The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1907-12-31

Mr.. Roosevelt was TO make those men.
however powerful and wealthy. TO know
| that the laws upon the statute books
were living things and must be obeyed.
| 1T was not proposed that the legiti-
mate enterprises that were carried on
with the capital OF those men should be
| destroyed. IL was not proposed that the
| foreign trade which Injured to the benefit
| OF the whole country should be struck
down: but II was determined that those
who were making the statutes dead
| letter should be subject TO restraint by
! injunction processes and punishment by
indictment-not as a matter OF revenge
nor 10 crafty the exercise of power, but
, TO eradicate systematic lawlessness from
our business system
PEOPLE AID ADMINISTRATION.
"In this struggle the administration
has been greatly aided by the popular
sympathy awakened by revelations as 10
breaches OF trust by the managers OF
some OF the great insurance companies;
by revelations as TO fnismanagement OF
the internal affairs OF great railroad COM
panes; by the disclosures as 10 the enor-
nous amount OF rebates eXtorted from
the railroad companies by these trusts,
and by the conscienceless stock jobbng
and overissue OF bonds and stocks shown
TO have occurred In the management of
some OF our great COIpOfdtlOnS.
There was a moral awakening among
the people, and the hands of the admin
istration wehe held UP In the work which
IL was doing
ION the other hand, the men and the
interests which were the subject of attack
were not idle. They had their partisans
guilty and innocent The guilty, of
course, wished 10 defeat the administra-
tion by any means The innocent were
x.r1,. I.A
magnates in legitimate business transac-
tions and to whom the attitude of the
administration seemed one general oppo-
sition TO the whole business community.
"One of the great manifestations, one
or the monuments in this moral progress,
was the passage Of the railroad rate bill
The fight made by the administration
has been noteworthy one. And now,
after a victory has been won, after there
has been introduced into the hearts OF all
men, and especially Of these leaders. these
| trust managers and the financial oppo-
| nents OF the administration, the fear OF
| the law-the panic comes on.
| The trust magnates, solidy entrench-
| ed with great financial resources. are not
| the ones who suffer the most from IL. II
Is the men who have had no such law
| full or fruitful method of making MONEY,
| the great body OF business men and
| wage-earners. This is the feature OF the
panic that arouses ones deepest sympa-
thy and regret.
l Inc agents ana SNlnpatnlZcrS ana 0e-
tenders of the trusts and others innocent,
| but mistaken, now rush forward TO place
the blame of the present conditions upon
| the administration
PUBLICITY INEVITABLE.
''It is true that the execution of the pol
| Icy OF the administration has involved the
| bringing to the light of public criticism
| the violation of the law by influential and
| powerful corporations. and their prosecu-
/ ton. Through the investigation of ma
4 tOnal there
| revealed. as have already said. breaches
| OF trust. stock jobbing. over-issue Of
stocks and mismanagement in some of
our largest corporations. They have
| properly been severely condemned by all,
including the president.
| knowledge OF these things doubtless
| affected our credit In Europe and has
tened the panic but those who are NOR
| ally responsible for such a result are the
| guilty managers, not those who In the
course of their official duty have made
known to the business world the facts
| and commented on them.
MUST WE RETROGRADE?
Instead OF making panic. the nation
al policy Of ending the lawlessness of cor
porations I'm interstate commerce and OF
taking away their power OF issuing with
out supervision, stocks and bonds, will
produce change in their management
and remove one fruitful cause for loss of
public confidence.
mo panic however severe, can make
wrong right No man who sincerely be-
lieved tn administration right In its
measures to punish violations OF law can
be turned from the earnest support OF
that policy today.
81 believe myself to be as conservative
as anyone within this company. 1 believe
that In connection with pesonal liberty the
right OF personal property is the basis OF
all material progress In the development
of mankind and that any change in our
social and political system which impars
tha -terht - atn ~ md N far
mutation of capitol by the Individual, is
a blow at our whole civilization
but no one can have been an observer
| of the operation of the exercise of the
| right Of property and the accumulation OF
| capital and it's use in business by the in
| dividual and the combination of capital
! by the combination OF individuals, without
! seeing that theer are certain limitations
| upon the methods in the use OF capital
| and the exercise of hte right of property
| that are indispensable TO prevent the abb
solute cantrol of the whole financial sys-
| tenn of the country passing to small
| oligarchy OF individuals.
'"rhe question which you have ultimate
| ly to meet is not whether we shall return
to a condition OF unregulated. railways
! and unrcgulated trusts, but IL is whether
we shall maintain a strict system OF regu-
| lation of railways and trusts or whether
we shall turn the country over 10 the ad-
vocates of government ownership and
state socialism.
ANYONE who seeks a retrograde step
| from the policy OF the administration on
| the theory that IL would be real step
| toward conservatism is blind to every po-