The free press. (Southern Pines, N.C.) 1898-19??, 1903-12-11
Recommendations of Mr.. Roosevelt
to Congress.
THE COUNTRY IS PROSPEROUS.
Suggestions Touching Upon Our
Public PoIicy-The Departments
The Isthmian Canal and Treaty
With Panama-Oliler rlatters.
introduction.

InLfOQuCtlOII.
To the Senate and House of Represen-
tatives:
The country is to be congratulated
ON the amount of substantial achleVe-
ment which has marked the past year
both as regards our foreign and as re-
CARDS our domestic policy.
Corporations.
With a nation as with a man the
most important things are those OF the
household, and therefore the country
Is especially to be congratulated on
what has been accomplished in the dl-
rection of providing for the exercise OF
supervision over the great corporations
and combinations of corporations Gu
gagged in interstate commerce. Inc
Congress has created the Department
of Commerce and Labor, including the
Bureau of Corporations, with for the
first time authority to secure proper
publicity of such proceedings OF these
great corporations as the public mas
the right to know. 1t has provided Tor
the expediting of suits for the enforce
ment of the Federal antitrust law; and
by another law it has secured equal
treatment to all producers in the trans
portation of their goods, thus taking a
long stride forward in making effective
the work of the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
Department of Commerce and Labor.
The establishment of the Department
of Commerce and Labor, with me
Bureau of Corporations hereunder,
marks a real advance in the direction
of doing all that is possible for the So
luton of the questions vitality affecting
capitalists and wage-Workers. The act
creating the Department was approved
ON February IA, 1903, and two days
later the head of the Department was
nominated and confirmed by the Sen
ate. Since then the work of organiza-
ton has been pushed as rapidly as the
initial appropriations permitted, and
with due regard to thoroughness and
the broad purposes which the Depart
ment is designed to serve. After the
transfer of the various bureaus and
branches to the Department at the be-
ginning of the current fiscal year, as
provided for in the act, the personnel
comprised 1880 employees in Washing
ton and 1886 in the country at large.
The scope of the Departments duty
and authority embraces the commercial
and industrial interests of the Nation.
1t is not designed to restrict or control
the fullest liberty of legitimate bust
ness action, but to secure exact and au-
thentic information which will aid the
Executive in enforcing existing laws,
and which will enable the Congress to
enact additional legislation, if any
should be found necessary, in order to
prevent the few from obtaining privi-
leges at the expense of diminished OPP
portunities for the many.
Capital and Labor.
The consistent policy of the National
Government, so far as it has the power
Is to hold in check the INSCRIPTIONS
man, whether employer or employee;
but to refuse to weaken individual mi
tiative or to hamper or cramp the in
dustrial development of the country.
We recognize that this is an era Of fed
Grafton and combination, in which
great capitalstic corporations and la
Dor unions have become factors of tre-
mendous Importance in all industrial
centers. Hearty recognition is given the
far-reaching, beneficent work which
has been accomplished through both
corporations and unions, and the line
as between different corporations, as be-
tween unions, is drawn as it is between
different individuals; that is, it is
drawn on conduct, the effort being to
treat both organized capital and or
ganized labor alike; asking nothing
save that the interest of each shall be
brought into harmony with the interest
Of the general public, and that the con-
duct of each shall conform to the fun
damental rules of obedience to law, Of