Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1907-12-05
CONGRESS HEARS
FROM PRESIDENT
MESSAGE DISCUSSES RECENT
FINANCIAL sTRINGENcy AND
ITS CAUSES.
FINANCIAL REFORM IS NE[DtD
ANTITRUST LAWS, INTERSTATE
COMMERCE AND TARIFF Dis
CUssED.
FINANCIAL REFORM IS NEEDED

The following is a synopsis Of the pres
ldent's message:
/ In opening his message the presioele
refers to the financial stringency as 1ol-
lows:
ours and I think it can be truthrully saln
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 this
very moment; and it is foolish. when
such is the case: for people to hoard
banks: for it is such boarding that is
the immediate occasion OF money strln-
gency. 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 and
banks. to all our legitimate commercial
/ enterprises.
I'm any large body Of men. however,
there are certain to be some who are dis
honest. and if the conditions are SUCH
that these men prosper or commit their
misdeeds with impunity, their example is a
| very evil thing for the community. Where
| these men are business men of great
sagacity and of temperament both I'M
scrupulous and reckless, and where the
| conditions are such that they act with
out supervision or control and at first
without effective check from public opin-
ion. they delude many innocent people
into making investments or embarking in
kinds of business that are really unsound.
When the misdeeds of these successfully
| dishonest men are discovered, suffering
innocent men whom they have misled.
1t is a painful awakening, whenever it
occurs: and, naturally. when it does oc-
eur nose nos VINO sufter are apt 70 10 forget
| painful 1t would be. In the effort to pun
lsh the guilty it is both wise and proper
to erdeavor SO far as possible to minimize
the distress of those who have been mis-
led by the guilty. Yet it is not possible
to refrain because of such distress from
striving to put an end to the misdeeds
that are the ultimate causes of the Suf-
ferlng, and, as a means to this end.
where possible to punish those respon-
slble for them. There may be honest diff
ferenceS of opinion as to many govern
mental polices but surely there can be
no such differences as to the need of UNI
t1lnchlng perseverance in the war against
Interstate Commerce.
mo small part of the trouble that we
nave comes from carrying to an extreme
the national virtue of self-relance, of in
dependence in initiative and action. 1t is
wise to conserve this virtue and to pro-
vide for it's fullest exercise, compatible
with seeing that liberty does not become
a liberty to wrong others. Unfortunately,
TINS Is the kind of liberty that the lack
| OF all effective regulation inevitably
breeds. The founders of the Constitution
provided that the national government
snould nave 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
authority. for such authority already ex-
| lists under the Constitution in arnnIest
ana most far-reaching form; but it does
mean that there should be an extension
/ Of federal activity. This is not advo
eating Capitalization. 1t is merely look
/ ing facts in the face, and realizing that
Capitalization in business has already
4 In =lo1
! and that the public at large can only
protect itself from certain evil effects Of
TINS business Capitalization by providing
better methods for the exercise of CON
! troll through the authority already CEN
tral1Zed in the national government by
the Constitution itself There must be
40 malt in the healthy constructive course
OF action which this nation has elected
to pursue. and has steadily pursued dur
| ing the last six years, as shown both in
the legislation of the congress and the
administration of the law by the depart
ment of justice. The most vital need is
/ IN connection with the railroads AS to
these, in my judgment there should now
/ be. either national Incorporation act or
law licensing railway companies to en-
gage III interstate commerce upon Ger
tain conditions. The law should be so
/ framed as to give to the interstate com
merce commission power to pass upon
ample means should be provided to en-
able the commission, whenever in its
judgment 1t is necessary. to make a
physical valuation of any railroad.
LAS I stated in my message to the CON
gress 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 commerce commits
sion being first obtained ntil the ma
tional government assumes proper con-
| troll of interstate commerce, in the exer-
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 well to recognize that
this control must come; the only ques-
ton is as to what governmental body
Fan most wisely exercise it. The courts
will determine the limits within which
the 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
commerce commission will work in har-
nony with the several state commits
sions, each within it's own province, to
achieve the desired end
The Antitrust Law.
The president points out the need for
control of business concerns engaged in
Interstate commerce. 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-
/
efficient and more in harmony with actual
conditions. 1t should be so amended as
to forbid only the kind of combination
| which does harm to the general public
Or to be an incident of, a grant of super
yisory 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
4 A hpViDninc ba al
ready been made for such supervision by
/ the establishment of the bureau of cor
4 porations.
1.-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 if this feature Of the
law were abolished, there would remain
as an equally objectionable feature the
enforcement: The government must now
submit to irksome and repeated delay be-
fore obtaining a final decision of the
courts upon proceedings instituted, and
even favorable decree may mean an
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; it is not feasible to
carry on more than a limited number of
such suits. Such a law to be really eff
fective must of course be administered
by an executive body. and not merely by
means of lawsuits. The design should be
TO prevent the ABUSES liICluGul 10 the
creation of unhealthy and improper COM
binations instead of waiting until they
are in existence and then attempting to
destroy them by civil or criminal pro-
ceedings.
"a combination should not be tolerated
If it abuse the power acquired by connbi-
nation to the public detriment No cor
poration or association of any kind should
be permitted to engage in foreign or in
terstate commerce that is formed for the
purpose Of or whose operations create, a
monopoly or gneral control of the pro-
duction sale or distribution Of any one
or more of the prime necessities of life or