Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-05-11
DISCUSS PROSPERITY !
At The WHITE HOUSE
National Association Committee
Conters With Roosevelt and
Asks His Cooperation
PRESIDENT is IN SYMPATHY
Reiterates Statement That Reform
Legislation Was Not Responsible
For Business Depression - conceaIs
No Menace to Business - President
Makes Address.

| Makes Address. \
| Washington, May 11.-A committees |
from the National Prosperity Associa- 4
| ton of st. Louis called on President \
| Roosevelt today, and urged his aid in |
furthering their plans for encouraging \
the return of prosperity thruout the |
country The committee found the pres
! ident cordial in his treatment, and |
frank in his expressions Of willingness
to aid them in every way possible A |
short speech was made by e. C. Sim
| mons, chairman Of the executive COM
mittee Of the association, which was
responded to by the president. Sim
| mons urged that halt be called upon
radical, hasty, experimental legisla-
ton, designed to regulate industry.f
and applauded the president for the +
many reforms he has instituted ana
brought about"
In his reply President Roosevelt said:e
Il am in hearty sympathy with the
| avowed object of the National Pros
| perity Association. It is excellent. Wei
have gone far in uprooting the abuses I
which threaten our national life, and |
taken as whole, the standard Of hon-
esty in our business life has been
high. Today the standard Is, I be-
| lieve, beyond what it has ever been
this largely because we have made q
determined war on the abuses that
lowered It, AS you have said, the del
| preston and stagnation from which
our country is now happily beginning
to recover, were not caused by reform
legislation, but by the revelation OF
| shocking conditions in certain Of our
! corporations, by reckless operations in
+! high finance. by calamity, and by GER
tain striking, tho believe, exceptional,
| Instances Of business and civic dishon-
esty. OF course all good men must
agree with you IN your condemnation
| of unWise agitation. The apathetic
| acceptance Of abuses in our govern-
| ment and business administrations is
| no more dangerous than the demagogic
appeals Of professional agitators to
class hatreds."
National Conscience Awakened.
| Our national conscience, / firmly
| believe, has been awakened. We will
not and cannot go back to conditions
which tolerated wrong doing. Neither
can we afford to be led astray by those
who would embark us in visionary
and twisted crusade against all cor
porations and all business methods.
| We should address ourselves to faith
| full and honest observance Of the laws
| of civic righteousness. The welfare of
| all of us can best be obtained by strik-
| ing for policy which will promote the
welfare of each of US. We must all CO.
operate, in order that benefit may be.
derived by the entire nation. Good
| laws make good government, but laws
are Of no avail unless vitalized by the I
people who made them.
Defends Recent Legislation.
Our recent legislation has been good,
and 1t is to the interest Of the entire 4
country, especially business interests,
that it should be enforced. Such fur
ther regulatory legislation as is rec
quired, is merely building up on the
broad foundations that have been laid.
It conceals no menace to business any
more than legislation which has Al.
ready been enacted. There is no need
for agitation concerning It; there is no
excuse for demogogic excitement about
it. 1t is as much our duty to con- 4
serve the real rights of labor. This w1
have done in the past, and this We
ought to do and will do in the future.
The country realizes that confidence is
not matter Of law. 1t is an intangible
something, which exists in the relation
of men. Those relations have been
strengthened in our own country by
economic reforms that have been in-
stituted. Therefore we are more pow
erful today than we have ever been. So
far as the present administration 10
concerned, it will continue unchanged.
the policy Of safeguarding the rights OF
all and embracing every possible legfti-
mate means of the advance OF the well
fare and prosperity of our country. Let
there be no misunderstanding about
this. The business and commercial in
terests Of this country to be prosper
Gus in any enduring sense, must be adj
ministered honestly. With occasional
exceptions. they have been and are
now so administered, as you have well
said, and, wherever there is evidence
of dishonesty 1t must be pursued re-
lentlessly and punished; but having
thus moved forward to a high plane Of
business integrity, and on that plane
built wisely, let no man seize the mo-
ment when we have as q nation pil-
lorized the real malefactors, to say
that all American business men. or
even any considerable number Of them.
are malefactors. l welcome your
work, and shall be glad to cooperate
with you in any effort to establish pros-
perity on right and honest lines"
illinois Mines Resume.
Springfield, H., May 11.-werk was