The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-12-10
President RoO,seyelt's
Message To CONGRESS

L
sentatiyes, should ask in this matter
IL is hard to say whether most damag,
TO the country at large would com,
from entire failure on the part of thu
public to supervise and control the &C
tons of the great corporations, or from
the exercise of the necessary govern
mental power in way which would d.
injustice and wrong to the corpora
tions. Both the preachers of an un
restricted individualism, and the
preachers of an oppression which
would deny to able men of blu siness
the just reward of their initiative and
business sagacity, are advocating
policies that would be fraught with
grayest harm to the whole country. TIC
permit every lawless capitalist, every
law-defying corporation, to take any
| action, no matter how Ubiquitous, in
the effort TO secure an improper pro
fit and to build up privilege, would be
ruinous to the republic and would
mark the abandonment of the effort
to secure in the industrial world the
spirit of democratic fairdealing On
the other hand, to attack these wrongs
in that spirit of demagogy which can
see wrong only when committed by
the man Of wealth, and is dumb and
blind in the presence Of wrong com.
mitted against men of property or by
men Of no property, is exactly as evil
as corruptly to defend the wrongdoing
Of men Of wealth. The war we wage
must be waged against misconduct,
against wrongdoing wherever 1t is
found and we must stand heartily
for the rights Of every decent man,
whether he be a man Of great wealth
or a man who earns his livelihood as
a wageworker or tiller of the soil.
We do not for a moment believe
that the problem will be solved by any
short and easy method. The solution
will come only by pressing various
concurrent remedies. Some of these
remedies must lie outside the domain
of the Federal Government. But there
is legislation which the Federal Gov
eminent alone can enact and which
is absolutely vital in order to secure
the attainment of our purpose. Many
laws are needed. There should be
regulation by the National Govern
ment of the great interstate corpora
tons, including simple method of
account keeping, publicity, supervision
of the issue of securitie- abolition of
rebates and of special privileges.
There should be short time franchises
for all corporations engaged in public
business; including the corporations
which get power from water rights
There should be national as we'll as
state guardianship of mines and for
ests. The labor legislation herein
after referred to should concurrently
be enacted into law.
Labor.
There are many matters affecting
labor and the status of the wage
worker to which should like to draw
your attention, but an exhaustive dis
cussion of the problem in all its as
poets Is not now necessary. This adj
ministration is nearing its end; and,
moreover, uder our form of govern
ment the solution of the problem de-
ponds upon the action Of the states
as much as upon the action of the ma
ton. Nevertheless, there are certain
considerations which l wish to set
before you, because hope that our
people will more and more keep them
in mind A blind and ignorant re-
sistance to very effort for the reform
of abuses and for the readjustment
of society to modern industrial condi-
tons represents not true conservat-
ism but an Indictment to the widest
radicalism; for wise radicalism and
wise conservatism go hand in hand,
one bent on progress, the other bent
on seeing that no change is made un-
less in the right direction. believe
In steady effort, or perhaps it would
be more accurate to say in steady
efforts in many different directions,
to bring about a condition Of affairs
under which the men who work with
hand or with brain, the laborers, the
superintendent the men who produce
for the market and the men who find
a market for the articles produced,
and be enabled to invest it I'm the
tools and instruments by which all
work is carried on. AS far as posi-
BILE hope to see frank recognition of
the advantages conferred by machin-
cry, organization and division of la.
Dor, accompanied by an effort to bring
about larger share in the ownership
by wageworker of railway, mill, and
factory. In farming, this simply
means that we wish to see the farmer
own his own land; we do not wish to
see the farms so large that they be-
come the property of absentee land.
lords who farm them by tenants, nor
yet so small that the farmer becomes
like European peasant. Again, the
depositors in our savings banks now
number over one-tenth of our entire
population. These are all capitalists,
who through the savings banks loan
their money to the workers--that is,
in many cases to themselves--to carry
ON their various industries. The more
we increase their number, the more
We introduce the principles of coop
Grafton into our industry. Every In
crease in the number of small stock