Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1904-12-10
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
Recommendations in Regard to the
Differences Between Capital and
labor---Views on the Sub
iect Of the Great Cor
porations---Railway
Rebates Must Be
Stopped.

Washington, d. 1.-The Presidents mes
sage was read before both houses of Con.
gress and was listened to with attention
by Senators and Representatives. 1t is,
in part, as follows
To the Senate and House of Representa-
tives:
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 natural resources; but an
important factor therein is the working
of our long.continued governmental poll
cies. The people have emphatically ex-
pressed their approval of the principles
underlying these policies. and their desire
that these principles be kent substantially
unchanged although of course applied in
a progressive spirit to meet changing con-
ditions.
The President then cautions against gov
ernmental extravaganza. after which he
takes for his text Capital and Labor "
He says that Gin the vast and complicated
mechanism of our modern civilized life
the Sna ste Re the n o eaS ct a amd
labor. and especially of organized capital
and organized labor, to each other and to
the public at large come second in i'm.
portance only to the intimate questions OF
family life"
The President contends that the circum-
stances must be extreme which REQUIRE in.
reference by the Federal authorities,
whether in the way of safeguarding the
rights of labor or in the way of seeing
that wrong is not done, by unrnly persons
who shield themselves behind the name OF
In Nr Nhap EpIprn1 trppps inf q pfppa hp-
cause of resistance to United State courts
or of obstruction to mails or interstate
commerce, Or because the Safe authorities
call for help, the Federal forces should
be used only to restore order without re-
gard to the question at issue. The Presi-
dent says he believes there should be Or
ganization of labor in order better to Sc
cure the rights of the individual wage
worker. Butpwhen any labor union seeks
improper ends all good citizens and all
honorable public servants must oppose
the wrongdoing as resolutely as they would
oppose the wrongdoing of any great cor
poration. The message recommends that
the laws for the compulsory use of safety
appliances on railroads be strengthened,
and that an employers liability law for the
District of Columbia be passed. Medals
of honor for heroism on land and sea, and
especially for those who save life in the
land commerce of the Nation, are urged.
1t is suggested that the use of the block.
signal system be made compulsory on all
railroads and that the hours of labor OF
those railway employees engaged in inter-
state commerce be limited by law. The
message declares there is no objection to
employees of the Government belonging to
unions, but the Government cannot dis
crlmnate against non-union men. But it
is very grave improperly for Govern.
ment employees to band themselves together
to extort high salaries or to defeat Con.
gressmen who refuse to vote for salary
grabs. The Administration has already
taken steps to prevent and punish abuses
of this nature; but it will be wise for Con.
gress to legislate on the subject.
The President then states he will soon
lay before Congress the report of the in
the Colorado mining strike, Gin which
certain very evil forces, which are more
or less at work everywhere under the
conditions of modern industrialism, became
startlingly prominent" He also suggests
that an investigation be made into labor
conditions in manufacturing and min
ing districts, as to hours of labor. labor
GI MSmfn and foa and Of
On the subject of corporations, the mes
sage, in part, says:
When we come to deal with great cor
porations the need for the Government to
act directly is far greater than in the case
of labor, because great corporations can
become such only by engaging in interstate
commerce, and interstate commerce is pc.
culiarly the field of the General Govern
ment. 1t is an absurdity to expect to
eliminate the abuses in great corporations
by State action. 1t is difficult to be patient
with an argument that such matters should
be left to the State, because more than
one State pursues the policy of creating on
easy terms corporations which are never
operated within that State at all, but in
other States whose laws they ignore. The
National Government alone can deal ade-
quately with these great corporations. To
try to deal with them in an incorporate,
destructive, or demagogic spirit would, in
ever would be accomplished, and. with
absolute certainty, that if anything were
accomplished, it would be of harmful
nature.
Great corporations are necessary, and
only men of great and singular mental
power can manage such corporations sue
cessfully, 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 Bureau of Corporations has made
careful preliminary investigation of many
important corporations. 1t will make a
special report on the beef industry.
The policy of the bureau is to accomplish
the purposes of its creation by cooperation,
not antagonism; by making constructive
legislation, not destructive prosecution, the
immediate object of its inquiries; by con-.
sentative investigation of law and fact,
and by refusal to issue incomplete and
hence necessarily inaccurate reports. Its
policy being thus one Of open inquiry into,
and not attack upon, business, the bureau
has been able to gain not only the con.
fidence, but better still. the cooperation
of men engaged in legitimate business.
The bureau offers to Congress the means
of getting at the cost of production, of our
various great staples of commerce. AZ
OF necessity the careful. investigation OF