Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1907-12-12
CONGRESS HEARS
FROM PRESIDENT
MEssAaE olscussEs nEcEnr
FINANCIAL sTRlNoENcY AND
It's CAUSES.
FINANCIAL REFORM IS NftDtD
ANTITRUST LAWS, INTERSTATE
COMMERCE AND TARIFF DIS
cussEp.
FINANCIAL REFORM IS NftDtD
The following I. synopsis Of che pres

Scents message: 't5
In opening his message the president
refers to the financial stringsncy as fol-
1ows: M
mo nation has greater resources than
snrs. and think It can be truthfully said
that the citizens of no nation possess
90 'a nation are the fao fandamsntal business
.conditions sounder than in ours at this
very moment: and it is foolish, when
snen is the for people to seana
The immediate occasion q money strin-
s:ney as rule the
: and probity. and this applies alike to
farms and factories, to railroads and
banks. to all our legitimate commercial
In any large body Of men, however.
xpnest. and If the conditions are such
with 'h im PlssRs. their Ss example s
very EVIL Wing for the community. Where
snsse men are business men ct great
sn ana o. and wsre
soenditisnss are SUCH that they act with.
out supervision or control and at first
aen. they delude many innocent people
INTO making investments or ernbarking In
Kinds Of business that are really unsound.
shs man f 6ss
comes not only upon them. but upon the
annocent men whom they haze m,sled:
It It painful awakening. whenever it
ahat the longer It was deferred the more
painful tba It Would be- In the effort to pun
20 .epdeavor SO far as possible to minimize
the distress Of those who have been mis-
s yea by The guilty Yet it is not possible
striving to put an end to the misdeeds
that are the ultimate causes Of the suf-
Whergs p ana as to this end
ielpie Tor them. There may be honest diff
1erences Of opinion as to many govern
mental M aa, policies but surely there can be
Minch1ng perseverance in the war against
successful dishonesty +
Interstate Commerce.
mo small part of the trouble that we
nave comes from carrying to an extreme
dependence in initiative and action. It is
wise to conserve this virtue and to pro-
v1as sos its f fullest exercise. compatible
q liberty to wrong others Unfortunately.
this is the kind Of liberty that the lack
pree a The ect1Ye regulation Inevitably
provided that the national government
should have complete and sole control of
anterstate commerce.
Only the national government can in
ahoroughEoing fashion exercise the need
% control; This does not mean that
mere should be any extension of federal
authority, Tor such authority already ex-
lists under the Constitution in amplest
and most far-reaching form; but it does
on red ena1 fh nte,t shoud be an extension
eating Capitalization It is merely LOOK
ing facts In the face, and realizing that
.cen,ea nza in business has already
ana that eEs public at large can only
Protect itself from certain evil effects OF
5his business Capitalization by providing
aro! through the authority already cen
tralized in the national government by
tho Constitution itself. There must b
OF action which this nation has elected
&c. pursue, and has steadily pursued dur
ing the, last six years. as shown both in
me s . legislation Of the, congress and the
administration OF the law by the depart
ment OF Justice. The most vital need is
An connection with the railroads. AS to.
IN tnese: IN my Judgment there should now
a law Licensing railway companies to en-
gage in interstate commerce upon GER
TAIN conditions. The law. should be so
merce commission power to pass rnon
the future issue Of securities. while
ample n,ppll ~ means should be provided to en-
1nden an9 commission m Whenever in its
Dhyslcal valuation OF any railroad.
The Antitrust Law.
additional legislation looking to the proper
control Of business concerns engaged in
interstate commerce, this control to be
Perity no less than for the protection Of
says: az
THE antitrust law should not be re-
efficient and more in harmony with actual
conditions It should be 80 amended as
Which does n harm e he e
such amendment TO be accompanied by
or to be an incident of, grant Of super
ylsory power to the government over
business. This should be accomna med
by provision for the compulsory pubiica-
ten fion OF q accounts and the subsection Of
government officials. beginning has ali
ready been made for such supervision nv
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
p wh5Gh is on the syen whole tl, Of benefit
law were abolished, there would remain ain
as asaa an ans. equally objectionable feature the
. d1tfonitg and delay now incident to its
submit to irksome and repeated delay be-
fore obtaining a final decision Of the
even favorable decree may mean an az
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 limited number of
such suits. Such law to be really ef-
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 incident to 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. -.
IA combination should not be tolerated
IL 1t abuse the power acquired by con1bf-
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. q
monopoly or gneral control Of the pro-
or more of the prime necessities Of life Of
articles Of general use and necessity.
Such combinations are against public pol
icy; they violate the common law; the
doors of the courts are closed to those
who are parties to them, and l. believe
this congress can close the channels of In
terstate commsrcs against them for .ta
orotection.