Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-10-01

BILE System Which Will BE Effective
and Do No Injury-Unmistakab Ex-
position of the Presidents Position
Regarding Momentous Questions of
the Day.
President Roosevelt chose his visit TO
Cincinnati as the occasion of an impor-
tant utterance upon questions of admin
istration policy. His speech there was
intended to indicate the attitude Of HIM
self and the administration toward the
trusts. In view of the widespread agi-
tation which has been aroused by Presi-
dent Roosevelt's tentative and abstract
remarks upon the trust and tariff cues
tons, his Cincinnati speech arises II t.
proportions of a momentous declaration.
The President spoke as follows:
To-day l wish to speak TO you on the sub
ject. or group OF subjects, which we mean
when we talk of the trusts. The word Is
used very loosely and almost always with
technical inaccuracy. But the avarage man
when he speaks OF the trusts means rather
vaguely ali Of the very big corporations the
growth of which has been so signal feature
of our modern times, and especially those
big corporations which, though organized IN
one State, do business in several States. ana
some of which have tendency TO monopoly.
This whole subject of trusts Is OF Fltai
concern to us because II presents one, eAd
perhaps the most conspicuous, or the many
problems forced upon attention by the
tremendous industrial development when
has taken place during the last haH cen
fury. in all civilized countries. ana notably
In our own. Many factors have concurred
In bringing about these changed Industrial
conditions. OF these. steam and electricity
are the chief. The extraordinary change in
the methods of transportation Of merehan-
disc. and of transmission Of intelligence has
rendered not only possible. but inevitable,
he immense increase In the rate OF growth
industrial centers-that is of great cities
Hence has resulted tAe specialization of In
dustries and the uneXampled opportunities
Offered for the employment OF huge amounts
of capital and therefore for the rise In the
business world Of those master minds
through whom alone 1t is possible for such
vast sums of capital to be employed with
profit.
Evil with the Good.
Whenever great social or industrial
changes take place. no matter how much
good there may be to them, there is sure
to be some evil; and 1t usually takes man
kind q number of years and a good deal
of experimenting before they find the right
ways in which so far as possible to control
the new evil. without at the same time null
lifying the new good. In these circum-
stances the effort to bring the new ten
denotes to a standstill is always futile and
generally mischtevous: but 1t Is possible
somewhat to develop them Alright. Law can
TO 4 degree guide. protect and control in
dustrial development, but 1t can never
cause 1t to play more than subordinate
part In its healthy development; unfoTtu-
nately it Is easy enough by bad laws TO
bring 1t to an almost complete stop. Inc
homely smile of what can he done with
great river is far from accurate. The lower
Mississippi fertilZes great country ana
also at times rayages it by floods. To at
tempt to dam in order TO stop these Hoods
would he futile and even If not futile,
would be harmful. But it is entirely feast
bic to build system of levees by which
these floods shall be largely controlled. The
levees take time and trouble to make and
to keep In order, and they do not by any
means avert all mischief. let they do &C
complish much good and they offer the only
method of accomplishing any good. Tit
only way in which to build them is by thor
oughly examining into the facts In the first
place and in the second place by proceed
Ing in spirit of combined sanity and reso-
luton; avoiding above all things every form
of hysteria. panic and blind rage, and not
expecting the impossible either In time or
accomplish nent. incidentally 1t is also nee
essary to : aware of the type OF excellent
person VIII, insists that foods do good and
not HARM and in any event the force to con-
troll them will doubtless somewhere inter
fere with water supply and damage the
Mississippi River.
Evolution Not Revolution.
In dealing with the big corporations we
intend TO proceed not by revolution but by
evolution We wish to face the facts, de-
clining to have our vision blinded either by
the folly of those who say there are no
evils, or by the more dangerous folly OF
those who either see or make believe that
they see nothing but evil in all the existing
system. and who II given their way would
destroy the evil ny the simple process of
bringing ruin and disaster TO the entire
country. The evils attendant upon over
Capitalization alone are In my Judgment suf-
fcient to warrant far closer supervision
and control than now exists over the great
corporations. Wherever a substantial mo-
nopoIy can be shown TO exist We should GER
tainly try our utmost TO devise an expedl-
ent by which 1t can be controlled. Doubt
less some of the evils existing in or because
Of the great corporal lions cannot be cured
by any legislation which has yet been pro
posed and doubtless others, which have
really been incident to the sudden develop
ment In the formation Of corporations Of
all kinds, will In the end cure themselves.
But others will remain that can be cured
II We only set about curing them with san
ity The surest way to prevent the pos.
sibilty of curing any of the evils is to APP
proach the subject in spirit of violent
rancor, complicated with total ignorance of
business conditions, and of fundame .ltal in
capacity or unwillingness to understand the
limitations the power Of all law making
bodies. No problem and least OF all so diff
hcuit a problem, this. can be solved If
the qualities brought by its solution are
panic fear, envy, hatred and Ignorance.
And there can exist In a free republic no
man more wicked, no man more dangerous
10 the people, than he who would arouse
these feelings in the hope that they may
rebound to his own political advantage Cor.
fairly so far from being evil. are n
natural business evolution and make for the
general prosperity of our land. We do not
wish 10 destroy corporations We wish to
make them subserve the public good. All
individuals, rich or poor, private corpor
ate must he subject to the law Of the land,
and the government viii hold them to
rigid obedience thereto. The biggest corpor-
alton like the humhlest private citizen 'ust
he held TO strict compliance with the will
of the people as expressed In the fundamen-
tal law The rich man who does not see
that this is In his interest Is Indeed short
sighted When we make him obey the law
we insure for him the absolute protection
Of the law. with which they have TO com
ply, while the same time giving full scope
FOR the best enterprise of their managers
within these limits
Demagogic denunciatiOn Of wealth is new
er wholesome and generally dangerous; and
not a few of the proposed methods of curb
Ing trusts are dangerous chiefly because all
insincere advocacy of the impossible Is dan
gerOus. 1t Is an unhealthy thing Tor
community when the appeal Is made TO fol-
low 4 course which those who make the APP
peal either do not or ought to know cannot
be followed and which II followed, would
result in disaster to everybody. Loose. talk
about destroying monopoly out Of hand
without a hint as To how the monopoly
should even Ae defined. offers a case In
point. Nor can we afford to tolerate any
eroposal which will strike at the so-casled
trusts only ~ striking at the general well.
being. We are now enjoying peFtod OF
great prosperity This prosperity Is gen
orally diffGsed through all sections ana
thr0rgA ali classes. Doubtless there are
some individuals who do not get enough o.
t. and there are others who get too mueh-
Bat this IS simply another way Of Saving
that the wisdom q mankind is finite. that
p-pu tho host human gvstpTu work