New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-06
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
TOPICS OF LARGE PUBLIC INTEREST IN DOCUMENT
READ TO CONGRESS YESTERDAY
Uer0ces on Restraint Of Corporations Railroad Labor Tariff
Immigration Insurance, the Preservation of Niagara
Many Other Subjects.
. the senate and House Of Representatives:

To the Senate and House of Representatives:
The people Of this country continue to enjoy
great prosperity. Undoubtedly there will be ebD
and dow in such prosperity. and this ebb an
flow will be fell less by all members Of
he community, both by the deserving and the
Trdeserving. Against the wrath of the Lord the
wisdom Of man cannot avail; in times of food
or drouth human ingenuity can but partially
repair the disaster. general failure Of crops
zrolld hurt all OF Again, If the folly of man
r.ers the general well being then those who are
innocent of the folly viii have to pay part Of
the penalty incurred by those who are guilty
Of the folly panic brought on by the specula-
tive folly OF part or the business community
would hurt the whole business community. But
such stoppage of welfare though it might be
severe would not be lasting. In the long run
the one vital factor in the permanent prosperity
N the country is the high individual character
of the average American worker. the average
American citizen, no matter whether his work
be mental or manual whether he be farmer or
wageworker, business man professional man.
In our industrial and social system the inter
ests of all men are SO closely intertwined that
In the immense Ma jority of cases a straight
dealing man who by his efficiency. by his in
genuity and industry benefits himself must also
bene6t others Normally the man of great pro-
ductive capacity who becomes rich by guiding
the labor of many other men does so by ena bling
them TO produce more than they could produce
without his guidance; and both ne and they
share in the benefit, which comes also TO the
public at large. The superficial fact that. the
sharing may be unequal must never blind to
the underlying fact that there is this sharing,
and that the benefit comes in some degree TO
each man concerned Normally the wagework-
er the man Of small means and the avera ee
consumer, well as the average producer, are
all alike helped by making conditions such that
the man Of exceptional business ability receives
an exceptional reward for his ability. Some
thing can be done by legislation to help the gen.
eral prosperity; but such help of a perna-
Rently beneficial character can be given to the
less able and less fortunate save as the results
Of policy which shall inure to the advantage
Of all Industrious and efficient people who act
decently; and this is only another way of saying
HfrI01r TrCr-
less fortunate must Of necessity come even more
10 the more able and more fortunate. If, there
fore. the less fortunate man is moved by envy
Of his more fortunate brother TO strike at the
conditions under which they have both, though
unequally, prospered. the result will assuredly
be that while damage may come to the one
struck at it viii visit with an even heavier load
the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a whole,
we must go up or go down together.
Yet, while not merely admitting, but insist
ing, upon this. it is also true that where there
is no governmental restraint or supervision
some OF the exceptional
RESTRAINT OF men use their energies not
CORPORATIONS. in ways that for the
common good, but in ways
which tell against this common good. The fort
unes amassed through corporate orge nization
are now so large, and vest such power in those
that WELD them as to make it matter of
cessity 20 give to the sovereign-that is, TO the
government, which represents the people as
Wholesome effective power Of supervision over
their corporate use. In order to insure a healthy
social and industrial life every big corporation
should be held responsible by, and be account
able 70, some sovereign strong enough to control
its conduct. am in no sense hostile to corpora
tons This is an age of combination, and any
effort to prevent ali combination will be not
only useless, but in the end vicious, because OF
the contempt for law which the failure TO en-
force law inevitably produces. We should,
moreover, recognize in cordial and ample fash
ion the immense good effected by corporate
agencies in a country such ours, and the
wealth Of intellect. energy and fidelity devoted
70 their service, and therefore normally to the
service of the public, by their officers and di-
7ectors. The corporation has come to stay, just
as the trade union has come to stay. Each
DO and has done great good. Each should be
favored so long it does good. But each
should be sharply checked where it acts against
LAW and justice