The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-27
FRANK, BUT DISCREET

RANK, bU1 DlSCnCC4
President Roosevelt might have con-
fined his utterances during his New Eng
land trip to local compliments and pretty
nothings about the greatness Of the re-
public. quotations from history and the
sort Of speech that the distinguished Wis
Itor is generally expected to make while
the people yawn and remark one to an
other that they have heard these things
before.
Instead, the president has gone out OF
his way to take firm stand on the
trust question. III speech after speech
lhe has frankly told his hearers that the
trust question is a real one, not bogey,
and that 1t must be dealt with by the ma
tional government. Nor has he confined
himself to the use Of the loose term
r'trusts." He has said plainly that he
means corporati tions, that the so-called
trust problem IS a corporation problem
and that the way to solve it is to give the
national government broad powers Of
control Of corporations.
! The presidents steady emphasis Of the
xrust question In many speeches indi-
oates that to his mind it is the great mat
ter of public concern now before the
American people. Evidently he has made
up his mind to do what he can in pre-
parng the way for the coming of the in
1evitable day when cunning will, in one Of
his own phrases, find itself shackled.
!. On the one hand the president wishes
to remind the men Of great wealth, to
whom he referred in one of his speeches,
that it is folly to assume that there is no
Hanger in present industrial tendencies.
He wishes to prepare capital to meet
restrictive and regulative national law
without shock.
On the other hand he wishes to check
the ardor of the radicals. impatient for
immediate and impetuous reform, by
suring them that there is a man at the
head Of this nation who sympa athizes with
their fears and purposes to do something,
not merely to drift.
= Yet 1t is not fair to the president, to
say as some do, that his speeches are
mere "jollying." intended to allay popu-
lar excitement without representing any
real intention to act. These critics wish
him to lay before them a detailed plan
which, if applied according to directions,
is guaranteed to humble the trusts, lop
off their excessive powers and give equal
ity Of opportunity to all citizens of the
republic. The president can not satisfy
these critics, because he has no such
definite plan and because he would be
foolish to advance 1t If he had. The
question is one to be studied. to be dealt
with carefully and tentatively.
We must feel our way along. It Is
enough for the president to say in a gen
eral way that corporations must be con-
trolled by the national government and
that, If the constitution does not give
the power, then the constitution mist be
amended. AS to detail. it Is enough for
him to suggest publicity as one Of the
things that must be enforced. The pres
tdent is thoroughly justified in referring
to what he has done with a defective law
as pledge of what he, as the executive'
may be expected to do with an effective
statute
The people have read the presidents s
deliverances on the trust question with
keen interest. They have been generally
pleased and satisfied with them. Those
speeches will have a far-reaching effect
in creating a strong public opinion. sub
scribed to by all but few mon of the
Morgan and Gates GLASS, the chief bene-
nciaries of unrestrained corporations, that
the time has come for congress to take
step forward In dealing with corpora
xions before they become so great
as to rival In power the gov
$Iern1nent itself. The president has
5|plainly laid down the rule that the SOW
Iereign power of the government over COR
%1porations must cease to be nominal and
become emphatically real.
So far as he is concerned, this nation is
not to content itself with a let-alone pol
icy, but is to exert its strength to make
the great corporations serve the interests
of the public and to preserve, so far as
statutory enactment can, equality of op-
portunity and commercial freedom for all
men.