The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-21

while prices of railway securities have
 also depreciated. On the New York stock
 exchange the disturbance has been par
 ticularly severe. Most of it, I believe to
 be due to matters not particularly con
 fined to the United States and to mat
 ters wholly unconnected with any govern
 mental action, but it may well be that
 the determination of the government in which. gentlemen, it will not wayer. to
 punish certain malefactors of great wealth who have been responsible for something of the troubles. at least to
 the extent of having caused these men to combine to bring about as much fnan- cial stress as they possibly can in order to discredit the policy of the government, and thereby to secure reversal of that policy so that they may enjoy the fruits
 of their evil doings. That they have
 misled many good people into believing that there should be such reversal of pol icy is possible. If so, l am sorry, but
 it will not alter my attitude. Once for all let me say that I am concerned and
 for the eighteen months of my admins tration that remain there will be no change in the policy we have steadily
 pursued nor let up in the effort to se- | cure the honest observance of the law, for I regard this contest IS one to de- termine who shall rule this government 1 the people through their governmental | a 1 mined men, whose wealth makes them
 particularly formidable, because they are behind the breastworks of corporate or ! ganizatons.
 I wish there to be no mistake on this point. It is idle to ask me not to prose cute criminals, rich or poor. But de- sire no less emphatically to have 1t un- l derstood that we have undertaken and l will undertake no action of a Vndictive | tyne and above all as no action which
 shall infict great or unmerited suffering upon the innocent stockholders and upon the public as a whole Our purpose IS 70 act with the minimum of harshness com l patibe with obtaining our ends. In the
 man of great wealth who has earned his | wealth honestly and used it wisely we | recognize a good citizen, worthy of all
 praise and respect Business can only l be done under modern conditions through
 corporations, and our purpose is to heart
 fly favor the corporations that do well. | The administration appreciates that lib-
 eral. but honest profit for legitimate pro-
 motors and generous dividends for cap- | ital employed either in founding or con | tinuing an honest business venture, are
 the factors necessary for successful cor porate activity, and therefore for general , ly prosperous business conditions.
 l All these are compatible with fair deal | ing. as between man and man. and rigid | obedience to the law Our aim is to ! help every honest man. every honest cor l poration and our policy means in It's ul- | innate analysis a healthy and prosperous | expansion of business activities, of honest l business men and honest corporations Rights of Wage Banners.
 i very earnestly hope that the legis- l lation which deals with the regulation
 of corporations engaged in interstate business will also deal with the rights l ly | ployed by those corporations. Action was taken by the Congress last year | limiting the number of hours that rail way employees should be employed The l law is a good one; but if in practice l 1t proves necessary to strengthen it. | it must be strengthened. We have now secured a national employers liability | law; but ultimately a more far-reach | ing and thorough going law must be passed. It is monstrous that man or woman who is crippled in an industry, | even as the result of taking what are l the necessary risks of the occupation should be required to bear the whole ! burden of the loss. That burden should be distributed and not placed solely upon the weakest individual the one least able to carry it. By making the employer liable the loss will ultimately
 be distributed among all the beneficiar- ies of the business.
 Laws Concerning Health.
 I also hope that there will be legs lation increasing the power of the na- tiona1 government to deal with certain matters concerning the health of our people everywhere the federal author ities. for instance, should join with all the state authorit in warning against the dreaful scourage of tuberculosis. Your own state government here in i Massa ch ustetts, deserves high praise for the action it has taken in these public health matters during the last
 few years; and in this, as in some other
 matters, I hope to see the national gov ernment stand abreast of the foremost state governments.
 Scope of Federal Law.
 have spoken of but one or two laws
 which, in my judgment it is advisable to enact part of the general sche for making the interference of the national government more effective in securing justice and fair dealing IS be- tween man and man here in the United States Let me add. however, that while it Is necessary to have legisla- tion when conditions arise where we can only cope with evils through the joint action of all of us, yet that we can
 never afford to forget that in the last analysis the all-important factor for each of us must be his own individual
 charac cter. It is a necessary thing to
 have good laws, good institutions; but the most necessary of al things is to
 have a high quality of individual citi- zenship This does not mean that we can afford to neglect legislation. It will be highly disastrous if we permit
 ourselves to be misled by the pleas or those who see in an unrestricted indi- vidualism the all-suffcient panacea
 for social evils; but it will be even
 more disa strous to adopt the opposite uanacea of any socialistic system which would destroy all individualism which would root out the fiber of our whole citizenship In any great movement, such as that in which we are engaged, nothing Is more necessary than sanity; than the refusal to be led into extremes hv th Q advocates of the ultra course on either side Those professed friends of Iibertv who champion license are the worst foes of liberty and tend by the vacation their violence causes to throw inc government back into the hands or the men who champion corruption and tyranny in the name of order. So 1t is with this movement for securing justice toward all men, and equality of oppor- tnnity so far as 1t can be secured by governmental action. The rich man who with hard arrogance declines to consid- er the rights and the needs or those who are less well off, and the poor man