Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1905-12-08
Would Materially Increase the
Powers of Interstate Com
merCe Commission.
LIFE INSURANCE QUESTION
Sees Good and Evil in Labor Unions
ASKS for Immediate Appropri-
atoms for Panama Canal, and
Promises Report of Board Of En-
gineers and Recommendation
Later---Other Matters.

4ater---Other Matters.
Washington, Dec. 5.-The annual mes
sage of President Roosevelt was read In
both houses of congress to-day. 1t is doc
ument of some $4,000 words, and con-
tains recommendations for much important
legislation.
The subject Of federal supervision Of cor
porations, and especially railroad corpora
lions, is the first subject treated of by the
president, and to it he gives the greatest
amount of attention. After speaking OF the
general prosperity Of the country, and the
power Of the corporations for good or evil
in connection with the nations prosperity,
he says:
So long as the finances Of the nation
are kept upon an honest basis, no other
question of internal economy with which
the congress has the power to deal begins
to approach in importance the matter of
endeavoring to secure proper industrial
and especially tho 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 with
In the sphere of the general government
The arguments in favor Of their taking
this stand were even then overwhelming.
But they are far stronger to-day, in view
Of the enormous development Of great
business agencies, usually corporate in
form. Experience has shown conclusive
ly 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 exercised by a sovereign
whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the
Held of work of the corporations-that is,
by the national government. I believe
that this regulation and supervision can
be obtained by the enactment of law by
the congress: If this proves impossible,
1t will certainly be necessary ultimately
to confer in fullest form such power upon
the national government by proper
amendment of the constitution. It would
obviously be unWlSe to endeavOr to secure
such an amendment until it is certain
that the result cannot be obtained under
the constitution as it now is. The laws
of the congress and Of the several states
hitherto, as passed upon by the courts,
have resulted more often in showing that
the states have no power in the matter
than that the national government has
power; so that. thDre at present exists
very unfortunate condition of things.
under which these great corporations do
ing an interstate business occupy the DO
sition of subjects without a sovereign,
neither any state government nor the ma
tlonal government having effective con-
troll over them Our steady aim should
be by legislation, cautiously and care
fully undertaken, but resolutely per-
severed In, to assert the sovereignty Of
the national government by affirmative
action.
Present Laws Inadequate.
1t has been a misfortune that the ma
tlonal laws on this subject have hitherto
I Deen OF a negative or prohibitive rather
- a III
tnat tney nave In part sought to prohibit
what could not be effectively prohibited
and nave In part in their prohibitions
| confounded what should be allowed and
what should not be allowed. It is gen.
erauy useless to try to prohibit all re-
straint on competition, whether this re-
straint be reasonable or unreasonable.
and where it is not useless It Is eener.
ally hurtful. Events have shown that II
is not possible adequately to secure the
enforcement of any law of this kind nv
lhcessant appeal to the courts. The de-
partment of justice has for the last fonr
years devoted more attention to the en-
1orce1nent OF the antitrust legislation
than to anything else. Much has heen
accomplished; particularly markad n.s
been the moral effect of the prosecut,ons.
out IL IS increasingly evident that there
Will be very insufficient beneficial re-
suit in the way of economic change. The
successful prosecution of one device to
evade the law Immediately develops an
other device to accomplish the same pur-
pose. What is needed is not sweeping
prohibition of every arrangement, good
or bad, which may tend to restrict COM
petition, but such adequate supervision
and regulation as will prevent any re-
striction of competition from being to
the detriment of the public-as we'll as
such supervision and regulation as will
prevent other abuses in no way connected
with restriction of competition. Of these
abuses, perhaps the chief, although by
no means the only one, is overcapitaliza-
tion-generally itself the result of dishon-
est promotion-because Of the myriad
evils it brings In its train; for such over
capitalization often means an imitation
that invites business panic; it always con-
ceals the true relation Of the profit earned
to the capital actually invested, and it
creates burden of interest payments
which is fertile cause of improper re-
ducton in or limitation of wages: it
damages the small investor, discourages
thrift, and encourages gambling and
speculation; while perhaps worst of all
is the thickness and dishonesty which it
implies-for harm to morals is worse than
any possible harm to material interests
and the debauchery of politics and bust
ness by great dishonest corporations Is
far worse than any actual material evil
they do the public. Until the national
government obtains, in some manner
which the wisdom sof the congress may
suggest. proper control over the big cor
porations engaged in interstate commerce
that is, over the great majority of tho
big corporations-it will be impossible to
deal adequately with these evils.
= Railroad Rate Regulation.
am well aware of the difficulties