Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1911-11-18
TEDDY IN SPEECH
RAPS TAFT POLICY
Declares He Was Not Deceived In r
C. & !. Deal and Would Have U.
S. Control Interstate Trade.


New York, Nov. IT. - Theodore
Roosevelt came out emphatically in
The Outlook In opposition to the pol
icy of the Taft administration toward
the big business interests of the coun-
try.
He declares that the suit against
the United States Steel corporation is
an evidence OF our present chaotic
government policy as regards ousi-
ness"
He closes with the following recon-
mendation:
1.-THE national government exercises
control over interstate commerce
railways, and 1t can in similar fash
ion, through an appropriate govern
mental body, exercise control over all
industrial organizations engaged In
interstate commerce. This control
should be exercised, not by the courts,
but by an administrative bureau or
board such as the bureau of corpora
lions or the interstate commerce
commission; fer the courts cannot
with advantage permanently perform
executive and administrative func-
tions."
Before taking up his general theme
Colonel Roosevelt pauses to deny that
tho representatives of the Steel Cor
poration misled him while he was
president Referring to the suit
against the steel trust, he says:
lone of the grounds for the suit fs
the acquisition by the Steel Corpora
ton OF the Tennessee Coal and Iron
company, and 1t has been alleged, on
the authority of the government ofi-
ctals engaged in carrying on the suit,
that as regards this transaction | was
misled by the representatives of the
Steel Corporation. and that the facts
were not accurately or truthfuily laid
before me.
This statement IL not correct
believed at the time that the facts In
the case were ~ represented to me on
behalf of the Steel Corporation, and
my further knowledge has convinced
me that this was true. I believed at
the time that the representatives of
the Steel Corporation told me the
truth as to the change that would be
worked In the percentage Of the bust
ness which the proposed acquisition
would give the Steel Corporation, and
further inquiry has convinced me that
they did so. was not misled."
Lawsuits insufficient.
-. - -
trust control, Colonel Roosevelt con-
tinues:
ITO attempt to meet the whole
problem not by administrative gov
ernmental action, but by succession
of lawsuits, is hopeless from the
standpoint of working out a perma-
nently satisfactory solution. More
over, the results sought to be achieved
are achieved only in extremely insult
Gent and fragmentary measure by
breaking up all big corporations,
whether they have behaved we'll or ILL,
into number of little corporations
which 1t is perfectly certain will be
largely. and perhaps altogether. under
the same control.
"Such action Is harsh and mischiev-
Gus. il the corporation is guilty of
nothing except it's size; and where, as
in the case OF the Standard Oil, and
especially the tobacco, truss, the cor
poration has been guilty of immora'
and anti-social practices, there Is need
for far more drastic and thoroughgo-
ing action than any that has been
taken. under the recent decree OF the
supreme court.
I'm the case of the tobacco trust
for instance, the settlement in the cir
cult court, in which the representa-
tives of the government seem in.
clined to concur. practically leaves all
Of the companies still substantially
under the control OF twsnty-nine origi-
nal defendants. Such a result is la
mentable from the standpoint of JUS
tice. The decision of the circuit court,
IL allowed to stand. means that the
tobacco trust has merely been Obliged
TO cnange Its clothes, that none Of the
real Offenders have received any real
punishment.
Surely, miscarriage of justice is
not too strong a term to apply to such
q result when considered In connec-
ton with what the supreme court said
OF this trust.
1.-The effort to prohibit all combina-
tons. good or bad. is bound to fail.
and ought to fail; when made, II
merely means that some OF the worst
combinations are not checked and that
honest business Is checked Our pur
pose should be. not to strangle bust
ness as an incident of combinations
but to regulate big corporations in
thoroughgoing and effective fashion
so as to help legitimate business as an
incident in thoroughly and completely
safeguarding the interests Of the pee