The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-15
MUST LIMIT GREAT FORTUNES.
PRESIDENTS RADICAL PROPOSAL
IN MUCK RAKE" SPEECH.
Describes the Magazine "Exposers" ~
Men Who Refuse TO See Aught That IL
Lofty and 4 Their Eyes Only on
That Which Is Vile and DebaSing
Expose EVIL but With Sanity, He Says
Must Control Corporations Business.

Must Control Corporations Business.
WASHINGTON, April 1.-THE President
delivered this afternoon his speech on
"The Man with the Muck Rake,' in
which he expressed his opinion Of the
Campaign of exposure" carried on in some
Of the 10 cent magazines. The address
was delivered as a part Of the ceremony
Of laying the cornerstone Of the Office build
ing Of the House Of Represe natives. In
the course of his speech he made this sug-
gestion "a to limiting great fortunes:
1T is important to this people to grappls
with the problems connected with the
amassing of enormous fortunes and the uss
Of those fortunes, both corporate and in
dividual, in business. We should dis
criminate in the sharpest way between
fortunes we'll won and fortunes ill won;
between those gained as an incident to
performing great services to the commu-
nifty as a whole, and those gained in evil
fashion by keeping just within the limits Of
mere law honesty. OF course no amount
of charity in spending such fortunes in
any way compensates for misconduct in
making them. AS a matter Of personal
conviction, and without pretending to dis
cuss the details or formulate the system,
feel that we shall ultimately have to oon-
slider the adoption Of some such scheme as
that OF a progressive tax on all fortunes
beyond a certain amount, either given In
ltfa ~ Iayi.aJ or hao,,antbaI YpNn daafh
to any individual-a tax so framed as to
put 1t out of the power of the owner of one
OF these enormous fortunes to hand over
more than a certain amount to any n
individual, the tax, Of course, to be inn
posed by the national and not the State
government. Such taxation should, OF
course, be aimed merely at the inheritance
or transmission in their entirety OF those
fortunes swollen beyond all healthy limits.'
The speech was a slightly modified version
Of his address three weeks 6 at a dinner
given by Speaker Cannon to the Gridiron
Club. The character the President took
from Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress but
his theme had to do with modern day mud
Singing anu IA PliB tIltlCIohl VI Nv VAhoS
ing order of things. 1t was a severe arraign-
ment of professional agitators, Of those
who see good in nothing and evil in every
thing.
There was unusual interest manifested in
the desire to hear the speech and a greater
| crowd than could be accommodated within
the enclosure surrounding the building
surged about the gates eager to catch the
Presidents words. Invitations were limited
to 100, including the public officials and
their families and the members Of the
Masonic fraternity und whose auspices
the cornerstone was laid, In the main
the Presidents remarks met with good
and at times enthusiastic reception, but GER
tain of his ut%terances. the legislators, who
followed his words closely. will, judging
from their comments, want to weigh care
fully before expressing an opinion. This
was particularly true of his declaration in
favor of a tax upon large fortunes so as to
put it out of the power of the owner OF one
of these large fortunes to hand over more
than a certain amount to any one individual
The President was careful to state ex-
plicitly that in this connection he expressed
merely a personal conviction, and that he
did not pretend to discuss the details or
formulate a system. He drew a well de-
tined distinction between fortunes honestly
earned and those ill won. There was ap-
plause at his utterance, hut 1t was notice.
able that certain millionaire members OF
the Senate who sat directly beneath the
President rs he spoke did not join enthusi-
a~stically in the expression of approval OF
this sentiment. incidentally he referred
to railroad rate legislation, and expressed
the belief that satisfactory legislation
would he enacted which would be a step
in the direction Of superintendency and
control of corporate wealth engaged in
interstate ommerc There was a ripple
of applause at this suggestion and an out
burst of laughter in spots, in which the
President good naturedly Joined.
The President had carefully prepared
his remarks, and in order that he might
not depart from what he had deliberately
planned to say he held a printed copy OF
the speech in his hand and referred to it
| frequently hut without any interruption
to his discourse. The speech, except the
part heretofore quoted, follows;
President RoOsevers Address.
Over q century ago Washin gton laid tho
oorne rstone Of the Capitol in what was then
little more than q tract of wooded wilderness
here beside the PotomaC. we now ma tt
necessary to provide by great additional
buildings for the business OF the Govern
ment. This growth in the need for the
housing Of the Government is but a proof
! and Example OF the way in which the nation
has grown and the sphere of action OF the
national Government has grown. We now
administer the affairs Of a nation in which
the extraordinary growth Of population has
been outstripped by the growth OF wealth
and the growth in complex interests. The
material problems hat face us to-day are
not such as they were in Washington's time,
but the underlying facts OF human nature
are the same now al they were then. Under
altered external form we war with the same
tendencies toward evil that were evident
in Wasiington's time. and are helped by
the same tendencies for good. It is about
some OF these that l wish to say a word to-
day.
In Buuyan's "Pllgrim's Progress" youmay
recall the description of the Man with the
Muck Rake, the man who could look no way
but downward, with the muck rake in his
hand: who was offered q celestial crown
for his muck rake, but who would neither
look up nor regard the crown he was offered.
but continued TO rake 10 himself the filth
OF the floor.