Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1902-12-10
HIS ANNUAL MESSAGE
President Roosevelt's Communica-
ton to Congress.
lie Gives the Greatest Attic tion to
che Subjects of the Trusts and the
1'arin-Many RecOmme ndatIons
Along Various Lines.

IL, sage TO the Fifty-seventh congress is
ui"sualIy PREF for an annual pres dental
M age. The trusts and the tariff are the
tWC 3uDJects to which the greatest atten-
ton Is given. OF the trusts the president
says m part:
In my message to the present congress
AZ II nrst SESSION L discussed at length
the Iestion of the regulation of those
big operations commonly doing an in
ter lie business, OFTEN with some ten
Gea. TO monopoly, which are popularity
knc as trusts. The experience of the
pt year has emphasized, in my opin-
ion me desirability of the steps / then
proposed: A Fundamental requisite. of
3 SOFA; efficiency is high standard of
thhdiVidual energy and excellence; but
TINS Is in no wise inconsistent with pow
er to act in combination for aims which
cannot SO well be achieved by the indi-
V.Guat acting alone. A fundamental base
clVlAzatlon Is the lnviolability of prop
ell ell put this is in 10 wise inconsistent
exc tcise of the artificial powers which it
S,onters upon the owners Of property, I'M
ger the name of corporate franchises. in
OF the powers. Corporations, and espe-
should sI00 be managed under pubic c. regula,'
uon. Experience has shown that under our
supervision cannot be obtained by state
national action. Our aim is. not to do
away with corporations; on the contrary,
d dnese big aggregations are an inevitab Bile
development of modern industrialism, and
the eHort to destroy them would be futile
unless accomplished in ways that would
work work the utmost mischief to the entire
DoCy polite. We can do nothing Of good
IN the way Of regulating and supervising
these corporations until We fix clearly in
corporations. but endeavoring to do away
WIN any evil in them. We are not hostile
10 10 them; we are merely determined that
the public good. We draw the line
9rg aga misconduct. not against wealth.
great Industrial feat by which he wins
n m9Tfg IS ar, weslGoer, not wrongdoer;
legltlmate lines. We wish to favor such
a man when he does well. We wish to
supervise and control his actions only to
prevent him from doing Ill. Publicity
can do no harm to the honest corpora
aon; and we need not be overtender
aeSut sParing g, the dishonest corporation;
determinations, which prevent or cripple
competition. fraudulent overca pitalization
practices which injurousiy affect inter-
state trace can be prevented under the pow
er OF the congress to regulate commerce
with foreign rdtlons and among the sew
eral states through regulations and re-
qulrements operating directly upon such
commerce. the !nstrumentalities thereof.
and those engage therein.
L earnestly recommend this subject To
the consideration of the congress with a
view view to the passage Of law reasona BILE in
tions, upon which the questions can be
finally a6judicated that now raise doubts
as to the necessity of constitutional amend
ment. Ii 1t prove impossible to accomplish
the purposes above set forth by such law
then, assuredly, we should not shrink from
hhmenGing the sc, constitution so as to secure
beyond peraGVenture the power sought"
On the subject of the tariff the president
says 1t has been advocated that the pre-
Vailing duties be reduced as a means of
reaching the evils OF the trust problem, but
of this he says:
Not merely would this be wholly
ineffective, but the diversion of our efforts
In such direction would mean the aban-
Comment of all intelligent attempt to DO
away with these evils. Many of the largest
corporations, many of those which should
certainly be included in any proper scheme
of regulation, would not be affected in the
slightest degree by a change in the tariff
general prosperity of the country. The
only relation of the tariff to big corpora
tons as a whole is that the tariff makes
remedy proposed would be in effect simply
to make manufactures Improbable TO
remove the tariff as punitive measure
directed against trusts would inevitably re-
suit in ruin to the weaker competitors who
are struggling, against them. Our aim
give foreign products the advantage over
domestic products. but by proper regula-
ton TO give domestic competition fair
any tariff changes which would affect un-
favorably all domestic competitors good
and bad alike. The question Of regulation
ton of tariff revision"
On the subject of changing the present
schedules in our tariff system the presi-
dent says:
Stability Of economic policy must al
ways be the prime economic need of this
country. This stability should not be fos-
dlization. The country has acquiesceG in
the wisdom of the protective-tariff princi-
pie. 1t is exceedingly undesirable that this
system should be destroyed or that there
should be violent and radical changes
therein. Our past experience shows that
great prosperity in this country has always
come under a protective tariff; and that
the country cannot prosper under fitful tar
III changes at short intervals Moreover
II the tarln laws as whole work WELL and
II business has prospered under them and
Is prospecting 1t Is better to endure for a
time slight Inconvenience and INEQUALITIES
In some schedules then to upset business by
too quick and too radical changes. 1t is
most earnestly to be wished that we could
treat the tariff from the standpoint solely
or our business needs. 1t Is, perhaps, too
much to hope that partisanship NAV be en-
tirely excluded from consideration of the
subject, but at least it can be made second
airy to the business interests of the country
-that Is, to the interests of our people as a
whoie. Unquesuonably these business ir-
terestS Will best be served If together with
hXity of principle as regards the tariff we
combine system which will permit US
reappncation of the principle to the shift
ing national needs. We must take scru-
puious care that the reapplication shall be
maoe IN such way that 1t will not amount
10 ASSOCIATION of our system, the mere
threat of which (not to speak of the per
formance) would produce PARALYSIS in the
business energies of the community. The
nrst consideration in making these changes
would. OF course, be to preserve the prin-
c1pie which underlies our whole tariff sys-
tem-that Is, the principle of putting Amer
equality with interests abroad. and of al
ways allowing sufficient rate of Guty to