The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1905-12-05
III ELS AT LENGTH
ON THE QUESTION
OF RATE REGUL ALTON.
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
Washington, D. c., Dec. s.
President Roosevelt's annual mes
sage to the Fifty-ninth Congress
was received by both branches of
that body shortly after Congress
convened at noon today, and was
read in both the House and Senate.
1t is as follows:
To the Senate and House of Repre-
sentutireS
The people of this country con-
tinue 10 enjoy great prosperity.
Undoubtedly there will be ebb and
flow in such prosperity, and this ebb
and flow will be felt more or less by
all members of the community, both
by the deserving and the undeserv-
ing. Against the wrath of the Lord
the wisdom of man can not avail );
in times of food or drought human
ingenuity can but partially repair
the disaster. A general failure of
crops would hurt all of us. Again
if the folly of man mars the general
well-being, then those who are. in
nocent 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 COM
munitY. But such stoppage of well
fare, though it might be severe.
would not be lasting. In the long
run the one vital factor in the per-
manent 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
ual, whether he be farmer or wage
worker, business man or professional
man.
In our Industrial and social svs-
tenn the interests of all men are so
closely intertwined that in the inn
1nense majority of cases straight
dealing man who by his efficiency
by his ingenuity and industry, bene-
fits himself must also benefit others
Normally the man of great produc-
tive capacity who becomes rich by
guiding the labor of many other men
does so by enabling them to produce
more than they could produce with
out 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 benefit
comes in some degree to each man
concerned. Normally the wage
worker, the man of small means:
and the average consumer, as we'll as
the average producer, are all alike
helped by making conditions such
TINT the man of exceptional business
ability receives an exceptional re-
ward for his ability. Something
can be done by legislation to help
the general prosperity: but no such
help of a permanently beneficial
character can be given to the less
able and less fortunate, save as the
results of a policy which shall lnure
to the advantage of all Industrious
and efficient people who act decently'
and this is only another way of say
ing that any benefit which comes
from the less fortunate must OF
necessity come even more to the
more able and more fortunate. II
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 viii
assuredly be that while damage may
come to the one struck at, it will
visit with an even heavier load the
one who strikes the blow. Taken as
whole we must all go up or go
down together.
enRpnPATInNS