The Sauk Centre herald., 1909-03-04

Washington, March 4.-Following
the ceremonies that marked his eleva-
tion to the Office of chief executive of
the United States, President Taft de-
Iivered his Inaugural address, as fol-
lows: "
My Fellow Citizens: Any one who
takes the oath have just taken must
feel a heavy weight of responsibility.
II not, he has no conception Of the
towers and duties of the Office upon
which he is about to enter, or he is
lacking in a proper sense of the obli-
cation which the oath imposes.
The Office of an inaugural address
Is to give summary outline of the
main policies Of the new administra-
tion, 80 far as they can be anticipated.
! have had the honor to be one of the
advisers Of my distinguished prede-
cessor, and as such, to hold up his
hands in the reforms he has initiated.
I should be untrue to myself, to my
promises and to the declarations of
the party platform upon which l am
elected to Office, IL did not make the
maintenance and enforcement of those
reforms most important feature of
my administration. They were d.
rected to the suppression of the law
. lessness and abuses of power of the
g-eat combinations Of capital invested
In railroads and In. industrial enter
prises carrying on interstate COM
merce. The steps which my predeces-
sor took and the legislation passed on
his recommendation have accom-
plished much, have caused general
halt in the vicious policies which Gre
ated popular alarm, and have brought
about in the business affected, a much
higher regard for existing law.
To render the reforms lasting, how
ever. and to secure at the same time
freedom from alarm on the part Of
those pursuing proper and progress
sive business methods, further legisla-
tive and executive action are needed.
Relief of the railroads from certain re-
strictions of the antitrust law have
been urged by my predecessor and will
be urged by me. On the other hand,
the administration 10 pledged to legis-
1ation looking to a proper federal su-
Pervision and restriction to prevent ex-
cessive issues of bonds and stocks by
companies owning and operating inter-
state commerce railroads.
Then, too, reorganization of the
department Of justice, Of the bureau
OF corporations in the department Of
commerce and labor, and of the inter-
state commerce commission, looking
to effective cooperation of these
agencies, Is needed to secure a more
rapid and certain enforcement of the
laws affecting interstate railroads and
, industrial combinations.
I hope to be able to submit, at the
FIRST regular session of the incoming
congress, in December next, definite
suggestions in respect to the needed
amendments to the antitrust and the
interstate commerce law, and the
changes required in the executive de-
partments concerned in their enforce
ment
1t is believed that with the changes
to be recommended, American busi-
ness can be assured of that measure
of stability and certainty in. respect to
those things that may be done and
those that are prohibited, which Is es-
sential to the life and growth of all
business. Such plan must include
the right of the people to avail them
selves of those methods of combining
capital and effort deemed necessary
to reach the highest degree Of econom-
ic efficiency, at the same time diff
ferentiating between combinations
based upon legitimate economic rea-
sons and those formed with the intent
Of creating monopolies and artifcially
controlling prices.
The work of formulating into prac-
tical shape such changes is creative
work of the highest order, and re-
auires all the deliberation possible in
the interval. believe that the amend
ments to be proposed are. just as nee.
essary in the protection OF legitimate
business as in the clinching of the re.
forms which properly bear the name
OF my predecessor.
Extra Session March IS to
Consider Revision Of Tariff,
A matter OF most pressing impor.
tance is the revision of the tariff. In
.n.ordarca Nth the pr0misea of thS