The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1907-12-07
SUGGESTS REMEDIES FOR ILLS
CONTROL OF CORPORATIONS AND
RAILROADS TO PREVENT
OVERcAPITALlZATiON.
Believes This Would Solve the Prob.
lem Together with Provision for
More Elastic Currency-Recom-
mends Postal Banks and Asks FOR
Legislation Along Many Lines.

Washington. Dec. 8. President
Rooseyelt's annual messag1 to
10 a voluminous Mt OF nearly
5000 words. by far the longest mes
sage he has ever submitted to congress.
The opening subject of the message is
the financial condition of the country,
and for which the president lays much
of the blame upon unscrupulaps. stock
spectators, and says:
In any large body of meA however,
there are certain to be some who are
dishonest. and if the conditions are
such that these men prosper or COM
init their misdeeds with impunity, their
example Is a very evil thing Tor the
community Where these men are busl-
ness men of great sagacity n or tenn
both INSCRIPTIONS and reck-
less. and where the conditions are such
that they act without supervision or
control and at first without effective
check from public opinion, they delude
many innocent people into making in
m or embarking in KINDS OF
business that are really unsound.
When the miSdeedS of these successful
ly dishonest men are discovered sur
fering comes not only upon them out
upon the innocent men whom they
have misled. 1t is a painful awakening,
enc 1t occurs; and, naturally,
when il does occur those who suffer
are apt to forget that the longer 1t was
deferred the more painful 1t would De.
In the effort to punish the guilty II is
both wise and proper to endeaVor SO
far as possible to minimize the dis
tress of those who have been mlsled by
the guilty. Yet 1t 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 suf-
forinr md QC a means 10 TINS enc,
where possible to punish those re-
eponsible for them. There may be nom
est differences of opinion as TO many
governmental policies; but surely there
can be no such differences as to the
need of unfinching perseverance in the
war against successful dishonesty"
He quotes at length from his mes
sage of last year in which he adVo-
Gated federal control of corporations
doing interstate business. and believes
that in such control would be found the
remedy for overcapitalization and
stock speculation which he believes
have brought about the present finan-
cial conditions. He says:
Our steady aim shoul be by legis-
lation, cautiously and carefully under-
taken, but resolutely p~ersevered in, to
assert the sovereignty of the national
government by affirmative action.
This is only in form an innovation.
In substance it is merely a restoration;
for from the earliest time such regula-
ton of industrial activities has been
recognized in the action of the law
making bodies; and all that 1 propose
is to meet the changed conditions in
such manner as will prevent the COM
monwealth abdicating the power it has
always possessed. not only in this coun-
try. but also in England before and
since his country became a separate
nation.
Federal Control of
Railroads Is Favored.
mo small part Of the trouble that we
have comes from carrying to an ex-
IRENE the national virtue of self-re-
lance, of independence In initiative
and action. 1t is wise to conserve this
virtue and to provide for it's fullest ex-
~ercise, compatible with seeing that lib
erty does not become a liberty to
wrong others. Unfortunately, this is
the kind of liberty that the lack of all
effective regulation inevitably breeds.
The founders of the constitution pro-
vided that the national government
should have complete and sole control
of interstate There was
then practically no interstate business
save such as was conducted by water.
dIIo NLlAS IS NJ q
once proceeded to regulate in thorough
going and effective fashion. Condi-
tions have now SO wholly changed that
the interstate commerce by water is in
significant compared with the amount
that goes by land, and almost all big
business concerns are now engaged in
interstate AS a result, it
can be but partially and imperfectly
controlled or regulated by the action of
N ono nf tho SaUara1 Sfotac. c1Ioh
ton inevitably tending to be either too
drastic or else too lax, and in either
case ineffective for purposes of justice.
Only the national government can in
thoroughgoing fashion exercise the
needed control. This does not mean
that there hould be any extension of
federal authority, for such authority
already exists under the constitution in
amplest and most far-reaching form;
but it does mean that there should be
an extension of federal activity. This
is not advocating Capitalization. 1t is
merely looking facts in the face. and
realizing that Capitalization in business
has already come n can not be avoid
ed or undone. and that the public at
large can only protect itself from GER
tain evil effects of this business CEN
tralization by providing better methods
for the exercise of control trough the
h already centralized in the
government by the constitu-
ton itself. There must be no halt in
the healthy constructive course of ac-
ton which this nation has elected to
pursue, and has steadily pursued, dur
ing the last six years. as shown both in
the legislation of the congress and the
administration of the law by the de-
partment OF justice. The most vital
need is in connection with the railroads.
AS to these. in my judgment there
now be either a national incor-
act or a aw licensing railway
Companies to engage in interstate COM
merce upon certain conditions. The law
should be so framed as to give to the
commission power
20 pass upon the future issue of securi-
ties, while ample means should be pro-
yided to enable the commission, when
ever in its Judgment it is necessary, to
make a physical valuation of any rail-
road. AS r stated in my message to the
congress a year ago, railroads should
be given power to enter into agree
ments, fcbject ia these agreements be-
ing made public In minute detail and to