The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-03

s- -s~S%S~S~S~Ss Washington, Dec. 2.-President Roose- velt's message to the second session of the Fifty-seventh Congress follows: To the Senate and House of Represent
 atives:
 We still continue in a period of un- bounded prosperity. This prosperity is not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the laws under which we work have been Instrumental in cerating the conditions which made it possible, and by unWlse legislation it would be easy enough to destroy 1t. There will undoubtedly be pe- riods of depression. The wave VIII re cede; but the tide will advance. rms Nation is seated on a continent fianked by two great oceans. It is composed Of men the descendants of pioneers, or, Tn a sense, pioneers themselves; or men winnowed out from among the nations or the Old World by the energy, boldness and love of adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such a nation, so placed, will surely wrest success from fortune.
 As people we have played arse part in the world. and we are bent upon making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the events or the last four years have definitely decided that, for woe or veal, our place must be great among the nations. We may either fail greatly or succeed greatly; but we can not avoid the endeavor from which either great failure or great sue cess must come. Even if we would, we can not play small part. If we should try all that would follow would be that we should play large part ignobly 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 or heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed of the weakling and coward; ours IS the gospel of hope md of triumphant en- deavor We do not shrink from the struggle before us. There are many prob lsms for us to facesat, the outset sS,daS of the S and still graves at home; but we know that we can solve them and solve them well, provided only that we bring to the solution the qualities of head ana neaLt which were shown by the men who, Tn the days of Washington, founded this Government, and. in the days of Lin- coln, preserved it.
 Good and Evil.
 No country has ever occupied a hgn- CT plane of material well-beins than ours at the present moment. This well-being is due to no sudden or accidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces in this country for over century, .o our laws. our sustained and continuous policies. above all. to the high fndivio. ual average of our citizenship. Great fortunes have been won by those Wno have taken the lead In tnls pnenomehal industrial development. and most or these fortunes have been won not py ooins evil, but as an incident to acton wnich has benefited the community as WnoIe. Never before has matenad weonms e,,r nan. ole. Great fortunes have been accumu- lated, and yet in the aggregate these TOT tunes are small indeed when compareo to the wealth of the people as a Wnole, Ths nlain neople are better off than they have ever been before. The Insurance companies, which are practically mntuai heneft ssocieties-especiaIy helplul to men of moderate means-represent accu- rnulations of capital which are among Xhe-farEest in this country. Tnere are more deposits in the savings banks; more owners of farms. more weh-paio wage-workers in this country now tnah aver before in our history. or course when the conditions have favored tne growth of so much that was gooo. they have also favored somewhat the grown of what was evil. It Is emtnenuy neces- aarv that we should ehdeavor to cut ou' this evil, but let us keep que sense of proportion; let us not in nxing oui gaze upon the lesser evil forget sne greae e them are menacing, but they are the out growth, not of misery or decadenee, pu of prosperity-of the progress Of our gl pantic industrial development This m Susfrial deyelonnent must not be check ed, but side by side with 1t shoui9 g such progressive regulation as VIII ol ninish the evils. We should .fail n ou duty if we did not try to remedy .tn' evils. but we shall succeed only if w proceed patiently. with practical common sense as well as resolution, separating Int good from the bad and holding on to tnt former while endeavoring 10. get ria ol
 o Regulation of Trusts.
 Tn my Message to the present Congress at its first session, l discussed at lengtl the question of the regulation Of those . big corporations commonly doing an Tn ferstate business, often with some tend Ancy to monopoly, which are popuiarlN known as trusts. The experience Of th' past year has empha sized. in my opinion the desIrability of the steps I then pro posed A fundamental requisite or socla efficiency is a high standard of tndiVld nal energy and excellence; but this is II no wise inconsistent with power 10 ac in combination for aims which can not s' well be achieved by the individual actlni alone. A fundamental base of civiliza lion is the inviolabihty of property; bu this is in no wise inconsistent wltn Ln right of society to regulate the eXercis of the artificial powers which It confer upon the owners of property, under tn name of corporate franchises. in sucn way as to prevent the misuse of thes' powers. Corporations, and especiail! combinations of corporations, should b. managed under public regulation Expe rence has shown that under our system of government the necessary supervision can not be obtained by State action. 1 must, therefore be achieved by nationa action. Our aim is not to do away witl corporations; on the contrary, these bil aRRToEduOnS are dIl illeNltdDlc hC'oP nnent of modern industrialisn. and tn effort to destroy them would be ''Ittl unless accomplished in ways that woul work the utmost mischief to the entir body polite. We can do nothing of goo in the way of regulating and supervisin these corporations until we fix clearly Il our minds that we are not attacking th corporations. but end eavoring to do ava with any evil, in them. We are not hos tile to them: we are merely determine that they shall be so handled as to sub serve the public good. We draw tho lin against misconduct, not against wealth The capitalist who. alone or in contunc ton with his fellows. performs som great industrial feat by which he win money is welldoer. not a wronEdoel provided only he works in proper an Legitimate lines. We wish to favor sue a man when he does well We wish t -.-----s--------