The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-05
The Presidents Address.

IN consequence of the extraordinary in
dustrial changes of the last half century
and notably Of the last two or three de-
cades, changes due mainly to the rapid
ity and complexity of our Industrial
growth we are confronted with prob
lens which in their present shape were
unknown to our forefathers Our great
prosperity, with its accompanying con-
centration of population and of wealth,
its extreme specialization of faculties
and its development Of giant Industrial
leaders, has brought much good and some
evil, and it is as foolish to ignore the
good as willfully to blind ourselves to
the evil.
1.-THE evil has been partly the inevitable
accompaniment of the social changes. and
where this is the case it can be cured
neither by law nor by the administra-
ton of the law, the only remedy lying
in the slow change of character and of
economic environment. But for a por-
tion of the evil, at least, we think that
remedies can be found We know well
the danger of false remedies, and we are
against all violent, radical, and unwise
change. But we believe that by pre-
ceeding slowly, yet resolutely, with
good sense and moderation, and also with
firm determination not to be swerved
from our course either by foolish clamor
or by any base or sinister influence. we
can accomplish much for the betterment
of conditions.
WHAT HE RECOMMENDED.
Nearly two years ago, speaking at the
State Fair in Minnesota, 1 said:
q" 1t is probably true that the large ma
jority of the fortunes that now exist in
this country have been amassed, not by
injuring our people, but as ma incident to
the comforting of great benefits upon the
community, and this, no matter what
may have been the conscious purpose
Of those amassing them. There is but the
scantiest justification for most of the
cutlery against the men of wealth as such;
and it ought to be unnecessary to state
that any appeal which directly or indi-
rectly leads to suspicion and hatred
among ourselves, which tends to limit
opportunity, and therefore to shut the
door of success against poor men of
talent, and, finally. which entails the pos
sibility of lawlessness and violence, is an
attack upon the fundamental properties
of American citizenship. Our interests
are at bottom common; in the long run
we go up or go down together. Yet
more and more it is evident that the
State, and if necessary the nation, has
got to possess the right of supervision
and control as regards the great corpor-
ations which are its creatures; particu-
larly as regards the great business com
| binations which derive a portion of their
| Importance from the existence of some
monopolstic tendency. The right should
| be exercised with caution and self-re-
straint; but it should exist, so that it
may be invoked if the need arises
Last fall in speaking at Cincinnati I
said
THE necessary supervision and con-
troll in which l firmly believe as the only
method of eliminating the real evils of
the trusts, must come through wisely
and cautiously framed legislation, which
| shall aim in the first place to give def
| mite control to some sovereign over the
great corporations, and which shall be
| followed, when. once this power has been
| conferred, by a system giving to the
| government the full knowledge which is
the essential for satisfactory action.
Then, when this knowledge-one of the
/ essential features of which is proper
publicity-has been gained, what further
steps of any kind are necessary can be
taken with the confidence born of the
possession of power to deal with the sub
/ ject. and of a thorough knowledge OF
what should and can be done in the mat
ter. We need additional power, and We
need knowledge. Such legisIa-
tion-whether obtainable now or obtain
able only after a constitutional amend
ment-should provide for a reasonable
supervision. the most prominent feature
of which at first should be publicity:
that is, the making public, both to the
government authorities and to the people
at large, the essential facts in which the
public is concerned. This would give us
exact knowledge of many points which
are now not only in doubt but the sub
iect Of fierce controversy Moreover. the
| mere fact of the publication would cure
some very grave evils, for the light o
day is a deterrent to wrongdoing. i
4 would doubtless disclose other evils Will
which, for the time being, we could de