The Irish standard., 1907-12-07
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
The one idea more prominent than
all others in the presidential message
is, more power to the central govern
ment. One cannot read the message
without becoming Impressed with the
idea that Theodore Roosevelt is a Arm
believer In a, strong, centralized gov
ernment. He asks for the extension of
the federal power over subjects that
have heretofore been considered mere
ly matters of the state and in some
cases of the individual There is in
the message no indication of a retreat
Apparently he was apprehensive that
people might believe that our present
financial troubles had led him to
change his mind and to order a cessa-
ton of hostilities against such male
factors, for in the second paragraph
of the message he begins to quote at
length from the radical declarations of
the 1905 and 1905 messages thus say
ing to the country 80 l said then, and
so I still say" He disclaims any re-
sponsibility for present troubles in these
words: The administration is re-
sponsible for turning on the light, but
it is not responsible for what the light
showed" And In the very next SEN
tence he makes the demand that char
acterizes the whole message: II ask
for full power to be given the federal
government. because no single state
can by legislation effectually cope with
these powerful corporations engaged
in interstate commerce.
The message covers a great variety
of subjects and is evidence of the great
activity of the man who wrote it, 1t
treats of subjects from the financial
question to woodpeckers.
He recommends an inheritance and
income tax. He disnsses the tariff with
a. paragraph and, as heretofore, refuses
to commit himself to any positive plan
tOT IeVlSlOll. ne SUBMITS no pan 1Of
financial legislation but suggests one
or two as possible solutions of our
imperfect money system, which is to
blame for some of the present diff
culties, but it is observed that even
the wisest legislation cannot save peo.
Pile from their own extravaganza.
Speculative folly and Individual ex.
travagance calls forth the following
statement:
when an individual mortgages his
house to buy an automobile. he invites
disaster, and when wealthy men, or
men who pose as such, or are unscrup.
ulously or foolishly eager to become
such, indulge in reckless speculations
honesty, they jeopardize not only their
own future but the future of all their
innocent fellow citizens. for they dis.
pose the whole business community to
panic and distress"
After recommending an Inheritance
tax and referring to the German law
which imposes an imperial tax on in.
heritances and allotting portion of
the tax to the several states of the
empire, he calls attention that such ~
measure is not socialistic and make,
it plain in the following words that
he has no sympathy whatever with the
propaganda of socialism:
I'VE have not the slightest sympathy
with that socialistic idea which would
try to put laziness, thriftlessness, and
ineficiency on a par with industry,
thrift and efficiency; which would
strive to break up not merely private
property. but what is far more i'm
portant, the home, the chief prop upon
which our whole civilization stands.
Such a theory if adopted would mean
the ruin of the entire country. A ruin
which would bear heaviest upon the
weakest; upon those least able to
shift for themselves. But proposals for
legislation such as this herein advo-
Gated are directly opposed to this class
of socialistic theories
One of the most interesting RECON-
made by the President is
that some automatic method Of ad-