Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-08-28
PRESIDENTS METHOD OF DEAL
ING WITH CORPORATIONS.
EFFORT MUST NOT CEASE
Question of Stlte Rights Should Be
Considered From the Standpoint of
the interests Of AIl-UphoIds the
Spirit of Our National Life Against
Clamor of Rich or Poor.

Z ProVincetown, Mass, Aug. 21.-"We
have gained some things that the Pur.
itan had not, but we are also in dan.
ger of losing certain things which
the Puritan had and which we can by
no manner of means afford to lose.
i We have gained JOY of living which
he had not, ald which it is good
thing for every people to have and to
develop. Let us see to it that we do
not lose what is more important stiIl;
that we do not lose the Purltan's iron
sense of duty, his unbending unfiinch-
ing will to do the right as it was given
him to see the right. II is q good
thing that life should gain in sweet
ness, but only provided that it does
not lose III strength. Ease and rest
and pleasure are good things, but only
If they come as the reward of work
well done, of a good fight well won,
OF strong effort resolutely made and
crowned by high achievement. The
less ease, is as ignoble for a nation
as for an individual The man is but
a poor father who teaches his sons
that ease and pleasure should be their
chief objects in lifei tie woman who
is mere petted toy, incapable OF SER
ious purpose, shrinking from effort
and duty, is more pitiable than the
veriest overworked drudge. So he is
but poor leader of the people, but d
poor national adviser, who seeks to
make the nation in any way subordi-
nate effort to ease, who would teach
the people not to prize as the greatest
blessing the chance to do any work, no
matter how hard, if 1t becomes their
duty to do it."
( With these words President Roose-
welt prefaced an address at the laying
of the cornerstone of the Pilgrim me-
mortal monument here. The presi-
dent reviewed the conditions which
confronted the pilgrim fathers and the
social and economic changes that have
followed.
THE utterly changed conditions of
our national life,'' said the president,
'necessitates changes in certain of
our laws, of our governmental meth
DDS. Our federal system Of govern
ment is based upon the theory of leav-
ing to each community, to each state,
the control over those things which
affect only its own members and
which the people of the locality them
selves can best grapple with, while
providing for national regulation in
those matters which necessarily affect
the nation as whole. 1t seems to
me that such questions as national
sovereignty Lad STATS rights need to
be treated not emplrically or academ-
ically, but from the standpoint of the
interests of the people as a whole
National sovereignty is to be upheld
in so far as it means the sovereignty
of the people used for the real and Ill
innate good of the people; and states
rights are to be upheld in so far as
they mean the peoples rights. Els
pecially is this true in dealing with
the relations Of the people as a whole
to the great corp0i ations which are
the distinguishing feature of modern
business conditions.
Experience has shown that 1t is
necessary to exercise a far more eff
ficient control than at present over
the business use of those vast for
tunes, chiefly corporate, which are
used (as under modern conditions
they almost invariably are) in inter
state businss. When the constitution
was created none of the conditions of
modern business existed. They are
wholly new and We must create new
agencies to deal effectively with them.
There is no objection in the minds of
this people to any man S earning any
amount of money IL he does it hon
estly and fairly, If he gets it as the
result of special skill and enterprise,
as reward of ample service actually
rendered. But there is a growing de-
termination that no man shall amass
great fortune by special privilege,
by chicanery and wrongdoing, so far
it is in the power OF legislation TO
prevent; and that the fortune when
amassed shall not have a business us
hat is antisocial. Most large corpor.
atoms do a business that = not con
fined to any one state. Expert
ence has shown that the effort to con.
troll these CO. porstions by mere state
action can not produce wholesome re-
suit: In most cases such effort fails
to correct the real abuses of vai n
the corporation is or may be guilty;
while in other cases the effort If apt
TO cause either hardship to tie cor
poration Itself. or else hardship to
neighboring states which have not
tried to grapple with the problem in
the same manner; and Of course we
must be as scrupulous to safeguard
the rights Of the corporations as to
exact from them in return full meas
ure Of justice 10 the public believe
IN a national incorporation law for
corporations engaged in interstate
business. / believe furthe rmore. that
the need for action Is mJst pressing
rs regards those corporations whiah
because they are common curriers'. ex-
ercise a quasi-public function; and
which can be completely col Il oiled. in
all respects by the federal govern