The Topeka state journal., 1908-02-11

merchandise will doubtless be most
beneficial, while the indirect effect OF
regulating and reducing excessive
railroad rates will be even of greater
benefit.
Other corporate abuses have been
made manifest besides discrimination
In rates. They consist in using the
corporate form OF investment to float
bonds and stocks whose par value Is
far in excess of the real money value
invested in the ENTERPRISE practice
which, in addition to deceiving and
defrauding the public, involves con-
sequences with reference to reckless
corporate management that are most
demoralizing. Leislation looking to
the restraint in this regard of inter-
state commerce railways has been rec
commended to, and doubtless will re-
ceive, the careful consideration and
approval Of the national legislature.
Under the stimulus Of the revela-
tons in respect to the illegal COM
binations Of wealth for purposes OF
monopoly, prosecutions under the in
terstate commerce law and the anti
trust law by the executive have been
important and effective, and the whole
weight Of the Republican administra-
ton has been thrown in favor of hold
ing up to strict compliance with the
antitrust law those who in times past
had regarded it as of no effect.
The Panic.
In the midst Of this reform move
ment for the elimination from our
business methods Of illegal monopoly
and discrimination. our country has
been visited by a severe financial
panic. The panic was doubtless chiefly
due to the exhausting Of the free capi-
| tai of the world by reason Of the
over-inveStment in enterprises that
have not been as productive as ex-
pected. The enormous Industrial ex-
pansion had at last tied up nearly all
the worlds capital which was avail
able and the new investments had to
halt. This result was worldwide. In
addition to this general condition. the
revelations concerning the manage
ment of number of our large cor
porations affected the confidence of
European investors in our whole busi-
ness fabric. Then our monetary sys-
tenn Is not Of such an elastic nature as
to meet the emergency produced by
sudden fright on the part OF the hold
ers of money, who withdrew it from
business uses and boarded 1t against
disaster. The result has been an In
dustrial depression which we all
hope and believe from the conditions
prevailing will be OF short duration.
But those who have been made to feel
the lash Of public criticism by this
moral awakening have peen quick to
seize upon and hold up the panic as
a result Of the measures taken or
agitated to stamp out corporate abuses
and illegality, and they have not been
slow most unjustly to attack the Re-
publican administration, and Mr..
Roosevelt at its head. as the respon-
sfble authors of this Industrial de-
preston There are those who have
been members Of the Republican
party who differ with Mr.. Roosevelt
70, f,a
taken in stamping out these abuses of
corporate wealth. The great bulk OF
the Republican party, however, stands
solidly at his back in the work which
he and the representatives of the
party in congress are doing.
His recent message urging the re-
enactment of the employers liability
act, which, becouse of bungling Ian
guage, was declared unconstitutional
and asking additional power for the
interstate commerce commission has
given rise in certain quarters to much
criticism. I have read the message
with care, and I am bound to say that
the measures which he recommends
to congress, and the position he takes
with respect to them. are all of a mosl
conservative character. His position
in favor of a general employers LA
bility act, which shall put the burden
of the trade risk upon the employer
except where the injury is due solely
to the negligence OF the employe. is ir
the line Of the best considered modern
legislation of Europe and England. Il
will secure uniformity and reasonable
ness of compensation for the family oi
deceased or injured employe, instead
of the inequalities and uncertainties
of court trials, which under our pres
ent system give excessive damages te
some and deny any recovery to others
equally meritorious. The preIlent
stands forth stoutly for the power OF
the courts and the efficacy Of theil
orders, but properly calls attention -
the abuses to which the reckless issu.
| ing of ex parte injunctions in labor
cases has given rise.
The Presidents Reply.
The message contains an answer to
| the charges made that the administra-
ton is responsible for the Industrial
| depression which has followed; and
| the sharpness and emphasis with
which this unfounded attack is met
| have heartened the great body of the
| people as by bugle call to renewed
support of the policies of this admin
| istration.
| shows his earnest desire to protect the
| honest business man and the honest Ia.
| borer, and to secure to them THE posi-
| bility Of living under an equal admins
| tration Of the law. He would not de-
| stroy or injure the stock OF Innocent
HoiueIS Luz fdiuo Ihooen - Aeu 40 ~
| ception in the Vaccinations Of unprin-
cipled promoters; but he would make
the law to prevent recurrence Of such
methods He takes the utmost pains
to point out that railroads should be
relieved from the restrictions Of the
antitrust law, and that that law
should be amended so as to give greater
freedom to corporate action in combi-
| nations that are not hurtful to the
public. ON man can find within the
| four corners Of the message anything
to shake in the slightest the guarantee!
Of life, liberty and property secured By
the Constitution. The measures he rec
| ommends, and the positions he takes
are in accord with the conservative po
sition of the Republican party, which
has ever looked to the right of proper
ty as only less sacred than the right O.
liberty, and which has ever made tn,
goal of all its efforts the equal protec
ffop of the laws