The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1907-12-06
MESSAGE DISCUSSES RECENT
FINANCIAL sTRINGENcY AND
ITS CAUSES.
FINANCIAL REFORM IS NEEDED
ANTITRUST LAWS, INTERSTATE
COMMERCE AND TARIFF DIS
CUSSED.

GOent s message.
In opening his message the president
refers to the financial stringency as fol-
lows:
mo nation has greater resources man
ours. and l think it can be truthfully sald
that the citizens of no nation possess
greater energy and industrial ability. IN
no nation are the Fundamental business
conditions sounder than in ours at TINS
very moment; and it is foollsn' wnsH
money instead OF keeping it in sound
banks: for it is such boarding that is
the immediate occasion OF money strln-
Rency. Moreover. as a rule, the business
OF our people Is conducted with honesty
and probity. and this applies alike TO
farms and factories, to railroads ana
enterprises.
I'm any large body of men. however.
there are certain to be some who are DIS
that these men prosper or commit their
misdeeds with impunity, their example is a
very evil thine for the community. Where
these men are business men OF great
%aRacity and Of temperament both I'M
scrupulous and reckless. and where the
conditions are such that they act with
without effective check from public opin-
ION. they delude many innocent people
into making investments or embarking IN
kinds Of busines that are really unsound.
When the misdeeds OF these successfully
dishonest men are discovered. suffering
comes not only upon them. but upon the
innocent men whom they have misled.
1t Is a painful awakening. whenever 1T
occurs: and. naturally. when it does oc-
cur those who suffer are apt to forget
that the longer 1t was deferred the more
painful it would be. In the effort to pun
ish the guilty 1t is both wise and proper
to epdeavor SO far as possible to minimize
the distress OF those who have been mis-
led by the guilty. Yet 1t is not possible
70 refrain because OF such distress from
that are the ultimate causes of the suf-
1erlng, and, rs q means to this end.
w h; possible to punish those respon-
s1ple Tor them. There may be honest DIFF
ferences Of opinion as to many govern
mental policies: but surely there can be
no such differences as to the need of un-
nincnlng perseverance In the wal against
Interstate Commerce.
No small part Of the trouble that we
nave comes from carrying to an extreme
the national, virtue OF self-reliance. Of In
dependence In initiative and action. It Is
wise to conserve this virtue and to pro-
vide for Its fullest exercise. compatible
with seeing that liberty does not become
this is the kind Of liberty that the lack
OF az effective regulation inevitably
provided that the national government
should have complete and sole control Of
interstate commerce.
Only the national government can in
~thoroughgoing fashion exercise the need
ed control: This does not mean that
there should be any extension of federal
odCl tutIloTlty alToa0V eX-
lists under the Constitution in amplest
and most far-reaching form; but it does
mean that there should be an extension
o OF /, federal asat activity; This is not advo-
Ing facts in the face, and realizing that
Capitalization in business has already
come n cannot be avoided or undone.
and that the public at large can only
protect Itself from certain evil effects or
this business Capitalization bv providing
peter methods for the exercise Of con-
troll through fha onfhnrity ,1~ooA -.
tralized In the national government by
the Constitution itself. There must bse
no halt IN the healthy constructive course
OF action which this nation has elected
&c pursue. and has steadily pursued, dur
Ing the last six years, as shown both in
the legislation Of the congress and the
ment of Justice. The most vital need is
IN connection with the railroads. AS to
tnese. IN my Judgment there should now
be either a national Incorporation act or
q law licensing railway companies to en-
gage In interstate commerce upon GER
tain conditions. The law should be so
framed as to give to the interstate com
the future issue Of securities. while
ample means should be provided to en-
a sader ane commission y, whenever in its
physical valuation of any railroad.
as stated IN my message to the con-
eress a year ago. railroads should be
given power to enter into agreements
subject to these agreements being made
public in minute detail and to the con.
sent OF the interstate commits
sion being first obtained. ntil the ma
tional government assumes proper con-
troll Of interstate commerce, in the eyer
else Of the authority it already Possesses.
It Will be impossible either to give to or
to get from the railroads full justice.
The railroads and all other great cor
Porations will do we'll to recognize that
tion f Is as n must wba come; the only cues
can most wisely exercise it. The courts
VIII determine the limits within which
tne FEDERAL authority can exercise it, and
there Will still remain ample work within
each state for the railway commission
OF that state: and the national interstate
m commission will work in har-
mony with the several state commits
sions. each within Its own province. to
achieve the desired end"
The Antitrust Law.
The president points out the need for
additional legislation looking to the proper
control of business concerns engaged in
interstate this control to be
exercised for their own benefit and pros
perity no less than for the protection Of
investors and of the general public. He
says:
THE antitrust law should not be re-
pealed: but it should be made both more
efficient and more in harmony with actual
to forbid only the kind Of combination
such amendment to be accompanied by
or to be an incident of, a grant of super
VlSory power to the government over
these big concerns engaged in interstate
business. This should be accompanied
by provision for the compulsory publica-
ton of accounts and the subsection Of
books and papers to the inspection of the
government officials. A beginning has al
ready been made for such supervision by
the establishment of the bureau of cor
porations.
THE antitrust law should not prohibit
combinations that do no injustice to the
public, still less those the existence of
which is on the whole of benefit to the
public. But even il this feature of the
law we're abolished, there would remain
as an equally Objectionable feature the
difficulty and delay now incident to it's
enforcement. TIL government must now
submit to irksome and repeated delay be-
fore obtaining a final decision of the
courts upon proceedings instituted, and
empty victory. Moreover. to attempt to
control these corporations by lawsuits
means to impose upon both the depart
ment Of justice and the courts an i'm
possible burden; 1t Is not feasible to