Is
the gospel of hope and of triumphant en-
deavor We do not shrink from the strug-
gle before us. There are many problems
for us to face at the outset of the TWEEN
tieth century-graye problems abroad
and still graver at home; but we know
that We can solve them. and solve them
well, provided only that we bring to the
solution the qualities Of head and heart
which are shown by the men who In the
days of Washington. founded this gov
eminent and, in the days of Lincoln,
preserved it. .... t b.
No country has ever occupied higher
plane of material well-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 this country for over century; to our
laws. our sustained and continuous poll
cies: above ALL to the high individual av
erage of our citizenship. Great fortunes
have been won by those who have taken
the lead in this phenomenal industrial de-
velopment, 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. The plain
people are better off than they have ever
been before The insurance companies,
which are practically mutual benefit So
cieties-especially helpful to men of mod
crate means-represent accumulations OF
capital which are among the largest In
this country. There are more deposits IN
the savings banks, more owners OF
farms more well paid wage-workers In
this country now than ever before in. our
history OF course, when the conditons
have favored the growth of so much that
was good, they have also favored some
what the growth of what was evil 1t is
eminently necessary that we should en-
deavor to cut out this evil, but let US
keep a 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 decandence but of prosperity--of the
progress of cur gigantic industrial devel-
opment. This industrial developments
must not be checked, but side by side
with 1t should go such progressive regu-
1atfon as will diminish the evils. We
should fail in our duty if we did not try
to remedy the evils. but we shall succeed
only If we proceed patiently, with practi-
cal common sense as well as resolution.
separating the good from the bad and
holding on to the former while endeavor-
ing to get rid of the latter.
THE TRUST QUESTION.
In my message to the present congress
Mt its first session discussed at length
the question of the regulation of those
big corporations commonly doing an In
terstate business. often with some ten
dency to monopoly, which are popularity
known as trusts. The experience of the
past year has emphasized. in my opinion.
the desirability of the steps l then pro-
posed A fundamental requisite of social
efficiency is high standard or individ-
ual energy and excellence; but this Is In
no wise consistent 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 no wise inconsistent with the right
of society to regulate the exercise OF the
artificial powers which 1t confers upon
the owners of property, under the name
of corporate franchises, in such way as
to prevent the misuse of these powers.
Corporations, 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. aggregations are an
Inevitable development of modern Indus
trialism and the effort to destroy them
would be futile unless accomplished in
wways that would work the utmost mis-
chief to the entire body polite. We can
do nothing of good in the way of regu-
Iatine and supervising these corporations
until we fix clearly in our minds 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 they shall be
40 handled as to subserve the public
good. We draw the line against miscon-
duct not against wealth. The capital
lst who alone or In conjunction with his
fellows, performs some great industrial
keat by which he wins money is we'll
door, not wrong-doer, provided only he
works in proper and Legitimate lines. We
wish to favor such a man when he does
well. We wish TO supervise and control
bis actions only to prevent him from
poing i'll. Publicity can do no harm to
he honest corporation; and we need not