The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-14
.UNDERWOOD'S PLAN 10 HANDLE TRUSTS Speech Made Before Penn
 sylyania Society TOO BIG FOR PARTY Question Is One Which Should Be Approached by Men of All
 Parties in Spirit of
 Harmony
TOO BIG FOR PARTY

In view, of the wide interest shown in the address delivered by Congressman Un- derwood before the Pennsylvania society in New York last Saturday night, The Age-Herald here gives 1t in full.
 T have been asked to give some ex- presson of my views concerning the in dustrial situation in the country as in-
 volved in the existence of our great man.
 ufacturing corporations, and in the liti-
 gations which have been instituted against
 them on the ground that They are viola
 tive of the Sherman law.
 While l am glad to respond to this
 have no panacea to suggest for the
 situation, and I do believe that a. little
 reflection and the recourse to some old
 fashioned ideas will be of real service to us. For, though we have difficult prob-
 lem to solve,, it is not so difficult but that
 with soberness and deliberation and with experience we shall be able to solve it alright.
 There Is nothing, however, in any such solution for men of either political party to try and make capital out of. It is too DIE ana IuoHlentouS d queStloll lor tildl. A nation which, in it's judicial and executive branches, has not only not interfered with but on the other hand promoted or ,at least tolerated the creation of these cor
 porations, must not act precipitately, but
 thoughtfully and conservatively in deal
 ing with them. Nor are we to seize upon
 the first remedy proposed for a treat
 of ha of ba trOinIa bt.
 rushing off to demand new Legislation be-
 fore understanding what we need, if we
 need anything.
 You have only to read the recent mes sage of the President on the subject to
 understand what have in mind. After very clear and lawyer-like exposition of what the Sherman act has been con strued to mean he rushes on to sug-
 gest indefinite additional legislation SN
 means of a federal act or otherwise, to
 correct the very abuses which, in another part of the message, it Is asserted can
 be reached and prohibited by the act as it is now interpreted. Is it not proper
 for all of us. irrespective of party, to insist that the time has come for us to join together in putting an end to this prof1tess agitation and proposals for tinl1ering with the law? As the necessity arises, we can from time to time, en- force the act as 1t now is, without fear or favor, but without any disposition to | get political capital out of what we may | be called upon to do Then, as we have more knowledge of the scope and effect
 of the act, from the decisions of the | courts and from the results of recent dis memberments, and more important still as new conditions grow up under a fair | tariff and a finer public spirit shall have | developed, as it Is unmistakably develop | ing, which shall condemn utterly unfair business methods, we shall learn the pre- else direction in which we are to go, and shall not have to drift ainlessly about exposed to grave peril under the direction of anyone who, without chart or compass or the experience which will enable him to take an observation, to find our true course is suggesting the direction of safe- ty for us. Let our pilot be experienced and accurate knowledge and high resolve. and not party expediency or misdirected energy, whether proceeding from good or
 bad motives, and above all this let us not proceed upon a crude guess. Leaps in the dark are generally bad eXperi-
 ments.