The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-14
Martin w. LitHetOn Ta'b on Drift of Events al
 Buffalo
DANGERS STILL AHEAD
 FOR PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
New York Lawyers Address, Read Be- fore Association, Is Full of Definite Assertion That the Rights of
 States Are Paramount.

Buffalo, N. Y, September 1S.--At to- days session of the American Social Science association. the address of Mar tin w. Littleton of New York on Drift of Events,'' was in the absence of Mr. Littleton. read by Secretary Isaac Frank lin Russell, LL D.
 In the development of little more than 100 years we have passed from moral revolution to national and international materialism
 Whatever doubt existed as to the grow ing power of the union as a nation dis appeared when it was seen how far the government had gone in the assertion of its authority in carrying on and conolud- ing the between the states. Through out all the years of our history the work of bringing forth our great resources had gone on. This steady growing in- sistent force driven by the most natural and powerful of human impulses-that is, the desire for gain-gradualy grew up beneath every other question and pushed them out of the way of it's devel- opment. Now it reaches the remotest cor ners of the country and stimulates the energy of our people. native and foreign born. It is simply and plainly ire pressbe desire to get wealth. AS re- suit of this almost universal desire, and as the outcome of experiment and years of evolution, many industrials of the country have come nuder the absolute control of little groups of men, who have yal Et,ol lra pfa quest in their particular field of ac- tivity.
 Growth of Trusts.
 These industrial concerns reached out in every direction f6r allies in order to strengthen themselves. They did every thing which. according to their long, hard training in the competitive struggle, had been found helpful in the race for wealth and power. It was not long before there were efforts to subject them to the con- trol of some authority. The many metn- ods of incorporation and the many ave nues open to escape these sporadic efforts to control them, made it practically im- possible to subject them to firm and constant control. These great industries have grown past the day of competition. past the direct influence of popular senti- ment, past the control of local communi ties, past the conscious reach of the state; and as they have grown they have taken with them into the public rela- tions which they inevitably sustain, all of the shrewd trading instincts of the smaller trader Without doubt there came with their growth certain evils and ex- cesses which required correction, and 1t is beyond dispute that the correction ot these evils and excesses could not be safe ly left to mere chance or change. At the present time we are witnessing period of investigation and restraint, which, fol- lowing so closely on the heels of a gre 1t campaign for restored confidence" seein to prove the sporadic nature of our eco homie reforms.
 A Check to Combines.
 There were certain great industries In the country which required some sort of check upon some branches of their activity. They had come to feel thai they were securely intrenched and were not subject to any authority except the self regulating influence of trade and rivalry. When President Roose- welt came to power with direct com mission from the people he came at a time when these questions had to Be met or eVaded President Roosevelt was confronted with three distinct dangers, when he undertook to apply the remedy.
 The first was, that he would precipi- Tate a general war thrift and en- lerprise in an effort to lop off the tiyiIs manifest in some industries.
 The second was that he would tFrench the power of the national gov ernment in his effort to extend it's R
 The third was, that Is his resolute endeaver to make government an in strument for the betterment of man kind, he would unwittingly recognize the most advanced forms of socialism and give to them great encouragement.
 The first of these would be acute, disa strous, but not irretrievable.
 The second would be far-reaehing. revolutionary and fatally permanent.
 The third would be long in coming, not immediately felt, but essentially d recog gnized part of the policy of great nation hereafter.
 What Will Be Result.
 Resolutely he set himself to the task and we are now concerned with just what the precise result of this struggle will be-
 It is not questioned that he has es- tablished the supremacy of the national government over every and all manenr of industrial giants. It is not dis puted that he has caused a higher standard of economic justice and hon estv to be erected in these very in- dustries. It cannot be contended that he has not employed all the powers of his great office in what he earnestly believed was for the betterment of mankind
 The first serious question that grows out of his assertion of the power of the national government, is whether it does not mean that hereafter every great question must be solved by the federal government alone.
 The third serious question is whether he has not unconseiously but surely com r,itted us as a nation to the primary theory of the most enlightened form of socialism. No problem is so modern or 90 complex that it may not be met un-