The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-07
THE WEEKLY JOURNAL. Issued Thursday. One Dollar Year
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

The Washington correspondents are in substantial agreement that the im- pression left upon President Roose- velt's mind by the financial conditions is such as to convince him that in his message to congress it will be his duty to tone down his usual vigorous state ments and assertions regarding preda- tory wealth and offending corporations. This does not signify that he has changed his mind at all as to wicked ness in high places or that laws exist other than to be enforced, but it does signify his realization that in times like these nothing helps quite so much as an absence of talk.
 There is still wide divergence of opinion among men as to the exact responsibility which can be attached to President Roosevelt for the prevail ing condition of the money market and for the prevalent lack of public confidence. Among the more notable critics of his administration are to be found Professor William G. Sumner of Yaie and John w. Alling of this city It is true that two other professors in the Yale department of political econ omy deny that they see the hand of the President in the situation and that some of MT. filings contemporaries in the practice of the law differ with him in his conclusions, but at the same time so long as there are men of the mature ability of Professor Sumner and MT. Alling, who insist that the lack of confidence can be traced to presidential manifestos and presiden- tial thunderbolts, 1t will have to be admitted that there is a pretty gen. eral conviction to that effect, enough in fact to warrant President Roose- welt against his own judgment in the use of milder language for the time being, As we have pointed out before in the columns of The Journal and Courier. the influence of the President of the United States is far-reaching. A weight attaches to his words which attaches to the words of no other cit- izen of the republic. While it may be utterly impossible for him to violently disturb commercial conditions by crit icising them, he can and probably has added to the sum and total of popular conviction that the possession of wealth in excess of every day needs constitutes ground for suspicion.
 This is practically acknowledged by President Roosevelt, if 1t is true that he has persuaded himself or been per- suaded that the condition of things de- maEads of him discreet speech. If what he has said has been without effect upon the operations of men there is no reason under the sun why he should desist from preaching what he believes. It may be fairly assumed then that. he has somehow become con vinced that more importance will be attached to his approaching message to congress than has been attached to any he has yet sent in. In it's way this Is the most important news of the hour, both from a financial and per sonal point of view. There is nothing the captains of industry need quite 50 much as time to digest the correc. lions which have been administered They have seen modern commercial habits, or at least some of them, put to the test and found wanting; things which have been commonly accepted as proper are discovered to be i'm. proper; the chase for wealth has beer overworked; principles which have been tried out by experience and seer to be sound have become twisted by false application. These are fact. which have to be realized before the patient can recover his normal health The business men of the country arc not dishonest, nor are they blind tc their own errors of Judgment. Gran that they have been enticed by thu promise of rich rewards from tn, straight and narrow path which tn, earlier industrial leaders trod, the, still have the capacity and the desir, to depart from ways which will no bear the test of examination. They need only the opportunity to mediate and if President Roosevelt can con tribute to the making of 1t by himsel withdrawing from the field of criticism and reform he should be glad of tn chance. He will still have the satisfac ton of knowing that his only purpos has been to help and uplift. He vii sacrifice nothing by maintaining a dis erect silence upon matters which ar sufficiently disturbed already. He vii simply be taking practical view o his duty as the President of the Unite States and he will be thanked for i by the business world.
 Personally President Roosevelt ha everything to gain by following tn