Mexico Missouri message., 1902-12-04
His Annual Communication Upon Questions
of Importance to the Nation.
VIEWS ON THE TRUSTS AND TARIFF
"A Lowering OF Import Duties Would Not Remedy the
Evils of Observation-Disclosures in Tariff Com
mssion-Much That Is Good in Labor
Unions and Corporations-Many
Needs of the Nation.

To the Senate and House of Representa-
lives we stun continue In a period OF
DOT the Of law But
the laws under which we work have been
instrumental In creating the conditions
islation 1t would be easy enough TO destroy
y There Will undoubtedly be periods OF
.,s The wave will recede: but the
continent fanked by two great oceans.
II Is composed OF men the descendants Of
spives Of men winnowed d PfHfg from among me
The nations Of the OLD world by the energy,
toidness, and love of adventure found in
tune.
As a people we have played large part
iE the world, ard 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 or
iiSr M'a!, our place must be great among
or succeed greatly; but we cannot avoid
the crGoavor from which either great fail
ure or great success must come Even If
we would, we cannot play small part.
II we should try, all ina, WOULD follow
would be that We should play large part
'Erubly and shamefuliS.
Causes Of Prosperity.
No country has ever occupied n higher
plane of material wcll-bcing than ours
ut the present moment This wcll-bcing
Is du" tu no sudden or accidental causes.
but to the play OF the economic forces
In tins country for over century; to
our laws our sustained and continuous
policies. above all, to the high individ
nal average Of our citizenship. Great
fortunes have been won by those who
have taken the lead in this phenomenal
industrial development, and most of these
fortunes have been won not by doing
evil, but IA an incident to action which
has benefited the community as whole
Never before has material wcll-bcing
been SO widely diffuscd among our peo-
pie. Great fortunes have been aCCum-
ulatod ana yet In the aggregate these
fortunes are small indeed when COM
pared to the wealth of the people as a
whole. Tho plain people are better off
than they have ever been before. The
Insurance companies, which are prac-
tically mutual benefit soCictIcs--cSpecial-
~ helpful to men OF moderate means
represent aCcumulations of capital which
are among the largest In this country.
There are moro deposits In the savings
banks, more owners of farms, more we'll
paid wage workers In this country now
than ever before In our history. or course,
when the conditions have favored the
growth of 50 much that was good, they
have also favored somewhat the growth
al what wdS evil. 1t Is cmlncntly ncCes-
sary that we should endeavor 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 Ills are real and some OF
them are menacing, but they are the
outgrowth, not of misery or deCadcuCc,
but OF prosperity-of the progress of our
gigantic Industrial development. This
industrial development must not he
checked. but side by side with 1t should
20 such progressive regulation as will
nur duty If we dId not try to rcmedy the
evils but we shall succeed only II we
proceed patiently, with practical common
sense as well as resolution, separating
the good from the bad and holding ON to
the former while endeavoring to get rid
OF the latter.