The Somerset reporter., 1902-12-04
PRESIDENT 5 MESSAGE.
To the Senate and House of Representa-

bounded prosperity. This prosperity is
not the creature Of law. but undoubtedly
the laws under which we work have been
instrumental in ting the conditions
which made 1t possible, and by unwise leg
sslation 1t would be easy enough to destroy
1t. There will undoubtedly be periods of
depression. The wave will recede but the
tide will advance. This nation is seated
on a continent fanked by two great
oceans. 1t Is composed of men the de-
scendants of pioneers or In a sense, pio-
neers themselves-of men winnowed out
from among the nations of the old world
by the energy. boldness and love of ad
venture found In their own eager hearts.
Such a nation so placed will surely wrest
success from fortune
AS people we have played large part
In the world. and we are bent upon max
Ing our future even larger than the past.
In particular the events of the last four
years have definitely decided that for woe
or for veal our place must be great among
the nations. We may either fail greatly
or succeed greatly, but we cannot avoid
the endeavor from which either great
failure or great success must come. Even
IL we would we cannot play small part.
II we should try, all that would follow
would be that we should play large part
iRnobly and shamefully.
But our 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 trl,
umphant endeavor we 40 h0t @ sni I'm Nm
| from the struggle before us. There are
many problems for us to face at the out
| set Of the twentieth century-graVe proo.
| lens abroad and still graver at home-ou,
| we know that we can solve them, ana
| solve them well, provided only that we
| bring to the solution the qualities OF head
| and heart which were shown by the men
who in the days of Washington FOUNDED
l.
coin preserved 1t.
No country has ever occupied a higher
plane of material well being than ours al
| due to no sudden or accidental causes, put
| to the play of the economic forces in this
country ior oyer nd cnntiSons NJ oq nolieies
above ALL to the high individual average
of our citizenship. Great fortunes have
been won by those who have taken the
lead in this phenomenal industrial devel-
| opment and most of these fortunes have
! been won not by doing evil, but as an in
| cident to action which has benefited the
| community as a whole. Never before has
| material well being been so widely diff
| fused among our people Great fortunes
| have been accumula ted, and yet In the
aggregate these fortunes are small IN
| deed when compared TO the wealth or the
| people as a whole. The plain people are
| better off than they have ever been be
| fore. The insurance companies which
| are practically mutual benefit societies
| especially helpful to men OF moderate
| tai which are among the largest in this
| country There are more deposits in the
| savings banks, more owners of farms
more well paid wageworkers in this coun-
try now than ever before in our history.
| OF course when the conditions have IA
vored the growth of SO much that was
| good they have also favored somewhat
| the growth of what was evil. 1t Is emf
| nently necessary that we should endeavor
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 menacng. but they are
| the outgrowth not of misery or decadence
| but of prosperity, of the progress of our
gigantic industrial development This In
| dustrial development must not be checked
| but side by side with il should go such
progressive regulation as Will diminish
the evils We should fail IN i. our duty h II II
shall succeed only II we proceed patient
ly. 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
| In my message to the present congress
| at it's first session l discussed at length
the question of the regulation of those
| big corporations commonly doing an in
| terstate business. often with some tenden-
cy to monopoly, which are popularly
known as trusts The experience OF the
| past year has empha sized. In my opinion
| the desirability of the steps | then pro-
posed A fundamental requisite of social
| efficiency is a high standard of individual
energy and excellence, but this Is in no
| wise inconsistent 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 nowise 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 cor
porate franchises In such a way as to
| prevent the misuse of these powers. Cor
1 aSnpciAIlN
| corpora tions. should be managed under
public regulation. Experience has shown
that under our system of government the
necessary supervision cannot be obtained
| by state action. 1t 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
ways that would work the utmost mis-
chief to the entire body polite. We can
| do nothing of good in the way of regulat-
| ing 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
so handled as to SubserVe the public good
! We draw the line against misconduct, not
against wealth The capitalist who. alone
or In conjunction with his fellows, per-
| forms some great industrial feat by which
he wins money Is a welldoer, not a wrong
doer. provided only he works in proper
and legitimate lines We wish to favor
! such man when he does we'll We wish
| TO supervise and control his actions only
| to prevent him from doing i'll Publicity
| can do no harm to the honest corporation.
and we need not be overtender about
sparing the dishonest corporation.
| In curbing and regulating the combina-
| tions of capital which are or may become
| Injurious to the public we must be care
| ful not to stop the great enterprises which
have legitimately reduced the cost of pro-
ductlon. not to abandon the place which
our country has won in the leadership OF
the international industrial world. not to
strike down wealth with the result of
| closing factories and mines, OF turning
| the wageworker idle In the streets and
| leaving the farmer without n market for
| what he grows. Insstence upon the i'm
| possible means delay in achieving the pos
| dble exactly as. on the other hand, the
| Stubborn defense alike OF what Is good
and what Is bad In the existing system,
| the resolute effort to obstruct any at
tempt at betterment betrays blindness to
! the historic truth that wise evolution is
| the sure safeguard against revolution.
| No more important subject can come
before the congress than this of the regu-
| lation of interstate business This country
| cannot afford to sit supne on the plea
that under our peculiar system of govern
ment we are helpless in the presence OF
the new conditions and unable to grapple
| with them or to cut out whatever OF evil
has arisen in connection with them. The
power of the congress to regulate inter
state commerce Is an absolute and un-
! qualified grant ana without limitations
| other than those prescribed by the consti-
| tuition The congress has constitutional
| authority to make all laws necessary and
proper for executing this power, and am
satisfied that this power has not been ex-
| hausted by any legislation now on the
| statute books II lis evident. therefore