New-York tribune., 1907-12-31

of power. Dut 10 erduito1Is oS
layvle ssness from our business system
In this struggle the administration mas peeii
greatly aided by the popular syfipalhy &"aH
enea by revelations TO breaches OF uus. oS
the managers of some of the great insurance
companies; by revelations as TO nisI1ahds eIiis M.
of the internal affairs of grear rSllrodo a1, 80
NAMES by the disclosure as TO the enoi itliou
snoount of rebates extorted from the rallroau
companies by these trusts. and by the ods
scienceless stock jobbing and oVeflssue pL ~ o1n
and stocks shown to have occurred IN the 1h@
agernent of some of our great corporaliunS- ~.
There was a moral awakening among 1
people and the hands OF the adfninisliat;lor on,
held I'D in the work which it was dolis.
the other hand the men ana lhe in1e M az
which were the subject of attack Were ,a-+ 10
They had their partisans--guiity ana lIiIio0ei5
rrhe guilty of course wished TO defeat the a'i
fninistratIon by any means. Inc itiiloce!' . -, 80
those who had become involved Win @ rus "a 80
mates in legitimate business TRANSACTIONS J anu ~
n-bon, the sttfrude of the administration seemed
one Of general opposition to the whole business
community
as TO RAILROAD RATE BILL.
One of the great manifestations, one oi IN tt
monuments in this moral prost eSs, ma , the
ma sssce of the railroad raie pAi- II NJ ,.Ho
aD,o.ition of many of the railroads, not because
thew were in sympathy with the uusts-Loa -
think they. in many respects mac Deer ~ iiioa NJ
sfnned against than sinninS-but because Lle'
rasen+eo that close control. that rigid superHi-
sion WHICH the public demanded N view o, - alir
possibilities which the ulScloSute do " ~
past transactions revealed . 80.
The fight made by the administrator haS
now, after
1-ictorv has been won. after there has oeen III
tro0uced into the hearts of all men, ana ee
Decially OF those leaders. those trust nlahdSeis'
and the financial opponents OF the auiiiiio'
ton the fear of the 1aw-the panic colneo com iti on
The trust magnateS, solidly intrehched Wiz
great financial resources, are moi the oiieS - ~
suffer the most from it. . 1t is the men VINO nav
had no such unlawful or fruitfu nletiou oI
,1aking monev-the great body of business men
and wage earners. This is the feature OF ths
panic that arouses ones deepest sympathy anu
regret.
The agents and sympathiZers and defenders
of the trusts and others innocent but nhstahei
now rush forward to place the Diane Vi ulS
present conditions upon the administrator . d.
They seek to use the panic as an argument lof
giving up the moral victory when mas peeii W. W.
Apparently they would take a retrograoe STEP
hack 10 the conditions that existed fve ana SIN
and ten years ago. when. unhampereo by sta.u,e
law these trusts were building the f1nanciai pul-
warks behind which they are now nsh,Ils;
They rely upon the soreness ana tne iheiltaA
strain and suffering through which all the non
est business men Of the community nave mao "
pass as a golden opportunity for driving hons
their attacks upon the administration ana III
paraIyzinE the onward movement toward the
supremacy of the law.
/ have set forth what believe TO be the reaI
explanation of the panic. Let Us examine the
specifications Of our opponents, now mace 10
show that the administration is responsible IN
the first place il is said that the policy OF the
administration has been directed for the last
four wears against organized capital ana tnat II
has thereby frightened investors DENY IL
The course of the administration mas peeh uI-
rected against such organized capital as was
violating the statutes of the United StateS-ahu ~
no others It had every consideration and de-
sire TO aid and assist organized capital Which
was engaged in legitimate business
It is true that the execution of the policy OF
the administration has involved the bringing
TO the light of public criticism the violation or
the law by influential and powerful corporations.
and their prosecutions Through the inVestlga-
ton Of national and state tribunals there have
been revealed. / have already said, breaches
of sfo iOhbing. OyeriSSUe
mismanag gement-in some of our largest corpora
tions- They have properly been seVereIy con
demned by ALL including the President knoWi-
edge of these things doubtless affected our
credit in Europe and fastened the panic; but
those who are morally Responsible i3r such q
result are the guilty managers not those VINO,
in the course of their official duty, have made
known TO the business world the facts and COM
nented on them.
ATTITUDE OF THE PRESIDENT
1t is said that the administration has ar
raigned the whole business community as dls-
honest. l deny it The President has con-
desnned the lawbreakers He has convinced
those who have unlawfully accumulated enor-
nous powers and capital that they are not i'm
n1ule. He has put the fear Of the law in their
hearts They have been acute enough to at
tempt to protect themselves by giving the i'm :
preston that his action has been directed
against the whole business community II is
true that the business men of community. as
a whole. honest and their methods are sound.
The President has never said otherwise IN
body Of honest business men that he has made
his great fight for lawful business methods.
Again it is said that the rate bill. for which
the administration is responsible, caused the
present panic. Could anything be more abSurdz :
The object of the rate bill was merely to bring
the railroads under closer supervision Of a tri-
bunal which could act upon complaints or IN
dividuals suffering from their injustice The
immediate effect of its passage was the volun-
tary reduction of rates. subsequently, under
normal circumstances iustifying il, the rates
Of the railways generally we're increased The
continuance Of the abuses of the railway man
agernent were made by the rate bill much more
difficult but the rate bill has not had the slight
est effect upon the legitimate business earnings
of THE railways. The utter hollowness In the
cry that the rate bill caused :he panic is seen
in the fact that those who now venture to ad-
vance this proposition have been for more than
a year contending that the rate bill hum
bug and fraud because II had no effect what
ever-because it had given promise of reduc-
tiou Of rates and no reduction Of rates followed.
Then state legislation against railroads fs
pointed to d cause for shrinkage in the value
OF the stocks and for the panic. Mr.. Roose-
,elt and the national administration are not
responsible for this. II occasioned by the
same revelations OF lawlessness and discrimna-
ton in railway management that made the fed
eral rate bill necessity. If the state easures
have been too drastic the cause of the injustice
is not with the national government.
Instead of making panic the national policy
of ending the lawlessness of corporations in in
terstate commerce and of taking away their
power Of issuing without supervision stocks and
bonds viii produce a change in their manage
ment and remove one fruitful cause for loss of
public confidence.
The business men in the past have sympa :
thiZed with the effort to eradicate from the
business system OF this country the influence
and control OF those who have achieved success
by Illegal methods. Is all this to be changed by
the panic? Is it proposed because of it 10
repeal the rate bill? Shall we dismiss the
prosecutions for violations of the anti trust
law? Shall we permit and encourage rebates
and Determinations by railways? is this the
condition of sanity to which we are invited TO
return? Shall we join in the sneer at the fight
of the administration for honesty and legality
in business youthful attempt at an alleged
moral regeneration OF our business system? No
panic, however severe, can make wrong right.