The Elbert County tribune., 1906-10-11
FOR REGULATION
PRESIDENT SAYS 1T is BETTER
THAN OWNERSHIP.
SPEECH AT HARRISBURG
Addresses Great Crowd at Dedication
Of New Pennsylvania Capitol
Only the Nation Can Regulate In
tcrstatc Business

terstate Business
Harrisburg. Pain the presence of
the largest crowd that has ever gath
cred in Harrisburg. the magnificent
new capitol of Pennsylvania, costing
s.. 100000, was dedicated Thursday
with brief ceremonies in which Presi-
dent Roosevelt took an active part.
Following the reading of portion
Of the Scriptures from historic Bible
by John H. Dillingham;. a member OF
the Society of Friends in Philadelphia,
former Gov. William A. Stone, presi-
dent of the capitol building commits
sion, in a brief address, turned the
building over to the governor. at the
same time handing him a gold key.
Governor Pennypacker accepted the
building on behalf of the people. in a
brief speech, and when he concluded
the governor Introduced President
Roosevelt. who delivered the principal
address of the day. The President
spoke as follows:
MANY legislative actions and many
judicial decisions which am confident
time will show to have been erroneous
and a damage to the country would
have been avoided If our legislators
and jurists had approached the matter
of enacting and constituting the laws OF
the land in the Irit of your great
Pennsylvanian. Justice Wilson-in the
spirit of Marshall and of Washington.
Such decisions put us at great dis
advantage in the battle for industrial
order as against the present Industrial
chaos.
"The legislative or judicial actions
and decisions of which / complain, be
1t remembered. do not really leave to
~. 20 don
ate wealth in business. Actual expert
ence has shown that the states are
wholly powerless to deal with this sub
ject; and any action or decision that
deprives the nation of the power to
deal with 1t, simply results in leaving
the corporations absolutely free 20
work without any effective supervision
whatever: and such course is fraught
with untold danger to the future OF our
whole system of government, and, In
deed, to our whole civilization.
"The government ought not to con.
duct the business of the country, but
1t ought to regulate 1t so that it shall
be conducted in the interest of the
public.
ITO exercise a constantly increas'
ing and constantly more efficient su-
| pervision and control over the great
| common carriers OIL Iue country pre-
vents all necessity for seriously con
sidering such project as the govern
ment ownership of railroads-a policy
which would be evil in its results from
every standpoint.
"All honest men must abhor and
reprobate any effort to excite hostility
to men of wealth as such. We should
do all we can to encourage thrift and
business energy, to put a premium
upon the conduct of the man who hon.
| estly earns his livelihood and more
than his livelihood, and who honestly
uses the money he has earned. But
1t is our clear duty to see, in the in
terest of the people, that there is ade-
quate supervision and control over the
business use of the swollen fortunes
| of today, and also wisely to determine
| the conditions upon which these for.
tunes are to be transmitted and the
percentage that they shall pay to the
government whose protecting arm
| alone enables them to exist Only the
nation can do this work. To relegate
1t to the states is farce, and is sim.
ply another. way of saying that it shall
not be done at ALL"