Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1905-12-15
Presidents cMessage
To the Senate and House Of Repre-

Inc people OF thiS country continue
to enjoy great prosperity. Undoubtedly
there will be ebb and flow in such pros
perity, and this ebb and flow will be felt
more or less by all members of the COM
munity. A general failure of crops
would hurt all of us. Again, if the folly
of man mars the general w~ell-being, then
those who are innocent of the folly Will
have to pay part Of the penalty incurred
by those who are guilty Of the folly. a
panic brought on by the speculative folly
of part of the business community would
hurt the whole business community. But
such stoppage of welfare, though 1t
might be severe, would not be lasting.
In the long run the one vital factor in
the permanent prosperity of the country
Is the high individual character of the
average American worker, no matter
whether his work be mental or annual
whether he be farmer or wage-worker,
business man or professional man.
In our industrial and social system the
interests of all men are so closely inter
twined that in the immenS majority or
cases n straight-dealing man who by his
efficiency, by his ingenuity aud Industry.
benefits himself must also beneht others.
Normally the man of great productive
capacity who becomes rich by guiding
the labor of many other men does so by
enabling them to produce more THAI they
could produce without his guidance; ana
both he and they share in the beneht,
which comes also 10 lIe pupiS a. "io|
The superficial fact that the sharing may
be unequal must never blind US to the
underlying fact that there is this shar-
Ing, and that the benefit comes IN some
degree to each man concerned. Nor,
mally the wage-worker. the man of small
means, and the average consumer. as
well as the average producer, are al
alike helped by making conditions such
that the man of exceptional business
ability receives an exceptional reward
for his ability. Something can be done
by legislation to help the general pros
perity; but no such help OF a pernla,
nently beneficial character can be given
to the less able and less fortunate, save
as the results of a policy which shall
inure to the advantage of all industrious
and efficient people who act decently.
If, therefore, 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 will visit with an even heaV-
Ter load the one who strikes the blow.
Taken as a whole, we must all go UP or
go down together.
Curb for Corporations.
1t is true that where there is no gov
ornamental restraint or supervision some
of the exceptional men use their energies
not in ways that are for the common
good, but in ways which tell against this
common good. The fortunes amassed
through corporate organization are now
SO large, and vest such power in those
that WELD them, as to make it a matter
of necessity to give to the sovereign
that is, to the government. which repre-
sents the people as a wholesome ettec-
tive power of supervision over their cor
porate use. In order to insure a healthy
social and industrial life, every big cor
poration should be held responsible by.
and be accountable to. some sovereign
strong enough to control its conduct.
1 am in no sense hostile to orpora-
tons. This is an age Of combination,
and any effort to prevent all combination
will be not only useless, but in the end
vicious, because of the contempt for law
which the failure to enforce law newt
ably produces. We should, moreover,
recognize in cordial and ample fashion
the Immense good effected by corporate
agencies in a country such as ours, and
the wealth of intellect, energy, and fdel-
ity devoted to their service, and there
fore normally to the service of the pub
lie, by their officers and directors. The
corporation has come to stay, just as the
trade union has come to stay. Each can
do and has done great good. Each should
be favored so long as 1T does good. But
each should be sharply checked where it
acts against law and justice. So long
as the finances of the nation are kept
upon an nOncSC OASIS 10 OlHer QueStlOu
of internal economy with which the Con-
gress has the power to deal begins to
approach in Importance the matter OF
-endeavorlng to secure proper industrial
conditions under which the Individuals
and especially the great corporations
doing an interstate business are to act.
The makers of our national constitution
provided especially that the regulation
of Interstate commerce should come
within the sphere of the general govern
ment. The arguments in favor of their
taking this stand were even then over
whelming. But they are far stronger
to-day, in view of the enormous develop
ment of great business agencies, usually
corporate in form. Experience has
shown conclusively that it is useless to
try to get any adequate regulation and
supervision of these great corporations
by State action. Such regulation and
supervision can only be effectively exer-
.cised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction
is co-extensive with the field of work of
the corporations-that is, by the national
government. I believe that this regula-
ton and supervision can be obtained by
the enactment of law by the Congress.
If this proves impossible, it will certainly
be necessary ultimately to confer in full
est form such power upon the national
government by a proper amendment of
the constitution.
The Department of Justice has for the
last four years devoted more attention to
the enforcement of the antitrust legisla-
ton than to anything else. Much has
been accomplished; particularly marked
has been the moral effect of the prose-
c%utions; but it is increasingly evident
that there will be a very insufficient
beneficial result in the way of economic
change. The successful prosecution of
one device to evade the law Immediately
develops another device to accomplish
the same purpose. What is needed is not
sweeping prohibition of every arrange
ment, good or bad, which may tend to
restrict competition, but such adequate
supervision and regulation as will pre-
rent any restriction of competition from
being to the detriment of the public
as we'll as such supervision and regula-
ton as will prevent other abuses in no
way connected with restriction of COM
petition. OF these abuses, perhaps, the
chief, although by no means the only one,
Is OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES itself the
result Of dishonest observation-disclosures
of the myriad evils it brings in its train;
for such overcapitalization often means
an imitation that invites business panic;
it always conceals the true relation of
the profit earned to the capital actually
invested, and it creates a burden of in
ferest payments which is a fertile cause
of improper reduction in or limitation Of
wages; it damages the small investor,
discourages thrift, and encourages gam
bling and speculation; while perhaps
worst of all is the thickness and diShon-