Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1902-09-13
TRUSTS LIKE A RIVER
PRESIDENT SAYS THERE is NO
WAY TO STOP THEM.
III His Address at Wheeling, w. a.,
Executive Declares Wise Action by
the Nation Can Control Combines and
Keen Them Within Bounds.

Keen Them Within Bounds.
Like TO a great river are the trusts, ac
cording to President Roosevelt IN his
sneech at Wheeling W. Va. The nation,
the President said, cannot dam big
river without imperiling all in its vlcln-
ity. but the government can, by leVeeS
and other works, control and regulate
the stream, keep it within bounds, ana
make it do it's work for the good OF the
majority of the people.
The simple comparison was the lea-.
ture of the Presidents first extended ad-
dress in his Southern trip. MI Roose-
Welt explained in extent his ideas on the
solution of the trust problems ana III
sisted that he would make no promises
he did not intend to keep. Again he oe-
clarcd publicity of corporation AFFAIRS the
first step in correcting the evils Oh the
trust system. but he warned his hearers
that it would take time, wise ana care
full work, good laws honestly enforced.
and cool Judgment to cure wrongs IN
way that would injure no one
The President addressed an enormous
crowd He said in part:
fculties. A period of adversely OF course'
troubles us ali but there are troubles IN coh-
nection with the period OF prosperity +hn'o
When all things flourish 1T means thdt Iiiea at
is n good chance for things tnat we 90 HoI
like TO have flourish, just exactly as thefe -
for things that we do like to have noufls1,
and period of great national n!ateflil wen
being is unavoidably one IN WnlEH nt thnsn
minus are turned to the way in when 9hose
interested in the management OF the glSai-
tic capitalistic corporations, whose groWIn
has been so noted feature OF the 4aSe sn mnk
of certain corporations rather loosely Us
trusts" using tic word in its usuaI anu
common Significance of Il big corporation,
usually doing business IN seNetai otates a.
least. besides the State in which it is mcor-
porated -, 4,.
It seems to me that in dealing with this
problem of the trusts (perhaps 1t WouIu pe
more correct to call it Il group OF pfODlehlS)
we have to class all of our felloW-cltlzenS.
One class is composed Of those men VINO
refuse to admit that there Is any acIlol
necessary at all. The other is composed OF
those men who advocate some nOneffective
action or. if effective. would be ehectlVe
only by destroying everything good and bad
connected with our industrial development
One Point to Be Remembered.
In every governmental process, the aim
that a people capable of self-gOVernment
should Stead faStly keep in mind is to pfoCeeu
by evolution rather than by revolution.
On the other hand, every people that
has self-gOveInment must beware or thlS
fossilization of mind which refuses to a!IoW
Of any change as conditions change. NOW,
in dealing with the problem of change IN
our great industrial civilization, in dealing
with the tendency which has been accentu-
ated to an extraordinary degree by steam
and electricity and by the tremendous up
building of Industrial enterprtses-dealin
with these problems think we must set be-
fore ourselves a desire not to accept less
than the possible, and at the same time not
bring
by demanding the impossible.
1t is Il good deal like taking care by the
engineers of the lower Mississippi river.
No one can dam the Mississippi If the ma
ton started to dam it, its time would bH
wasted. 1t would not hurt the Mississippi,
it would only damage the population along
the banks. You cannot dam the current;
you can build leveeS and keep the current
within bounds and shape its direction. Now,
| think that is exactly what we can do with
these great corporations known as trusts.
We cannot dam them, cannot reverse the
Industrial tendencies of the age. If You
succeeded in doing it, then the cities like
Wheeling will have to go out of business.
Remember that You cannot put stop or
reverse the industrial tendencies of the age.
You can control and regulate them so that
they will do no harm.
A flood comes down the Mississippi river
You cannot stop it. You can guide between
levees so as to prevent its doing injury. so
as to insure it's doing good. Another thing,
you do not build levees in a day, or a
month.
The man who tells you that he had a
patent device by which, in sixty days he
would solve the whole question of floods
along the great rivers would not only be
wise man but he would be perfect miracle
OF wisdom compared to the man who tells
you that by another patent remedy he can
bring the millennium in our industrial and
social affairs.
We can do something. I believe VIZ can
do good deal, but our accomplishing what
l expect to see accomplished is conditioned
n in r,iTSo f.y,
removed as possible from hySteria. A spirit
of sober, steadfast, kindly Il want to en-
phastze the word kindly determination not
to submit to wrong ourselves AID not to
wrong others. Not to interfere with the
great business development of the country
but at the same time 50 shape our Iegisla,
ton and administration as to regulate, if we
cannot remedy, the vicious features con
nected with that industrial development
Promises Must He Kept.
In the long run, it is more comfortable
to make promises that can be kept instead
of making promises which are sure of an
immense reception when made, but which
entail intolerable humiliation when it is at
tempted to carry them out.
am sufficiently fortunate to be defend
ing now, as President precisely the rene
dies mat advocated two years ago. l am
advocating them not in any partisan spirit
because, gentlemen, this problem is n nrob-
lem which affects the life Of the nation as
whole. | am advocating them simply as
: SA>-Ntt, NJ LOl me Time De
ing stands as the Chief Executive and the
special representative of his fellow Ameri-
can citizens Of all parties.
A quarter of Il century ago there had hann
no development Of industries such as to
make it matter of the least Importance
whether the nation or the State took charge
OF the Srea$ corporations and supervised the
great business and Industrial organizations
A centur; and quarter ago, here at Wheel
ing: c0ldmerce was carried on by pack
t trains, gy WAGON trains, and by boats There
u 4,
ssential features in the ways of commerce
from the days when the Ph0enician gallQys
pl!ed the waters of the Mediterranean.
-'or 4,WG or 5000 years, perhaps longer
TIE great civilized nations, dating back into
the Imn.@morial past when Babylon and
N3neveP stood in Mestopotamia, when The
pes Inc Memphis we're mighty in the vallpy
supremacy Of Greece and Of Rome. tiron@h