The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-11
Mr.. Roosevelt.

One hears on all sides on the part OF
President RoosEvELT's friends, the as
sertion that he considers himself the
friend of the great corporations, the
Trusts He believes that he has been OF
incstimable service to them, that he has
saved them from destruction, that but
for his action an lnimaginable disaster
would, before this have bofallen them.
One can but suppose that had he not
shown himself so capable to curb and
restrain the Trusts, had he not so e'iec-
lively roproved and >ubdued them, the
people would long since have risen and
oblitorated them The image arises of a
prodigiojls and afable tiger, his outline
hetrayng the presence Of the lady he
has eaten observing to himself as he
yields 10 a grateful sense of digestion;
Poor thing; u little later and she had
been bittoA by COBRA
The President theory Of dealing with
the great business enterprises of the
United States is founded in the ebullency
of an exuberant and youthful spirit He
has imagined to himself, among other
things, the dcplorable condition of the
vast army of organized labor, and its
sufferings under the highest wage scale
ever known in history, and he has sought
and obtained at the hands Of the Con-
gress Of the United States the power TO
deal. and to deal absolutely and despot-
ically, with the oppressor. The tradi-
tons of capital, the laws which govern it
so inexorably and which are SO well
known to others, have but indifferently
concerned the President; at least they
have counted for nothing to check his
ardent and passionate impulse. lnteg-
rity itself, he has never doubted his own
convictions, never thought for moment
of the teachings of centuries of experience
or of the danger of edged tools in the
hands of the immature. A subservient
Congress, plastic to his will and his
methods, has done his bidding and now
he and the people are at leisure to study
the consequences.
Capital is tho blood of trade, the life
giving and Indispensable element of its
existence. There is nothing else in all
the world that is so sensitive to every
wind that blows Well-known laws
govern and direct its functions, and from
those laws there is no appeal. The es-
scnial thing to the vitality OF capital is
confidence. Disturb confidence and cap
ital contracts, shrivels and hides itself.
Then only the disappearance of the dis
turbing cause, the re6stablishment of
the condition of security, will reassure it
and call it forth again
When the President demanded of Con-
gress the power to deal with the great
aggrc cations Of capital and industry as
he might see fit to deal with them, he
was careful to say: III you give us this
power We will use it wisely and gently;
We will be both temperate and just.
The assurance was not sufficient. With
all of its admiration for Mr.. RoosEvELTs
lofty and chivalric character, his i'm
placable probity and the unselishness
Of his ambitions, capital was first chilled,
then discouraged and at last alarmed.
When this happens to capital certain
well-known phenomena manifest them
selves. Money concentrates The visi-
BILE volume increases by leaps and bounds.
And as it accmnulates it becomes daily
more and more difficult to borrow it for
the ordinary processes Of business. IL
can be had I'D hbitum for very brief peri
DDS, or on terms that admit of it's instant
retraction. For longer periods, for six
months, for nine months, for a year, it
cannot be had at ALL or else upon condi-
tons and upon eXactions in respect of
security which to the prevailing methods
and customs of business are impossible
or prohibitive,
Thoreupon ensue the deplorable conse-
quenCes Of confidence impaired or de-
stroyed. As money withdraws from the
channels OF its natural activities, prices
fall, at first slowly, almost imperceptibly,
then more rapidly, and finally with an
impetuous and destructive precipitation.
The speculative markets are the first to
feel il and they are the quickest and the
most conspicuous in revealing its effects
Next in order are the great corporate
e-terprises which need all the time large
resources of ready cash. They must
have money AZ any cost and they pro-
vide themselves accordingly ut the cx-
penGe Of the weaker but equally necessi-
tous individual. Great works of ex-
tension, expansion or bptt ,rment are
deferred. Those already begun are
temporarily abandoned Commercial
commitments of all kinds are stopped or
restricted to the limits of the greatest