The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-05
MESSAGE OF PRESI-
 DENT TO CONGRESS-

the use of capital in interstate com meree- For example, there will utti- mately be need of enlarging the powers | or the Interstate Commerce Commis' sion alonE several lines. SO as to giv. 1t a larger and more efficient control I over the railroads
 experience has conelusively shown the impossibflfty of securing by the actions
 of nearly half a hundred difteroo I fective chaos in the way of dealinf with the great corporations which do l not operate exclusively within the I'm
 its of any one State, In some method, l whether by a national license law or
 in other fashion. we must exercise, ant that at an early date, far more conn plete control than at present over these
 among other things prevent the evils of excessive overcapitaltzation. and | that will compel the disclosure hs ] each big corporation of It's stockhold- CTS and of it's properties and business, whether owned directly or through subsidiary or affiliated corpora tons. This will tend to put stop to the se- curing of inordinate profits bv favored 1 individuals at the expense whether iof
 the general public, the stockholders. or
 tne waseworKehrs h . Unr e.tort na salpSal snGdau | ton as such. but so to supervise and | control 1t as to see that 1t results in | 1t is these reactionaries and ultracon- ary or ultraconservative apologtsts for | the misuse of wealth assail the effort l to secure such control as a step to- ward socialism. As a matter Of fact
 1t is these reactionaries and ultarcon. potent In increasing socialistic feeling 1 One of the most efficient methods Of
 averting the consequences of dan cent wrong, is to remedy the twenty per cent of evil as to which the agita- l ton is well founded. The best way l to avert the very undesirapie move TOT | al nrvnarghin ways IS to secure by the government ! | on behalf of the people as a whole
 such adequate control and regulation Il of the great interstate common car I riers as will do away with the evils which give rise to the agitation
 against them. So the proper antidote | to the dangerous and wicked agitation | against the men of wealth as such is
 to secure by proper Legislation and ex- | ecutive action the abolition of tho | in Connection with the business use of | wealth under our present system--or | rather no system-of failure to exer-
 else any adeduate control at all: some | such governmental control would do
 away with the freedom of individual | initiative and dwarf individual effort. This is not a fact. It would be ver- l table calamity to fail to put a premium upon individual initiative, individual | cApacity and effort; upon the energy. | character, and foresight which 1t is
 so important to encourage in the in l dividual. But as a matter of fact the | deadening and degrading effect of pure | socialism, and especially of its extreme 1 form communism, and the destruction ! of individual character which they
 would bring about, are in part achieved i by the wholly unregulated competition which results in a single individual or
 otbe4s unt his e1 o ts fne rs | ally checks all competition and re- duces former competitors to a position | of utter 'inferiority and subordination. In enacting and enforcing such leg | islation as this Congress already has l to it's credit, we are working on co
 herent plan, with the steady endeavor l to secure the neded reform by joint
 action of the moderate ruen, the plain | men who do not wish anything hyster- l teal or dangerous, but who Intend to deal in resolute common sense fash | ion with the real and great evils oa l the present system. The reactionaries l and the violent extremists show symp-
 toms of joining hands against us, Bot l assert, for instance. that If logical we | should go to government ownership l of railroads and the like; the reaction | aries. because of such an issue they l think that the people would stand with 1 them, while the extremists care rather to preach discontent and agitation than | to achieve solid results. As a matter of fact our position is. as remote iron I that of the Bourbon reactionary I as from that of the impracticable ot l sinister visionary. We bold that the ! government should not conduct the I business of the nation, but. that 1t I should exercise such supervision aa I will insure it's being conducted in the 1 interest of the nation. Our aim Is, SC | far as may be, to secure, for all decent, 1 hard working men. equality of oppor7 1 tunity and equality of burden.
 l The actual working of our laws has | shown that the effort to prohibit all l combination, good or bad, Is noxioua 1 where it Is not ineffective. Combina- | tion of capital like combination of la- | bor is necessary element of our pres | sent industrial system. It is not possi- l ble completely to prevent 1t; and if 1t
 were possible, such complete preven- ] tion would do damage to the body pol-
 itic. What we need is not Vainly tc 1 try to prevent all combination. but to 1 secure such rigorous and adequate con- trol and supervision of the combina- 1 tions as to prevent their inJurlng the | public, or existing in such forms as in- 1 eVitably to threaten injury-for~ the fmere fact that a combination has se- | cured practically complete control of l a necessary of life would under any l circumstances show that such combin-
 alton was presumed to be adverse to | the public interest. It is fortunate that
 our present laws should forbid al
 eliminating between the combinations
 which do good and those combinations l which do evil. Rebates for instance. are often due to the pressure of big | gation of the Standard Oil Company and has been shown since by the in- ! Vestigation of the tobacco and sugar l trusts) as to the initiative of big rail- l roads. Often railroads would like to | combine for the purpose of preventing l a big shipper from maintaining impro- | per advantages at the expense of 1 small shippers and of the general pub
 ing forbidden by law, should be favor