The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1906-12-26
Presidents Message

Madison Square Garden are nov
enthusiastic in their praise for Mr.
RooeeveIt's message. As they
oouId find no good in the Madison
Square sppeoh. 80 they oan 6nd nc
i'll in the message. For the benefit
of these The Commoner hereafter
reproduoes paragraphs from the
message and the Msdison Square
speech. Republicans particularly
are invited to compare these para
graphs:
ENFORCING CRIMINAL CLAUSE.
From Mr.. Roosevelt's Message.
The importanoe Of enaoting into
law the partiCnIa7 bill IN question
is further inoreased by the fac,
that the government has now de.
fnitely begun a policy of resorting
TO the criminal Law in those trust
aud interstate commerce cases
where such course offers reason
able chaDce of success.
At first, as was proper, every
effort was made to enforce these
laws by civil proceedings. but it
has become increasingly evident
that the action Of, the government
in finally deciding. in certain cases,
to undertake criminal proceedings
was justiiable; and though there
have been some conspicuous fail
urees in these cases. We have had
many successes, which have IN
doubtedly nad deterrent effect
upon evil doers, whether the PEN
atty inflicted was in the shape of
fine or impFisonment-and penal
ties Of both kinds have already been
inflicted by the courts. OF course.
where the judge oan see his way to
infliot the penalty of imprison-
ment the deterrent effect OF the
punishment on other offenders lie
increased; but sufficiently heavy
fines accomplish much.
(From the Madison Square Speech
While men may differ as to the
relative importance of issues, and
while the next congress will largely
shape the lines upon which the
next presidential campaign will be
fought, I think it is safe to say
that at present the paramount issue
in the mind of q large majority of
the people, is the trust Issue.
1 congratulate President Roose-
velt upon the steps which he has
taken to enforce the antitrust law
and my qualification is not lessen
ed by the fact that he has followed
the Democratic rather than the
Republican platform in every ad-
vance he has made. It has been
a great embarrassment to him that
the platform upon which he was
elected was filled with praises of
the Republican party's record
rather than with promises of re.
form; even the enthusiastic sup
port given him by the Democrats
has enabled the champions of the
trusts to tRunt him with following
Democratic leadership. He has
probably gone as far as he could
go without mourning the hostility
of the leaders of his own party.
The trouble is that the Republican
party is net in position to apply
effective and thorough-going re.
forms. because it has built ur
through special legislation the
very abuses which need to be
eradicated
Before any intelligent action
can be taken against the trusts We
must have q definition of a trust
Because NO corporation has an alb
solute and complete monopoly ol
any important product, the apoIo.
gists for the trusts sometimes in
sist that there are in reality nc
trusts. Others insist that il is i'm.
possible to legislate against suoh
trusts that may exist without doing
injury to legitimate business Fol
the purposes of this discussion il
is sufficient to draw the line at the
point where competition ceases to
be effective and to designate as g
trust any corporation which con.
trois 30 much of the product oI
any article that it oan fix the terms
and conditions of sale.
Legislation which prevents mo.
nopoIy not only does not iDlure
legitimate business, but actually
protects legitimate business from
injury. We are indebted to The
vonnOap Rookaealla, e., :ll