Arizona republican., 1904-12-07
THE PRESIDENTS
 MESSAGE
Continued From Page i.

classified service. The letter carriers, both municipal and rural are as Sxhele an excellent body of public ser Vants. They should be amply paid. Bat their payment must be obtained by arguing their claims fairly and honor ably before the congress, and not by banding together for the defeat of 6Aose congressman who refuse to give promises which they cannot in con- science give The Administration has already taken steps to prevent and punish abuses of this nature; but it will be wise for the congress to supple saent this action by legislation.
 BUREAU OF LABOR.
 Much can be done by the government in labor matters by merely giving pub Iicity to certain conditions. The bureau of labor has done excellent work of this kind in many different directions. I shall shortly lay before you in a spe- ciaI message the full report of thein- vestigatio of the bureau of labor into the Colorado mining strike, as this is a strike in which certain very evil forces, which are more or less at work everywhere under the conditions of modern industrialism, became start lngly prominent. It is greatly to be wished that the department of com merce and labor, through the labor bureau, should compile and arrange for the congress a list of the labor laws of the various states, and should be given the means to investigate and re- port to the congress upon the labor conditions in the manufacturing and mining regions throughout the country, both as to wages, as to hours of labor, as to the labor of women and children, and as to the effect in the various la- bor centers of immigration from abroad. In this investigation especial attention should be paid to the con- ditions of child labor and child labor legislation in the several states. Such an investigation must necessarily take into account many Of the problems with which this question of child labor Is connected. These problems can be actually met, in most cases. only by the states themselves; but the lack of proper legislation in one state in such a matter as child labor often renders it excessively difficult to esta pro- tective restriction upon the work in another state having the same indus tries, so that the worst tends to drag down the better. For this reason, 1t would be we'll for the nation at least to endeavor to secure comprehensive in fes-mation as to the conditions of labor of children in the different states. Such investigation and publication by the national government would tend to- ward the securing of approximately uniform legislation of proper character among the several states.
 CORPORATIONS.
 When we come to deal with great corporations the need for the govern ment to act directly is far greater than in the case of labor, because great cor porations can become such only by en- gazing in interstate commerce, and in- terstate commerce is peculiarly the field of the general government. It is an absurdity to expect to eliminate the l abuses in great corporations by state action. It is difficult to be patient with an argument that such matters should l be left to the states, because more than | one state pursues the policy of creating | on easy terms corporations which are l never operated within that state at all, l but in other states whose laws they ig- 1 nore. The national government alone l can deal adequately with these great l corporations. To try to deal with them | in an incorporate, destructive, or dem | agogic spirit would, in all probability, l mean that nothing whatever would be | accomplished, and, with absolute cer- | tainty, that if anything were accom- plished it would be of a harmful na- | ture. The American people need to | continue to show the very qualities T alton, good sense, the earnest desire to | avoid doing any damage, and yet the | quiet determination to proceed, step by | step, without halt and without hurry, | in eliminating or at least in minimizing | whatever of mischief or of evil there is to interstate commerce in the conduct | of great corporations. They are acting | in no spirit of hostility to wealth, | either individually or corporate. They | n than against the poor man. On the | contrary, they are friendly alike to- | ward the rich man and toward the | poor man, provided only that each acts | in Q spirit of justice and decency to- | ward his fellows Great corporations l are necessary, and only men of great l and singular mental power can man | age such corporations successfully, and | such men must have great rewards. | T'ut these corporations should be man aged with due regard to the interest | of the public as a whole. Where this can be done under the present laws it | must be done. Where these laws come short others should be enacted to sup 1 pteInent them.
 Yet we must never forget the de- tegmining factor in every kind of work, of head or hand, must be the mans | own good sense. courage and kindli- ness, More important than any iegls- latiori is the gradual growth of feel ing of responsibility and forbearance | among capitalists and wage workers alike; e feeling of respect on the part | o< each man for the rights of others; | Q feeling of broad community of inter- | est, not merely of capitalists among | themselves, and of wage workers among themselves, but of capitalists l and wage workers in their relations to esteh other, and of both in their rela- | tions to their fellows who make up the | body polite. There are many captains | of industry, many labor leaders, who QuSsliZs this. A recent speacs by the | president of one of our great railroad | 1 gyssesns to the employees of that sys- tesa contains common sense. It runs , SR part as follows: