The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-06

III accordance with which all men of one class are favored and all men of another class discriminated against, we shall do irreparabIe damage to the body polite. I believe that our people are too sane, too self-respecting, too fit for self-goyernment, ever to adopt such an attitude. This government is not and never shall be government by a plutoc- Facy. This government is not and nev- CT shall be government by a mob. It shall continue to be in the future what 1t has been in the past, a government based on the theory that each man, j rich or poor, is to be treated simply and solely on his worth as man, that all his personal and property rights are to be safeguarded, and that he is neith- CT to wrong others nor to suffer wrong from others.
 The noblest of all forms of govern ment is self f-government; but it is also the most difficult. We who possess this priceless boon, and who desire to hand it on to our children and our chil- drens children, should ever bear in mind the thought so finely expressed by Burke: Men are qualified for civil Iib- erty in exact proportion to their dispo- sition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as they are disposed-to listen to the counsels of the wise and good in preference to the flat tery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of 1t there be within the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things than men of incorporate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fet- ters."
 The great insurance companies afford striking examples of corporations whose business has extended so far beyond the jurisdiction of the states which ere ated them as to preclude strict en- forcement of supervision and regulation by the parent states. In my last an nual message recommended that the congress carefully consider whether the power of the bureau of corporations cannot constitutionally be extended to cover interstate transactions in insur- ance.
 Insurance.
 Recent events have emphasized the importance of an early and exhaustive consideration of this question, to see whether 1t is not possible to furnish better safeguards than the several states have been able to furnish against corruption of the fragrant kind wrich has been exposed. It has been only too clearly shown that certain of the men at tlle head of these large corporations take but 1ft1te note of the ethical dis tfrTctfon between hnesty and dishon- esty; they draw the line only this side of what may be called law-honesty, the kind of honesty necessary in order to avoid falling into the clutches of the law. Of course the only complete rem edy for this condition must be found ifi an aroused public conscience, a high CT serice of ethical conduct in the com- munity at large, and especially among business men and in the great profes sion of the law, in the growth of a spirit which condemns all dishonesty, whether in rich man or in poor man, whether 1t takes the shape of bribery or of b1ackmail. But much can be done by legislation which is not only drastic uut practical There is need of a far stricter and more uniform regulation of the vast insurance interests of the country. The United States should in this respect follow the policy of other nations by providing adequate nation all supervision of commercial interests which are clearly national in character. My predecessors have repeatedly recog- nized that the foreign business of these companies is an important part of our foreign commercial relations. During the administrations of Presidents Cleveland, Harrison and Mckinley the state department exercised it's influence through diplomatic channels, to prevent unjust discrimination by foreign coun- tries against American insurance con- panies. These negotiations illustrated the propriety of the congress recogniZ- ing the national character of insurance, for in the absence of federal legislation the state department could only give expression to the wishes of the author ities Of the several states, whose policy was ineffective through want of uni- formity.
 repeat my previous recommendation that the congress should also consider whether the federal government has any power or owes any duty with re- spect to domestic transactions in insllr- EtlIC0 HUI Stl 1IlICISLdL6 CIIdEdCL6F. lHdC state supervision has proved inade- quate is generally conceded. The bur- den upon insurance companies, and therefore on their policyholders, of con- fiicting regulations of many states, is linquestfoned, while but little effective check is imposed upon any able and un- scruptllous man who desires to ex ploit the company in his own interest at the expense of the policy holders and of the public. The inability of a state to regulate effectively insurance corporations created under the laws of other states and. transacting the larger part of their business elsewhere is also clear. As a remedy for this evil of con- fiicting, ineffective and yet burden some regulations there has been for many years a widespread demand for federal supervision. The congress has already recognized that interstate in- surance may be a proper subject for federal Legislation, for in creating the bureau of corporations it authorized 1t to publish and supply useful informa- tion concerning interstate corporations, ''including corporations engaged in in- suranee." It is obvious that if the com