Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-21

HITS TRUSTS
PRESIDENT PLEDGES HIMSELF TO
ENFORCE LAWS
THIEvINe CORPORATIONS ARE
WARNED
Nations Chief Executive Speaks at
Celebration of Pilgrims Landing.
Deals with country's
Problems


PROVINCETOWN, Mass, Aug. 20-
Speaking at the laying of the corner
stone of the monument commemorative
the landing of the Pilgrims, President
Roosevelt took occasion to reiterate hi:
statements made in the past that he will
not change his policy as regards the
prosecution of thieving corporations
However, Mr.. Roosevelt today sounded
a note of reinsurance when he said cor
porations obeying the laws have no rea-
son to fear his administration. Pleading
for justice for corporations and individ-
uals and for upright conduct on the part
of all, the president declared himself
pledged to secure honest observance Of
the law, saying he regards this contest
one to determine who shall rule this free
Following is the presidents address:
1t is not too much to say that the
event commemorated by the monu-
ment which we have come here to
dedicate was one of those rare events
which can in good faith be called of
world Importance. The coming hither
of the Puritan three centuries ago
shaped the destinies of this continent,
and therefore profoundly affected the
destiny or the whole world.
We cannot as nation be too pro-
foundly grateful for the fact that the
Puritan has stamped his influence SO
deeply on our national life. We need
have but scant patience with the men
who now rail at the Puritan's faults.
They were evident of course. for it
is a quality of strong natures that
their failings, like their virtues, should
stand out in bold relief; but there is
~.t1 ~ half
great men of the past by dwelling only
on the points where they come short
of the universally recognized stand
ards Of the present. Men must be
Judged with reference to the age In
which they dwell, and the work they
have to do.
The Puritan owed his extraordinary
success in subduing this continent and
making 1t the foundation for a social
life of ordered liberty primarily to the
fact that he combined in a very re-
markable degree both the power Of
individual initiative; of individual self
help, and the power of acting in COM
bination with his fellows; and that fur
thermore he Joined to high heart
that shrewd common sense which saves
a man from the besetting sins of the
visionary and the doctrinaire-
He WAS SLOuI-nedIltQ anu AdA u
headed. He had lofty purposes, but
he had practical good sense, too. He
could hold his own In the rough work.
aday world with clamorous insistenca1
upon being helped by others whenever
II became necessary to do a job which
could not be as we'll done by any one
man individually.
Necessary Qualities
These were the qualities which en-
abled him to do his work, and they
the very qualities which we must
show in doing our work today.
The Puritan was no Laodicean, no
laissez-faire theorist. When he saw
conduct which was in violation of his
rights-of the rights of man, the rights
of God, as he understood them-he
attempted to regulate such conduct
with instant, unquestioning prompt
ness and effectiveness. If there was
no other way to secure conformity
with the rule of right, then he smote
down the transgressor with the iron
of his wrath.
The spirit of the Puritan was a
spirit which never shrank from reg
ulation of conduct if such regulation
was necessary for the public veal; and
this is the spirit which we must show
today whenever it is necessary.
The utterly changed conditions or
our national life necessitate changes
in certain of our laws, of our govern
mental methods. Our federal system
of government is based upon the
theory of leaving to each community,
to each state, the control over those
things which affect only its own mem
hers and which the people of the local
oor1 hact nnlp with
while providing for national regulation
in those matters which necessarily af-
feet the nation as whole.
For Good of People
IT seems to me that such questions
as national sovereignty and states
rights need to be treated not empiric-
ally or academically, but from the
standpoint of the interests of the peo-
pie as a whole. National sovereignty
of the people used for the real and
ultimate good of the people; and
states rights are to be upheld In so
far as they mean the peoples rights.
Especially is this true in dealing
with the relations of the people as a
whole to the great corporations which
are the distinguishing feature of mod
ern business conditions.
Experience has shown that 1t is
necessary to exercise a far more eff
ficient control than at present over
the business use of those vast fortunes,
chiefly corporate, which are used Gas
under modern conditions they almost
invariably are) in interstate business.
When the constitution was created
none of the conditions of modern busi-
ness existed. They are wholly new
and we must create new agencies to
deal effectively with them.
There is no objection in the minds
of this people to any mans earning
any amount of money if he does 1t
honestly and fairly, # he gets 1t as
the result of special skill and enter
prise. as a reward of ample service
actually rendered,
But there is growing determina-
ton that no man shall amass great
fortune by special privilege. by CHI
canery and wrongdoing, so far as 1t is
in the mower of legislation to prevent
ana that the fortune when amassed
shall have business use that Is
anti-social.
To Control Corporations
Most large corporations do a busi-
ness that is not confined to any one
state. Experience has shown that the
effort to control these corporations by
mere state action cannot produce
q T.. ..r.4 II.