Evening star., 1905-11-11
HARDWARE MEN DINE
Several Addresses by Govern
ment Officials.
CORPORATION SINS
COMMISSIONER GARFIELD ON
BUSINESS SUPERVISION.
Speeches by Secretary Shaw, Repre-
sentative Burton and o. p. Austin
Of the Bureau of Statistics.

| A joint banquet attended by about four
| hundred delegates and ladies at the New
Willard Hotel last night terminated the
meetings of the National Hardware Asso-
| citation and the American Hardware Man
ufacturers' Associate which have been In
progress for the past three days. w. s.
| Wright of Omaha, Neb., the newly elected
president of the National Hardware Asso-
| cation, acted as toastmaster and toasts
were responded to as follows: Transpor-
! tation." Representative Theodore E. Bur-
| ton of Ohio, the chairman Of the committee
on rivers and harbors; Department Of
| Commerce and It's Relations to Business
Development James r. Garfield, chief of
the bureau of corporations, Department of
Commerce; Foreign Opportunities for
American Trade" Oscar p. Austin, chief of
the bureau of statistics of the Department
of Commerce and Labor. Addresses also
were made by Secretary Shaw and Director
of the Mint Roberts. Several of the speak
ers touched upon the question of the regu-
Ia ton of freight rates by some body Gre
ated by Congress
Evil Of Freight Rebates.
Secretary Shaw declared that the evil of
freight rebates was not alone with the
transportation company but with shippers
as well.
How to cope with both,' he said, 'is
a question that is puZzling the government.
That question will soon dissolve and the
evil will be abolished: The rebate evil
ought to stop and will have to stop.
want to say right here to you beneficiaries
Qaughter) that your days are numbered.
OF course you all smile with an easy con-
science l once told a convention of bank
ers that they ought to pay interest on
their deposits and they all laughed too.
But now as to rebates. Ny own idea
about rebates is this. The rebate must
stop and the railroad Is not the only sinner
in the case. Such action must be taken
by legislation and the enforcement of that
legislation will apply the remedy to both
the beneficiary and the railroads 1t is the
great and vital evil of our commercial sys-
tenn and I am sure that every person en-
gagged legitimately in the business of ship
ping or hauling will agree with those who
are seeking relief.
Mr.. Garfield's Address.
Mr.. Garfield in speafsng of the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor said in part:
LAS you know, the Department of Com
merce and Labor is an infant among the
departments In Washington. and yet it has
grown greatly during the few years of Its
life. 1t was organized because 1t was felt
that there was a pressing need lot some
means of constant communication between
the business interests of the country ana
the federal government, because in the de-
VGlODment or CrdO6 ana llluuStIy VIC "SiS
no longer bound down by local geographical
divisions but trade and commerce had
spread far outside and beyond the limits
of the single state, and mad become
national and international-WorId-W vide
There were brought together not only the
bureaus that touched Immediately and dl-
rectly the interests OF the manufacturer,
of the laborer of the man engaged In com
merce and of the producer, but likewise
those bureaus that had to do with the tabu-
lation of results-the census bureau. the
bureau of statistics-all OF them necessary
for the proper understanding and the dis
tribution of the knowledge of the CONNER
cial interests of the whole country.
therefore, this department has occupied
a peculiar relation TO the people ol .hls
country. 1t has much before It, 1T is ne"
and ,ntried in many ways. If 1t is to &C
compIish that for which 1t was organized
it must have the most hearty cooperation
of the business men, OF the business IN
terests of the country at large.
THE bureau Of manufacturers has only
been recently organized. 1t Is a bureau
in which you gentlemen mere shouio nave
n vital interest 1t has had transferred
to it the publication of the consular re-
ports-the distribution 'of knowledge of our
foreign markets. Through this bureau 1t
is hoped that the commerce of the world
will be brought to our own doors; that all
the avenues of trade in which you gentle
men desire to send out the results of your
labor and effort will be opened to you in
wav that never before has been possible.
IT is hoped that through this bureau you
will be able to find out not only where
your manufacturers are needed, but how
to get them there how best to send TO the
worlds markets those things which we here
produce.
Study of Systems.
"The bureau of corporations is to study
Systematically and find out all about the
business conditions of this country. That
INQUIRY does not mean an invasion of pri-
yate rights; 1t does not mean an infringe
ment upon the fundamental rights that we
as individuals have, but 1t means that the
government has a right to protect one
man against the wrongdoing of another;
that the federal government, while it rec
ognizes the individual right, at the same
time intends to impose upon every one
the individual obligation.
We are no longer we were twenty-five
or fifty years ago. In those days the in
dividual acted in business an individual.
In these days the individual has given way
| to the corporation. Individual enterprise,
while yet large in some places, in some
fields. is now but small proportion of all
the business of this country The great
proportion is done under the corporate
form. Is it right that a corporation should
demand and obtain for itself all the rights
of an individual, while at the same time 1t
does not assume all the obligations imposed
upon the individual, and does not perform
the duties that the individual does perform?
| have been much interested in the ques-
tions we have heard discussed by Mr. Bur-
ton and by Secretary Shaw. These ques-
tions are uppermost in the minds not only
of you who represent business interests,
but of every man and woman who has at
heart the best interests of his country. We
are in the industrial age. We have prob
lens before US today that are as mighty
and as important as were the problems
before our forefathers in the days of the
organization Of our republic and in the
days of the salvation of our republic They
simply come in another form. Today 1t
is the commercial form-the industrial form
with which we must deal
These gentlemen have indicated some OF
the evils-the Industrial evils-that exist to-
day. and each has indicated a line of
thought for remedying some of these evils.
/ want to go further than they have and
suggest to you that unless we strike at the
root of the disease 1t is idle to expect any
permanent cure.
Not Parental Control.
l do not mean that the government should
attempt to exercise a paternal control over
private business. That is not it. That is
the cry that those make who are op-
posed to government supervision. 1t is
not paternalism in the old sense as we un-