Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-30
se5.
CHANGE IN SENTIMENT
Opinions of New York Bust
ness Men Modified.
LESS -RANCOR EXHIBITED
Not So Much Hostility Toward the
President Shown.
ADMIT HIS GOOD INTENTIONS
General Belief That Course Of Chief
Executive Wonderfully Awak-
ened Business Conscience.
ADMIT HIS GOOD INTENTIONS
RY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence or The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald. 4
NEW YORK, April q. 1908
A remarkable change has occurred in
the sentiments as we'll as the mood Of
the business men of New York concern
ing the President. The prejudice and
hostility toward him have moderated in an
extraordinary manner during the last
few weeks. The last time l was over
here many prominent bankers. brokers
and others who spend much Of their time
in Wall street were willing to assert that
he was insane, and an alienist of wide
reputation published an article in one OF
the most reputable magazines to prove
that fact Today the same men cOncede
that Roosevelt still retains his reason. but
regret that he is so impulsive and head
strong" and attempts to carry things
with a high hand Everybody is willing
to give him the credit of good Intentions.
and, at the same time, they talk about
the traditional bull in the china shop"
They accuse him of vanity and unbecom-
ing self-assertion.
The complaints against him, however.
have become so modified that those who
have held him entirely responsible for the
financial losses they suffered in the panic
of last October are now willing to admit
that he was not so much to blame as
they originally believed. They confess
that conditions in the financial and in
dustrial world were rotten and that
things could not have gone on much long
er without a crisis. which he provoked
before it's time: but in doing this. they
concede. he undoubtedly prevented a
much more disastrous panic that would
probably have occurred within year or
two If it had !. OF been forced before it
was ripe.
Business Conscience Awakened.
Many complaints are still bitter, but
they are qualified. "He has treated US
roughly, but it has done us good" is a
common phrase. And another which one
hears on every hand is 1T wasn't what
he did, but the way he did it, that made
the trouble. when a man is sick you
can't cure him by soaring him to DEATH"
'Skillful surgeons would not amputate a
limb with a meat-ax. nor remove an ul-
Ger with a bayonet.' Almost everybody
recognizes that the Presidents policy in
attacking the corporations has resulted
in wholesome change of financial policy
for the benefit of their stockholders and
the public and has had a wonderful in
1uence in awakening the business con-
science of the country and elevating the
standard Of financial morals.
One of the most prominent business
HIcI VI TIC COuutIy, VIII 10 IdItlldT Will
the affairs and the methods of all the
great captains of industry and finance.
told me the other night that the rtand-
ard of integrity in business methods had
been gradually going down during the
last ten Years aud that the President S
raids on the corporations" as they are
called. his exhortatfons in his messages
to Congress. his public speeches and his
published correspondence had the same
effect as a religious revival in a church.
"A feeling of distrust and a lack of
confidence has been growing among the
public for several years." he said land
particularly among the managers. the di-
rectors. the stockholders of the large
corporations in the country. They have
seen so much of what is called 'frenzied
finance of business trickery and dis
honest competition. that they were be-
coming hardened to it,: Men of the high
est integrity winked at such things or
treated them with Indifference. There
has been an extraordinary change in this
respect, however, since the panic and. al
though there has been, no washing of
dirty linen on the streets. and the muck
rakers are no more popular than they
ever were, the moral tone of the street
is higher. and he would be a bold man
who attempted to repeat some of the
transactions that have been tolerated
even If they nave not been approved
among the men who control the financial
and business worlds.
Conference Of Steel Makers.
Gas an illustration Of this and as an