The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-06
SEC. TAFT'S SPEECH

The following is the speech in full
delivered last night to large re-
publican gathering at Bath, Maine, by
William Taft. The secretary of war
dealt largely with the trusts. He
said:
My Fellow Citizens:
propose to invite your attention
chiefly to subject that has very
important bearing upon the issue pre-
scented to you in this campaign, wheth.
or you shall return Republican or a
Democratic House of Representatives.
refer to the evils arising from the
misuse and abuse of the powerful in
strumentalities which the free oppor-
tunity to organize and combine capital
has placed In the hands of the COM
paratively few. So widespread have
these evils become that the public has
demanded remedies by legislation to
restrain them and to regulate and SUI
pervise more carefully in future the
exercise of the mighty means of good
and evil which organized capital has
proven to be.
Great Value Of Wealth Used .. C.uit,l.
In the discussion of this subject,
1t is we'll for us to begin with the
premise that wealth used az capital
Tor the production of commodities and
conveniences essential to the life and
comfort of the people is one of the
chief means by which people can be
uplifted in their pursuit of happiness.
1t would be easy in listening to the
diatribes of a certain class of orators
to gather the impression that all
wealth and all capital and all cor
porations are to be condemned; where
as, when we look at the matter
straight in the face we know that the
prosperity Of this country and the COM
fort that has been produced are largely
to be attributed to the assembling Of
the savings of the many into corporate
capital. 80 that 1t may be used to es-
tabltsh and carry out the large enter
prises for production, manufacture and
transportation, without which the
prosperity which the country is now
enjoying would not have been attained,
We must keep constantly in mind that
any step taken, having effect generally
to discourage corporate enterprises
and the savings of earnings for the
purpose of establishing and operating
them, would fall with greater weight
of suffering upon the poor, the wage
Garner, the small dealer, and the
salaried man, than upon the owner of
capital and the manager of corporate
enterprises.
Prosperity Of This Country Since 1900.
Increase In Earnings Of Labor.
The enormous increase in the bust
ness of this country and the wealth.
earning capacity is shown by the
statistics recently issued by the Cen
sus Bureau of the capital invested the
products made, and the wages paid
In the manufacturing industries of the
United States, in the five years from
1900 to 1905, inclusive. The capital
invested increased from nine billions
of dollars, more than forty per cent,
to nearly thirteen billions of dollars.
The value of the products increased
from eleven billion five hundred mil
lion to fifteen billion dollars, or a gain
of thirty per cent. With respect TO
the wage Garner, while there were 16
per cent. more men employed in 1905
than in 1900 the amount paid in wages
was 80 per cent. greater in 1905. This
shows that while the capitalists in the
manufacturing industries were receiv-
ing less proportionate profit, the