Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-02
PRESIDENT 5 AES2H|l[.
% the Senate and House Of Representa-

/
To the Senate and House of Representa-
| tives:
| We still continue in period of I'M
| bounded prosperity. This prosperity is
| not the creature of law, but undoubtedly
| the laws under which we work have been
instrumental in creating the conditions
1 which made 1t possible, and by unwise leg
| islation it 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 continent fanked by two great
oceans 1t is composed of men the de-
| seendantS of pioneers or, in a sense pio-
| neers themselves-of men winnowed out
I from among the nations of the old world
| by the energy, holiness and love of adj
venture found in their own eager hearts.
| Such 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.
1 In particular the events OF the lastS four
years have definitely decided that for woe
| or for veal our place must be gresA among
| the nations We may either fail greatly
| or succeed greatly, but We cannot avoid
the endeayor from which either great
| failure or great success must come. Even
| IL we would we cannot play small part
If We should try, all that would follow
4
| 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 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 tr1-
umphant endeavor We do not shrink
from the struggle before us. There are
MANY problems for us to face at the out
set of the twentieth century-sTaVe pf ,,..
/ lens abroad and still graver at nollie-pus
we know that we can solve them, ana
solve them well, provided only that we
bring to the solution the qualities Oh heaa
and heart which were shown by the men
who in the days Of Washington founded
| this government and in the days of Lin
| coin preserved 1t.
| No country has ever occupied higher
plane of material well being 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
| our sustained and continuous policies;
| 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 deyel-
| opment, and most of these fortunes have
been won not by doing evil, but as an in
! community as whole. Never before has
material we'll being been SO widely diff
| fused among our people. Great fortunes
have been t aneenm tnas ana nd YET N inc inc
| deed when compared to the wealth of the
people as whole. The plain people are
fore. The insurance companies. which
are practically mutual benefit societies
especially helpful to men of moderate
means-represent accommodations OF capt.
country. There are more deposits In the
savings banks, more owners of farms
more well paid wagewerkers Is IN thi h,s coun-
OF course when the conditions have ia
yored the growth OF so much that was
good they have also Favored s So is si
nently necessary that we should endeayor
to cut out this evil but let us keep due
sense OF proportion let us not fo m &i ing
greater good. The evils are real. and
some of them are menacing. 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 1t should go such
the evils We should fail in our duty IL
we did not try to remedy the evils, but we
shall succeed only If 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 endeavori1@ to ret rid of the latter
The Trusts.
In my nlessag e TO the present congress
at its first session | 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 popularity
known rs trusts. The experience of the
past year has emphasized, in my opinion,
the desrability of the steps l then pro-
posed A fundamental requisite of social
efficiency Is 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 it confers upon the
owners of property under the name of cor
porate franchises in such way as to
prevent the misuse OF these powers. Cor
porations and especially combinations of
corporations, 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
are not attacking the corporations, but
endeayoring 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 wrong
doer, provided only he works in proper
nj i'm fa
such a 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-
lions of capital which are or may become
injurious TO the public We must be care
full not to stop the great enterprises which
have legitimatciy reduced the cost OF pro-
duction. 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 wagsworker idle in the streets and
leaving the farmer without market for
what he grows. Insistence upon the i'm
possible means delay in achieving the pos
sible 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 supine on the plea
that under our peculiar system of govern
ment we are helpless IN the presence OF
the new conditions and unable to graphic
with them or to cut out whatever of evil
has arisen in connection with them. The
power of the congress to regulate inter