Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-12-07
Excerpts From
Presidents Message.

ally considered one of the greatest and
most fOrceful state papers that has
been issued from the white house in a
generation. Contrary to expectations
he does not touch the question of tariff
revision. and the matter will probably
not come up at this session. In the
matter of railroad rebates, however.
he takes a decided stand, and says
that he is opposed to this form of COM
mercial and Industrial favoritism.
Some of the most important points
of the Presidents message are given
below.
[ believe that under modern indus
trial conditions it is often necessary,
and even where not necessary it is
often wise. that there should be organ
ization Of labor in order better to Sc
cure the rights of the individual wage
worker. All encouragement should be
given any such organization, so long
as it is conducted with due and de-
cent regard for the rights of others
But when any labor union seeks i'm
proper ends, or seeks to achieve prop
er ends by improper means, all good
citizens and more especially all honor
able public servants must oppose the
wrongdoing as resolutely as they
would oppose the wrongdoing of any
great corporation.
Wherever the national government
has power there shall be a stringent
employers liability law, which should
apply to the government itself where
the government itself is an employer
of labor
The national government alone can
deal adequately with these great cor
porations To try to deal with them
in an intemp perate, destructive Or de-
magogic spirit would, in all probabil-
ity, mean nothing would be accom-
plished and with absolute certainty,
that if anything were accomplished it
would be OF harmful nature.
Great corporations are necessary, and
only msn OF great aud singular mental
power can manage such corporations
successfully, and such men must have
great rewards. But these corporations
should be managed with due regard to
the interest of the public as whole.
Where this can be done under the
present laws it must be done. Where
these laws come short others should be
enacted to supplement them,
The policy Of the bureau Of corpora
tions is to accomplish the purposes Of
it's creation by cooperation, not antag-
onism by making constructive legisla-
ton, not destructive prosecution, the
!. immediate object of its inquiries; by
conservative investigation of law and
and fact, and by refusal to issue incom-
plete and hence necessarily inaccurate
reports.
While am of the opinion that at
present it would be undesirable, if it
were not impractical. finally to clothe
the commission with general authority
to fix railroad rates, do believe that
as fair security to shippers, the com
mission should be vested with the pow
cr where a given rate has been chal-
lenged and after full hearing found to
be unreasonable, to decide, subject to
judicial re view, what shall be reason
able rate TO take its place; the ruling
of the commission to take effect i'm
mediately and to remain unless and
until it is reversed by the court of re-
view.
The attention of congress sho uld be
especially given to the currency ques-
tion, and that the standing committees
charged with the duty take up the
matter of our currency and see wheth-
er it is not possible to secure an agree
ment in the business world for better
ing the system; the committees should
consider the question of the retirement
of the greenbacks and the problem OF
securing in our currency such elasti-
city as is consistent with safety. Every
silver dollar should be made by law
redeemable in gold at the option of the
holder.
Within two years we shall be trying
the experiment of an elective lower
house in the Philippine Legislation.
1t may be that the Filipinos will mis-
use this legislation, and they certainly