The Mena weekly star., 1908-04-30
ANOTHER MESSAGE
PRESIDENT noosEvKlT AGAIN REMINDS coNGRKss OF ITS
 DUTY TO THE PEOPLE. |
ACTION ON PENDING MEASURES URGED
Abuse of Power by Injunction and Con- trol by the National Government Over the Great Corporations Doing an Interstate Business Especially Mentioned by the Executive.

trol by the National Government Over the Great Corporations Doing an Interstate Business Especially Mentioned by the Executive.
 | Washington, Apr 29-Conditions In
 both the senate and the house were such that the special message of the 1 president, further outlining his views
 as to action which was sent to con- gress Monday received but scant at. | tention. The message arrived late in | the day and the house was 30 tied up
 under it's new rules that 1t could not officially receive the message, while
 the senate was in the midst of the
 consideration of the naval appropria- ton bill under the ten-minute rule.
 when the document reached that body. | Unlike the house, the senate permit | ted the formal presentation of the
 message, but 1t could not at that time | be laid before the senate, and by the | time the naval bill had been disposed of, the hour was so late and the at- tendance so small that no attempt
 was made to read the document. The
 first few lines only had been pro
 nounced by the clerk when 1t was sug-
 gested that the further reading should
 be postponed until Tuesday.
 Following is an abstract of the mes
 sage:
 Tn my message to the congress of March 25, 1908. outlined certain
 measures which believe the majority | k~ huv
 acted into law at this time. These measures do not represent by any means all that would like to see
 done If thought 1t possible. but they | do represent what I believe can now
 be done If an earnest effort toward this | end is made.
 Since I wrote this message an em- ployers' liability law has been enacted
 which. 1t is true. comes shoft of what ought to have been done. but which ioes represent real advance. Appar- | sntly there Is good ground to hope that
 there will be further Legislation pro viding for recompenslng all employees
 who suffer injury while engaged in the
 public service; that there will be
 child-labor law enacted for the Dis | srict of Columbia; that the waterways
 commission will be continued with suf-
 ticient financial support to increase l the effectiveness of Ns preparatory
 work; that steps will be takeH to pro- vide for such investigation Into tariff
 conditions, by the appropriate commit tee of the house of representatives
 and by government experts in the ex- | scutive service. as will secure the full | information necessary for Immediate I action In revising the tariff at the hands of the congress elected next fall; and finally. that financial legisla- ton will be enacted providing for tenn porary measures for meeting any trou- ble that may arise in the next year pr two, and for a commission of ex- perts who shall thoroughly investi-
 gate the whole matter. both here and | In the great commercial countries abroad, so as to be able to recommend legislation which will put our financial system on an efficient and permanent basis. It Is much to be wished that one feature of the financial legislation | of this session should be the establish ment of postal savings banks. Ample | appropriation should be made to enable | the Interstate Commerce commission
 to carry out the very important feat
 ure of the Hepburn law which gives to the commission supervision and con .rol over the accounting systems of the | railways Failure to provide means which will enable the commission to ! examine the books of the railways | would amount to an attack on the law
 at its most vital point and would bene- | Ht. as nothing else could benefit. those railways which are corruptly or in- competently managed.
 Power should unquestionably be | lodged somewhere in the executive branch of the government to permit combinations which will further the public interest; but 1t must always be remembered that, as regards the great
 and wealthy combinations through which most of the interstate business
 of today Is done. the burden of proof
 should be on them to show that they have a right to exist. My personal be- lief Is that ultimately we shall have to
 adopt a national Incorporation law.
 though am well aware that this may
 be impossible at present.
 "The decisions of the supreme court In the Minnesota and North Carolina
 cases illustrate how impossible is a iual control of national commerce. The nation alone can act with effectiveness
 and wisdom; it should have the con
 trol both of the business and of the agent by which the business is done.
 "The measures l advocate are in the
 interest both of decent corporations
 and of law-abiding labor unions. They
 are, moreover, prominently. in the in-
 terest of the public. for in my judg-
 ment the American people have defi-
 nitely made up their minds that the
 days of the reign of the great law
 defying and law-evading corporations
 are over, and that from this time on
 the mighty organizations of capital
 necessary for the transaction of busi-
 ness under modern conditions. while
 encouraged so long as they act hon.
 estly and In the interest Of the general
 public, are to be subjected to care
 full supervision and regulation of
 kind so effectlve as to insure their