Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1912-04-04

| even Digger tnan IL Is, ana that
Uncle Sam, and We get Uncle SAN
In to put his hand on the big cor
poration and say, nov, l am goine
to do strict justice, but you are very
big, and the private individual is mol
big enough TO deal with you and / VIII
deal with you and see that you &c
straight"
And how should Uncle Sam deal
with the corporation? Just exactly az
each OF us deals with the man Of his
own size in business.
Give All a Square Deal.
ANY one OF us, if he is dealing
with another one, il he is the butcher
dealing with q customer or the GUS
toner dealing with the butcher, sup
posing you are the customer; In the
! first place you have got TO pay the
butcher enough to make 1t worth his
while to remain a butcher or he won't
remain one. And on the other hand,
II you refuse to look at his bills or
get your wife to examine the quality
Of what he sends. that won't show
that you are generous; that Will
snow that you are fool.
Now, all l ask for the corporation
Az sAot thC 6oNCi thoe OAS'S
Sam, shall deal with Ii in accordance
with the same rules of fair dealing
which We expect to show in our re-
lations, one with another The cor
poration has got to be given a square
deal or it cannot continue to do work.
On the other hand, 1t is criminal folly
for the government not to insist in
return, on the corporation giving a
square deal.
Now, there is another point. Don't
ever TRUST q man who tells you he
will bring about the impossible for
you. Do not ever trust a man who
says he will give you the millennium,
because he won't. The millennium Is
quite a distance off yet, but We can
work for a real Improvement in bus
mess conditions if we still go about
it, both with a high purpose and with
sanity
This is an era OF combination. The
effort to destroy all combinations as
such is bound to fail, and is the at
titude Wall street most approves,
because it leaves it unaffected. 1t
is very curious to see how the ex-
tremist, who says he is going to
strangle all big corporations, and the
teactionary who wants to be left
alone, how they work together.
while l was president ! repeat
edly urged congress TO give me a
proper law for controlling corpora
tons, pointing out that while the anti
trust law should be kept, and we
should use ii against big criminal
corporations, by itself, it could not
begin to touch the situation. But the
senate committee with absolute un-
animity declined to alter the law, and
1t is interesting to go back and look
at some Of those senator's, some Of
them as pure representatives. Of the
corporations as we have ever had in
public life, solemnly saying that they
would not touch the antitrust law.
Two Noteworthy Tests.
We'll, | brought two suits under it,
among others, against the tobacco
trust and the Standard Oil trust. After
three or four years we finally won
them-the government finally won
them last summer, and for mo-
ment Wall street had a spasm. For a
moment it thought maybe it was in
danger. l am saying Wall street in
its technical sense. | do not mean
the honest men in Wall street Imean
the representatives of the big inter
ests who wished to escape all con-
troll. For moment Wall street.
speaking through its newspapers,
turned around and said that after all,
perhaps Mr.. Roosevelt was right,
that 1t would be better to have a
policy of control than a policy of de-
struction.' Then a few weeks went
by and Wall street realized that the
policy Of destruction was only a policy
of make-believe destruction. GAP
plause.) That ii was not, and gentle
men, with nothing but that naked
law, it could not be anything but a
policy of sham. The tobacco trust
had nothing open to it that can
see. except to be given a new suit OF
clothes, and a certificate of character
daughter and applause)
THE Standard Oil corporation did.
however. undergo several changes In
the first place, the prices of the
stocks went up. Uaughter) Not so
as to help the outside shareholders.
but to help all the big men
''In the next place the price OF the
oil went up Gaughter) Finally this
that now if man goc7 down into
Wall street and purchases Standard
OIL stock. the broker who used to
give him one slip of paper as Ger
tificate, now hands him an envelope
with 80 slips of paper inside. laugh.
teri. That represents all that has been
done, and Wall street has instantly
turned somersault and now says that
I am bad man, and that they prefer
to stay under the law as it is They
prefer to stay under a law which, as
far as wicked corporation, an anti
social corporation Is concerned, is
merely law representing a policy
Of sham strangle. but which is a
serious menace, and source Of dis
turbance, to the ordinary plain man
who Is trying to conduct his business
In a law-abiding manner.
Never Was Dictator.
Nov, friends, spoke in connection
with this law Of congress. There has
been a great deal of talk about my
having been while | was president of
a dictatorial nature. And it is a talk
that has frightened number of the
old women of my own sex. CLaugh-
tar opd aDpIoucal