The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-11-18


mess i regarded As what Is really Is "a
trust Of the most responsible and sacred
Kind. There can be no final security for
the American poliey-hoder until a sim-
liar standard is maintained in the Union
So long as the chief Insurance compa-
nies fail to come up 70 that standard the
people Of the United States win conclude
that all is not well with the ethics Of
American business.
"At the root Of all the American
alarms and perplexities lies the immense
and irresponsible power welded By eapi-
tai It is not surprising that people
should grow anxious when they see vast
fortunes passing from hand to hand with
the rapiydity which is possible in these
great cembina tions and when they note
the coercive influence that can be thus
exercised on the public il. some Of the
most elemental matters which concern its
welfare. Nor is it surprising that eapi-
n so organized and strainiug to the ut
saost the facilities afforded it by the law.
should find arrayed against it the banded
forces of labor asserting themselves all
the more defantly because of the absence
Of the restraints on wealth. The busi-
ness conditions Of the United States pre-
sent vast and complicated problem, but
behind all of its varied manifestations
fhe monopoly Of the trusts, the absence
OF railway rebates, Of disclosures ike
those of>the insurance companies. is the
radical evil of the unfettered strength of
capital Tint President Roosevelt means
10 find some way of reform is apparently
admltted. He seemed 10 hint as much
himself the other day when he alluded to
the freedom to act as he thought right,
which is the result of his declaration not
to stand again for the Presidency But
by the very declaration that he will not
be a candidate again he inevitably limits
his opportunities for carrying out the
great task before him.
In declaring this resolution now he is.
of course, only repeating the avowal
which he made when returned at the last
Presidential election. We have not the
least doubt that he utters it again in all
sincerity, and that he does derive from it
certain refreshing sense of indepen-
dence Of party. But there are cases in
Which even the most 'unalterable' of res
olntions are obliged to yield to facts.
The President has, owing to the exigen-
cies of American politics, only about
three working years of power before
him, and It is difficult to believe that in
this short time he can carry to final
issue the great reforms which the Amer
leans expect of him. He may reply that
it IS enough to have set them going. But
the struggle is, perhaps, the largest and
most complex that an American states
man has ever had to face, and it may
well be that the American people, hav-
ing once been launched on it, would in
sst that their President should not de-
sert them. 1t is impossible to predict
the course of events, nor need external
observers take the responsibility of offer
ing advice to the Americans. A crisis,
however, seems to be approaching, when
President Roosevelt will be needed more
than ever. However, self-denying are
his intentions. Il may be not only un-
desirable but impossible for him to abb
stain from second candidacy