The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-26
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

Two things characterize President | Roosevelt's special message to con | gress yesterday. either one of which calls for special commendation. In ! the first place it's brevity leaves noth- ing to be desired. In the second place | its tone is quiet and the more con vincing on that account. If previous | messages from President Roosevelt | had followed those lines much con cern would have been escaped. He, too. would have found that his as- saults upon predatory wealth" and "malefactors" in general would have lost none of their impressiveness. The President of the United States does not have to use a fourteen-inch gun to attract attention to his aims and purposes. A few we'll chosen words followed up by determined action on the part of the department of justice are all that is required.
 It is difficult not to believe that this latest message is intended more for po- iitical consumption than legislative treatment WCongress is not apt to do more at this session than paw the air; 1t is the season for air paving. President Roosevelt Is nevertheless wholly in the right in urging child labor legislation In the District of Co., lumbia. Equally attractive is his championship of an employers liabili- ty act which can be made to square with the recent decision of the Su- preme court. Incidentally his refer ence to such an act shows the value of department of the government which remains unmoved by popular clamor. The reasonable amendment of the laws of injunction, as . result of which they may not be used for unfair ends, is in line with the gener- ous thought of the country It has been the abuse of the injunction pro- cess which has led to the agitation for its abandonment. Its amendment will remove the excuse for that agi- tation. The modification of the Sher- man antitrust law, which was enacted under pressure of political clamor, is called for in the interest of proper traffic agreements. and in order that some practical check may be put upon Issues of new securities The trouble with all such original legislation is that 1t springs, not from careful consideration of the merits of the con troversy which precedes action, but from the fury of the controversy itself It is yet to be ascertaned whether the Hepburn railroad rate bill Is not to experience the unconstitutional as- poets of it as pointed out by Senator Foraker
 President Roosevelt's recommenda- ton with regard to receiverships for embarrassed public service corpora tions isshew, if our memory serves us right. We have no recollection of hearing him advance these ideas be- fore They are sound One of the grave weaknesses in the practice of appointing receivers for embarrassed properties of the public service class has been their selection from among the very administrators who aided in bringing about the collapse. President Roosevelt Is on sound ground when he says this is wrong The purpose of a receivership, as he says, is to pay the debts of the embarrassed company and return It as soon as possible to its lawful owners. Too often in the history of the railroads of the country the object has been to oust one set of managers for another set without re- gard to the welfare of the stockhoid- efe. Had such a law as the president Aow advises, which will provide for the appointment of one of the receiv- CTS by the department of justice, been on the statute books many of the mis- erable chapters written into the his tory of railroad wrecking would never have been printed. It is to forestall the rewriting of old history that he would impose an obstacle. But even this important object does not close the eyes of the President to the need of additional labor legislation. He has no new ideas to offer upon that subject in this special message, un- less one considers his opposition to both the black list and the boycott a fresh contribution to his stock of ideas This will not be taken as a sat isfactory discrimination or classified ton by the labor leaders of high es- tate, but it is difficult to see and un- derstand how a man can condemn the black list. which affects him. and not condemn the boycott. which af- fleets another A much more impress eive revelation of actual interest is