Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-16
ROOSEVELT HITS
N.Y.NEWSPA PERS
ATTACKS JOURNALS FOR WHAT
HE ALLEGES IS lNSINCERITY
HITS WALL STREET
ATTITUDE CHANGED
Once, Not Long Ago, He Asserts,
Finarciers Were Inclined to Sup
port His Theories, But Now
They Oppose Him.

l
Roosevelt, in an editorial article pub
lished in the current issue OF the Out
look, pays particular attention to New
York newspapers and Wall street. he
dips his pen in the red ink bottle When
he says the newspapers referred to
prefer policy of pretense Of de-
struction which they know to be
chiefly sham" His article is entitled
THE Conservation Of Business
| Shall We Strangle or Control lt?' He
says his chief concern is with the
welfare of the little man." but ne
quickly adds in the sentence next
following, "but of course we must do
justice to all, otherwise We can not
get prosperity for anyone Wall
street has evidently changed its
mind within the past four months con-
corning "the trusts, the people and the
square DEAL" as these things were
presented by him in another article
in the Outlook.
Says Will Street Changes Front
"Wall street." he writes, was In
clined to favor the proposition OF con-
troll, being at that time alarmed as to
the workings of the antitrust act IN
view of the recent Standard OH and to-
bacco trust decisions: 1t was pre-
pared to support the policy OF honesty
and efficient control which l advo-
Gated rather than to see the ruin of
both bad and good business. But the
representatives OF the worst kind OF
big business have now concluded that
the Standard Oil and tobacco trusts
were not really hurt by the decisions
indeed, that they We're benefited.
These men care nothing for honest
business or for the welfare Of the
general business community II 1t con-
ficts with the policy under which
thew hope to thrive better than Under
policy of real control" r.
Colonel Roosevelt accuses certain
New York newspapers of opposing con.
troll. saving: Those New York dailies
which are owned in or directly or In
directly controlled by Wall street
have shown by their recent utter.
ances that they have made up their
minds to fight the effort at just con-
troll of big business Evidently they
prefer a policy of pretense OF de-
struction which they know to be chief
ly sham rather than a policy Of real
control which would correct evils and
yet promote prosperity.
Calls Present System Chaos.
"Of course there are exceptions.
There are certain big business con-
Germs SO farsighted as to see that in
the long run it pays to be honest and
that it will pay to trust to policy
of real control instead of to policy
of make-believe strangle. 1t is curl
GUS to see the worst Of the big bust
ness interests, and the least wise ex-
tremist agitators, playing into one
anothers hands, and trying to preserve
the present system Of chaos in busl-
ness law as preferable to system of
ordered supervision and control under
which We would secure definiteness OF
legal policy for all business and would
guarantee to big business proper treat.
ment as an incident of extracting
proper behavior from 1t.
1.-The policy I advocate would tell
for the permanent prosperity OF the
entire honest business world, and 1t
is opposed by the great New York
dailies which speak for Wall street.
because they are concerned with gen..
eral prosperity only secondarilN their
prime interest being to prevent the
efficient control of the big trusts that
do wrong and they would rather run
the risk of sacrificing the general
prosperity than see thorough and
real control Of big business.
Says Attacks Are Inspired.
What has just happened in con-
nection with the sugar trust is most
instructive During my administra-
ton suits against the oil and tobacco
trusts were begun under the antitrust
act. At the time, in repeated mes
sages to congress and in speeches,
explained that the antitrust law was
not sufficient; that only a little co,td
be accomplished under it: that what
was needed was effective supervision
and control, by some competent adj
ministrative governmental agency.
over these great corporations"
He says after the "nominally sue
cessful SUITS" against Standard Oil
and tobacco "Wall street was for a
moment much alarmed and turned to
my proposal Then it plucked up
heart and inspired and entered into
a campaign of violent denunciation
of me-" citing certain articles pub
lished by the Times.
In conclusion Colonel Roosevelt
says:
~ believe that our country Is ripe
today for straightforward, unfiinch-
ing, commonsense treatment Of the
trust question. OF conrse it's big
question. But this country does not
mind tackling big questions. We did
not hesitate to take the Panama canal
zone because up to that time no other
people had been able to control yellow
fever down there. We took the zone
fully realizing the awful menace Of
yellow fever, but believing that with