The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-03-28
ROOSEVELT ON
BIG BUSINESS
continued from Page ID

production what the interstate COM
merce commission is doing for the
world of industrial transportation.
The effort to do this work through
law suits and by courts has proved
a HAT failure. What is necessary is
work The creation
OF commerce court in dealing with
interstate commerce has been step
backward. not step forward. II
has represented the und0ing Of some
OF the coed work tina, has been done
in interstate commerce.; and We must
not repeat the mistake.
Il want TO do full justice TO the
big business man, but | also want
% do full justice TO the small bust
ness man, and the middle-sized busi-
ness man. II should be the polio:
OF the government clearly TO define
ard punish wrong doing, to give in
advance full Information to every
man Just What be can and what ha
cannot legally do. But with he b.
business man there is need for es-
pccial precautions which are unnec-
cssary q, regards the small businesi
man. The people Of this country
are not afraid OF the mere size OF {,
business enterprise provided ii Is
honestly organized and honestly
managed. But they feel that sucil
size carries with it "a potentiality OF
wrong doing that makes it necessary
that the nation and if necessary the
states shall exercise over big bust
ness control and supervision which
business. 1t is of the utmost cons =
qucncc that we shall get permanent
| business prosperity, and 1t can Onlr
be permanent if it Is on a safe basis,
and ii can only be Oh safe basis II
| there Is effective governmental con-
troll of big business including the is
sue and the sale of stocks and bonds
80 as to prevent all such evils a.
Ovcr-capitalizatiOn and the fragrant
abuse of power by exploiting the
business interests of the people for
the personal gain of the few. Re-
member that water in stocks means
unjust taxation of innocent people in
order to get dividends | call this
unjust taxation; it could be called
by a much harsher name did | not
wish to speak moderately; for this
unjust taxation, this eXtortion, is
rracticed at the expense alike of in
noccnt stockholders and of the great
outside public of consumers. 1t is
hard to over-estimate the widely
ramifying damage of this. as of all
other kinds. of business corruption.
Now | am not speaking as mat
ter of theory. am speaking in view
OF what has actually happened in
connection with the utter failure OF
the suits against the Tobacco Trust
and the Standard Oil Trust to ac-
cOmplish a result of real worth. Ii
Is not my purpose at this time to
discuss the action of the government
in acquiescing in that decision in its
final form, or to try to appOrtiOn
the responsibility for this utter fail
ure. The net result has been that
the Tobacco Trust and the Stand
ard Oil Trust materially increased
the value Of their stocks, and that
there has been no diminution of
their power to control markets. Ac-
cording to the press reports. the
market price OF Standard OIL stock
has increased over two hundred mill
lions of dollars from the time of the
supreme Courts decision, and the
price of oil has gone up during the
same period. In Wall street am
informed that the only difference
noticeable Is that spectators who
used to receive from their brokers'
a single bit of paper representing
ownership OF Oil stock now receive
an envelope containing twenty or
thirty bits of paper representing
nominally different certificates of
nominally different companies. In.
my messages to Congress and in my
speeches while president, again and
again pointed out that the antitrust
trust law by itself. and without such
legislation as | then out
lined and have since outlined, could
not do anything of permanent value.
\ fine 50-acre tract of land west