The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-03
The Chief Executive Opens His
Annual Communication
By Calling Attention to Sue
cessful Business Dishonesty.
NEW CURRENCY LAW
Is Declared to Be One OF the
Urgent Necessities.
Says Let the Tariff Alone Until
After the Election.
FAVORS INCOME TAX.
Tax on Inheritances and Postal
Savings Banks.
For Parcels Post and Extension
of Civil Service.
FAVORS INCOME TAX.
Tax on Inheritances and Postal
Savings Banks.
For Parcels Post and Extension
Of Civil Service.

Washington, Dec. 3.-The annual
message of President Roosevelt to
congress was read in both houses to-
day. 1t is as follows:
To the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives:
No nation has greater resources
than ours. and L 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
fundamental business conditions
sounder than in ours at this very mo-
ment; and it 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 i'm
mediate occasion of money strlngency
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 ana
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 1mpunlty'
their example is very evil thing Tor
the community Where these men
are business men of great sagacity and
of temperament both unscrupulous
and reckless and where the conditions
are such that they act without super
vision or control and at first with
out effective check from public
opinion, they delude many innocent
people into making Investments or
embarking in kinds of business that
are really unsound. When the mis-
deeds of these successfully dishonest
men are discovered, suffering comes
not only upon them, but upon the in
nocent men whom they have mfsled. Il
is painful awakening. whenever 1t
occurs; and, naturally, when it does
occur those who suffer are apt to
forget that the longer it was deferred
the more painful it would be. In the
effort to punish the guilty 1t is both
wise and proper to endeavor so far as
possible to minimize the distress of
those who have been misled 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 suffering,
and as e means to this end, where
possible to punish those responsible
for them. There may be honest diff
ferences of opinion as to many gov
ernmental policies; but surely there
can be no such differences as to the
need of unfIinching perseverance i'm
the war against successful dishonesty.
Quotes Former Message.
In my message to the congress on
December 5, 1906, 1 said:
''If the folly of man mars the gem |
eral well-being, then those who are in |
nocent of the folly will have to pay |
part of the penalty incurred by those |
who are guilty of the folly. panic |
brought on by the speculative folly of
part of the business community would |
hurt the whole business community; |
but such stoppage of welfare, though |
it might be severe, would not be last |
ing. In the long run, the one vital |
factor in the permanent prosperity of |
the country is the high individual |
character of the average American |
worker, the average American citizen,
or manual whether he be farmer or
wage-worker, business man or pro-
fessional man.
''In our Industrial and social sys-
tenn the interests of all men are so
closely intertwined that in the i'm
mense majority of cases a straight
dealing man. who by his efficiency,
by dnsts his tntegrify sa ana bnduat ndus
others. Normally, the man of great
productive capacity who becomes
rich by guiding the labor of many
other men does so by enabling them
produce without his guidance; and
both he and they share in the benefit,
which comes also to the public at
large. The superficial fact that the
sharing may be unequal must never
blind US to the underlying fact that
there is this sharing, and that the
benefit comes in some degree to each
man concerned. Normally, the wage
worker, the man of small means and
the average consumer, as well as the
average producer, are all alike helped
by making conditions such that the
man of exceptional business ability re-
ceives an exceptional reward for his
ability. Something can be done by
legislation to help the general pros
perity; but no such help of a per-
manently beneficial character can be
given to the less able and less fortu-
nate save as the results of a policy
which shall insure to the advantage of
all Industrious and efficient people
who act decently; and this is only
another way of saying that any bene-
ht which comes to the less able and
less fortunate must of necessity come
even more to the more able and more
fortunate. If. therefore, the less for
tunate man is moved by envy of his
more fortunate brother to strike at
the conditions under which they have
both. though unequally prospered. |
the result will assuredly be that while
may come to the one struck
at, it will visit with an even heavier
load the one who strikes the blow.
Taken as a whole, we must all go up
er go down together.