The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-06-17
ROOSEVELT URGES s FIGHT AGAINST CROOKED BUSINESS
Especial from United Press.)

Especial from United PreSS.)
 New York. June 17.-From the wilds of far-off Africa. ex-President Roose- welt has sent another appeal to the American people '-to wrest the control of the government out of the hands of rich men who use it for unhealthy pur- poses"
 Under the caption "The Thrlldom of Names" MT. Roosevelt writes in the current. Outlook with customary vigor of the necessity of continuing the fight against crooked business and de- clares that ''if business is hurt by the stern exposure of crookedness and the result of efforts to punish the. crooked man. then business must be hurt even though good men are involved in the hurting.'
 The article will undoubtedly be re- garded by many as a suggestion from the ex-President to his successor in office, though it reads throughout as an appeal to the American people. In part MT. Roosevelt says:
 First and foremost we must stand firmly on a base on good sound ethics. We intend to do what is right for the ample and general public right. If business is hurt by the stern exposure of crookedness and the result of efforts to punish the crooked man then busi- ness must be hurt even though good men are involved in the hurting, until it so adjust itself that it is possible to prosecute wrongdOing without Stam- peding the business community into 6 miscOnstrued defense of the wrong doerssa and angry assault upon those who have exposed them. On the other hand. we must beware above all things. of being misled by wicked or foolish men who would condemn homicide and violence and apologize for the dyna- miter and the assassin forSOothe they may assume the groand that there is no crime. The wicked man also hap pens to be a ShiftlesS and unthhifty or lazy man who has never amassed prop erty. It is essential that we should wrest the control of the government out of the hands of rich men who use it for unhealthy purposes and should keep it out of their hands: and to this end the first requisite is to provide means adequately to deal with cor orations which are essential to mod ern business but which. under the de- cisions of the courts and because of shortsightedness of the. public. have become the chief factors in political and business debasement.
 Moreover. where there is absolute 1awlessness absolute failure for the state to control or supervise the great corpor tions the inevitable result is to favor among other these very able men of business. the man who is un- scrupulouS and cunning. The un- scrupulous big man who gets com plete control of given forest tract or of network of railways which alone give access to a certain region or who, in combination with his fellows, ac- quires control of certain industry. may crush out. in the great mass of citizens affected. all individual indus try quite as much as it would be crushed out by state control. The very reason why weNobject to state owner ship. that it put stop to individual activity and healthy development of responsibility, is why we object to an unsupervised, unchecked Inonopolistic control in private hands. We urge control and supervision by the nation as an ant1dote to the movement for state socialism. Those who advocate total law, of regulation. those who ad- vocate lawIessness in the business world. themselves give the strongest impulse to what I believe would be the deadening movement towards state socialism.
 There must be law to control the bis men and therefore especially the big corporations in the industrial world in the interest of our industrial demo- cfacy to-day. This law must be eff ficient and therefore it must be lad- ministered by executive officers and not by law makers in the court. If the movement ever has done or ever will do good in this country where assault is made. it is not upon evil wherever found. but simply upon such evils it happens to find in a place.
 A big newspaper, owned or controlled