Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1907-12-03
Special to the Herald.

WdSHIHSI Ol, ~. u, DeC. D. HC
president submitted his message to
congress today. 1t is lengthy docu-
ment and covers many subjects of ma
tional Importance. The most impor-
tant suggestions are contained in the
following synopsis:
No nation has greater resources
than ours, and think it can be truth
fully said that the citizens of no ma
ton possess greater energy and indus
trial ability In no nation are the fun
damental business conditions sounder
than in ours at this very moment; and
il is foolish, when such is the case.
for people TO hoard money instead of
keeping it in sound banks; for it is
such boarding that is the immediate
occasion of money stringency. More
over, 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 CONNER
cial enterprises.
In any large body of men, however,
there are certain to be some who are
dishonest, and If the conditions are
such that these men prosper or com
nit 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 unscrpulous and
reckless, and where the conditions
are such that they act without super
vision or control and at first without
effective check from public opinion.
they delude many innocent people in
to making investments or embarking
in kinds of business that are really un-
sound. When the misdeeds of these
successfully dishonest men are dis
covered, suffering comes not only up
on them, but upon the innocent men
whom they have misled. 1t is a pain.
full awakening, whenever it occurs
and, naturally, when it does occur
those who suffer are apt to forget
that the longer it was deferred the
more painful II would be. In the eff
fort to punish the guilty it is both
and proper TO endeavor so far
psiniknize the distress Of
fhoss 81 49, 4glfsfed Dy the
guilty Yet it is not possible to re-
frain because of such distress from
striving to put an end to the mis-
deeds that are the ultimate causes of
the suffering, and, as means to this
end, where possible to punish those
responsible for them. There may be
honest differences Of opinion as to
many governmental policies; but sure
ly there can be no such differences as
to the need of unflinching persever-
ance in the war against successful
dishonesty.
No small part of the trouble that
We have comes from carrying to an
extreme the national virtue of self
reliance, of independence in initiative
and action. 1t is wise to conserve
this virtue and to provide for its full
est exercise, compatible with seeing
that liberty does not become liberty
to wrong others. Unfortunately this
is the kind of liberty that the lack of
all effective regulation inevitably
breeds. The founders of the Constitu
ton provided that the national gov
eminent should have complete and
sole control of interstate commerce.
There was then practically no inter
state business save such as was CON
Quoted by water, and this the nation |
al government at once proceeded to |
regulate in thoroughgoing and effect |
i've fashion. Conditions have now so
wholly changed that the interstate
commerce by water is insignificant I
compared with the amount that goes /
by land, and almost all big business
concerns are now engaged in inter-
state commerce. AS a result. it can be
but partially and imperfectly controll-
ed or regulated by the action of any
one of the several states such an ac-
ton inevitably tending to be either
too drastic or else too lax. and in
either case ineffective for purposes of
justice. Only the national govern.
ment can in thoroughgoing fashion
exercise the needed control This
does not mean that there should be
any extension of federal authority. for
such authority already exists under
the Constitution in amplest and most
far-reaching form; but it does mean
that there should be an extension of
federal activity This is not advocat.
ing Capitalization. It is merely look
ing facts in the face, and realizing
that Capitalization in business has al
ready come and cannot be avoided or
undone, and that the public at large
can only protect itself from certain {
evil effects of this business centrali-
cation by providing better methods /
for the exercise of control through the {