The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-12-06

The substance Of the annual mes
sage Of President Roosevelt is given
as follows:
TO the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives
No nation has greater resources
than ours, and / think it can be
truthfully said that the citizens of no
nation possess greater energy and in.
dustral ability In no nation are
the fundamental business conditions
sounder than in ours al this very mt
ment; and it is foolish, when such is
the case, for people TO hoard money
instead Of keeping il in sound banks;
FOR il is such boarding that is the
inmediate occasion Of money strin-
gency. Moreover, as rule, the bust
ness of our people is conducted with
honesty and probity, and this applies
alike to farms and factories, to rail-
roads and banks, 70 all our legitimate
commercial enterprises
Our steady aim should be by legis-
Iation, cautiously and carefully un-
dertaken, but resolutcly persevered
IN, to assert the sovereignty Of the
National Government by affirmative
Rction.
Interstate Commerce.
No small part Of the trouble that
We have comes from carrying to an
extreme the national virtue of self
reliance, of independence in initiative
and action 1t is vase, to conserve
this virtue and TO provide for It's
fullest exercise, compatible with see
ing that liberty does not become
liberty to wrong others. Unfortun-
ately, this is the kind of liberty that
Tho lack of all effective regulation
inevitably breeds Fhe founders Of
tho Constitution provided that thea
National Government should have
complete and sole control of inter-
state commerce.
Only the National Government can
in thoroughgoing fashion exercise the
needed control. This does not mean
that there should be an extension Of
Federal authority, for such authority
already exists under the Constitution
An amplest and most far-reaching
form; but it does mean that there
should DO an extension Of Federal
activity, This is not advocating cen
tralization. 1t is merely looking facts
IN the face, and realizing that cen
trolization in business has already
come and cannot he avoided or I'M
done, and that tho public at large
can only protect itself from certain
evil effects Of this business centrali-
cation by providing better methods
for the exercise Of control through
tho authority already centralized in
tho National Government by the Con-
stitution itself.
Sherman Antitrust Law.
Moreover, in my Judgment there
should be additional legislation look
ing to the proper control of the great
Business concerns engaged in inter-
state business, this control to be ex-
ercised for their own benefit and
prosperity no less than for the pro-
lection of investors and Of the gem
eral public AS | have repeatedly
said in Messages to the Congress and
elsewhere, experience has definitely
shown not merely the unwisdom but
che futility of endeavoring to put
stop to all business combinations.
Modern industrial conditions are
such that combination is not only
neccessady but enevitable 1t is so in
The world of business just as it is so
in the world Of labor, and it is as
idle 10 desire to put an end to all
corporations to all big combinations
Of capital, as to desire to put an end
90 combination of labor Corporation
and labor union alike Irave come to
stay.
The antitrust law should not be re-
pealed; but it should be made both
moro efficient and more in harmony
with actual conditions 1t should be
90, amended as TO forbid only the
kind of combination which does harm
to the general public, such amend
ment to be accompanied by, OF be
ar incident of, a grant of supervi-
sorry power to the Government over
these big concerns engaged in inter-
state business. This should be ac-
eompanied by provision for the COM
pulsory publication of accounts and
the subsection of books and papers
to the inspection Of the Governments