Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1904-12-14
REVIEW AND RECOMMENDA-
TIONS OF THE PRESIDENT
President Roosevelt Discusses Affairs at Home and
Abroad--WiIl Submit Special Message with De-
partment Review of the Colorado Strike.

Washington, Dec. 6.-The message
OF the president, delivered to congress
today, is in part as follows:
To the Senate and House of Repre-.
sentatives:
The nation continues to enjoy note
worthy prosperity. Such prosperity
is Of course primarily due to the high
individual average of our citizenship.
taken together with our great natur
al resources; but an important fac
tor therein is the working of our long.
continued governmental policies. The
people have emphaticaIly expressed
their approval of the principles un.
derlying these policies. and their de-
sire that these principles be kept sub.
stantially unchanged, although of
course applied in progressive spirit
to meet changing conditions.
Caution Against Extravaganee.
The enlargement of scope of the
functions Of the national government
required by our development as ma
tion involves, of course, increase of
expense; and the period of prosperity
through which the country is passing
justifies expenditures for permanent
Improvements far greater than would
be wise in hard times. Battleships
and forts, public buildings, and i'm
proved water ways ale investments
which should be made wnen we have
the money; but abundant revenues
and a large surplus always invite ex
travagsnce, and constant care should
be taken to guard against unneces-
sary increase of the ordinary expenses
of government. The cost of doing
government business should be regu.
lated with the same rigid scrutiny
as the cost of doing a private busi-
ness.
Capital and Labor.
In tie vast and complicated mechai.
ism of our modern civilized life the
dominant note is the note of indus.
trialism; and the relations of capi-
tai and labor. and especially OF organ.
lied capital and organized labor, to
each other and to the public at large,
come second in importance only to the
intimate questions of family life. Our
peculiar form of government, with It's
sharp division of authority between
the nation and the several states. has
been on the whole far more advail-
tageous to our development than d
strongly centralized government. But
II is undoubtedly responsible for much
Of the difficulty OF meeting with ade
quate legislation the new problems
presented by the total change in in
dustrial conditions on this continent
during the last half century. In actual
practice it has proved exceedingly diff
ficult, and in many cases impossible,
TO get unanimity of wise action among
the various states on these subjects.
From the very nature of the case this
is especially true of the laws affecting
the employment of capital in huge
masses.
With regard to labor, the problem
is no less important, but 1t is simpler.
As long as the states retain the pri-
mary control of the police power the
circumstances must be altogether ex.
treme which require interference by
the federal authorities, whether in the
way of safeguarding the rights of ia.
Dor or in the way of seeing that wrong
is not done by unruly persons who
shield themselves behind the name OF
labor. II there is resistance to the
federal courts interference with the
mails or interstate commerce, or mo.
lestation of federal property, or If the
state authorities in some crisis which
then the federal government may IN
teIferc; but though such interfeI encc
may be caused by a condition oil
things arising out Of trouble connect
ed with some question of labor, The
interference itself simply takes the
form OF restoring order without re
gard to the questions which have
caused the breach of order-for tc
keep order is a primary duty and In
other questions sink into abeyance un
til order has been restored. In the
District of Columbia and i'm the terri
tories the federal law covers the en-
tire field of government; but the la
Dor question is only acute in populous
centers of commerce, manufactures
or mining. Nevertheless, both In the
enactment and In the enforcement O
law the federal government within
its restricted sphere should set an ex
ample to the state government, es
pecially in matter so vital as this
affecting labor. | believe that undel
modern industrial conditions IL is Of
ten necessary. and even where no
necessary II is yet often wise. tha
there should be organization OF lab0l
in order better to secure the rights
of the individual wage-worker. Al
announcement should be given to any
such organization, SO long as II Ii
conducted with a due and decent re
gard for the rights of others. There
are in this country some labor un
ions which have habitually, and othcl
labor unions which have often. beer
among the most effective agents II
working for good citizenship and fol
uplifting the condition OF those whose
welfare should be closest TO oul
hearts. But when any labor unior
seeks improper ends. or seeks t.
achieve proper ends by impropoI
means, all good citizens and more
especially all honorable public serv
ants must oppose the wrong-doing al
resolutely as they would oppose th'
wrong-doing of any great corporation
OF course any violence, brutality, o.
corruption, should not for one mo
ment be tolerated. Wage-worker'