The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1905-12-07
STRONG ON RATE REGULATION

The Country is Enjoying Season of
Unprecedented Prosperity-Sub-
iects That Win Engage the Atten
tion of the Peoples Representa-
tives-A Thoughtful and Exhaus
tive Document.
Following is IN substance the an
nuaI messaee Of President Roosevelt,
ss read III both houses Of Congress:
Introduction.
10 the Senate and House Of Repre-
sentatIves:
The people Of this country continue
10 ENJOY great prosperity, Undoubt-
edIv there will be ebb and flow in
such pros perity, and this ebb and flow
will be felt more or less by all mem
bers Of the community, both by the
deserving and the undeservlng,
Against the wrath Of the Lord the wis
dom Of man can not avail; in times
of food or drought human ingenuity
can but partially rcpalr the disaster
4 general failure Of crops would hurt
us. Again, # the folly Of man mars
The general well-bcing, 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 COM
mun'ty 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 per-
Wanent prosperity of the country IS
the high individual character of the
average American worker, the aver
age American citizen, no matter
whether his work be mental or man
uai, 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
lntertwined that III the immense ma
Jority of cases a straieht-dealing man
who by his efficiency. by his ingenu-
lty and industry. benefits himself must
also benefit others. Normally the man
OF great productive capacity who be-
comes rich by guiding the labor of
many other men does so by enabling
them to produce more than they could
produce without his guidance; and
both he 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 us to the underlying fact that
there Is this sharing. and that the ben
etit comes III some degrees to each man
concerned Normally the wage-work-
or, the man of small means, and the
average consumer. as well as the av=
erage producer, are all alike helped
by making conditions such that the
nan at exceptional business ability
receives an exceptional reward for hia
ability S-CmetiIin- can be done by leg,
iaIatlon 10 help the general prosper
n.y. but no sacii help OF q perma,l-
entiy beneficial character can hf given
20 the less able and less fortunate,
save as the results OF q policy which
Shall lnure TO the advantage of oil in
dustriors and efficient people who act
deeently; and this is only another
way of saying that any benefit which
comes TO the less able and less for
tunate must of necessity come even
more TO the more able and more for
tunate. If, therefore. the less for
tunate 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 al
1t will visit with an even heavier load
the one who strikes the blow Taken
as whole We must all go up OF 60
down together.
rorporafions