The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-06
ROOSEVELTyS CON-
FESSION OF FAITH
Continued from Preceding Page)

we should DO we'll in internationa
business But we propose to maxi
those business agencies do complete
justice to our own people. Every dis
honest business man will unqueStlon
ably prefer either the program or tins
Republican convention or the pro
gram of the Democratic convention u
our proposal, because neither OF tneS'
programs means or can mean what i
purports to mean. But every homes
business man, big or little, should sup
port the Prog essfve program ana II !:
the one and only program Whlch oHerS
real hope to all our people; for II Is
the one program under which the
government can be used with real EN-
cheney to see justice done by the DIE
corporation alike to the wage earners
it employs. to the small rivals with
whom it completes, to the investors
who purchase its securities, and to the
consumers who purchase It's products
or to the geenral public which 1t ought
to serve, as we'll as to the business man
himself.
We favor cooperation in business,
and ask only that it be carried on in a
spirit of honesty and fairness. We are
against crooked business, big or little
we are in favor of honest business, big
or little. We propose to penal1ze con-
duct and not size But all very Dig
business even though honestly con-
Quoted, is fraught with such poten-
TALLY of menace that there should be
thoroughgoing governm entail control
over 1t. so that its efficiency in pro-
noting prosperity at home and in
creasing the power of the nation in
international commerce may be main
tanned, and at the same time fair play
insured to the wage workers, the small
business competitors. the investors,
and the geenral public. Wherever 1t
is pra ctica BILE we propose to preserve
competition; but where under modern
conditions competition has been elimi-
mated and cannot be successfully re-
stored, then the government must step
in and itself supply the needed control
on behalf of the people as a whole.
1t is imperative to the welfare of our
people that we enlarge and extend our
foreign commerce. We are pre-eni-
nently fitted to do this because as a
people we have developed high skill in
the art of manufacturing; our business
men are strong executives, strong or
ganizers. In every way possible oar
federal government should cooperate
in this important matter. Any one who
has had opportunity to study and OBJ
serve first-hand Germany's course IN
this respect must realize that their pol
icy of cooperation between govern
ment and business has in comparative
ly few years made them a leading CON-
petitor for the commerce of the world.
It should be remembered that they are
doing this on a national scale and with
arge units of business, while the Dem
lETdLS NOulu nave US DGH6NG IndI We
should do it with small units of bust
ness, which would be controlled not by
he national government but by 40 con-
licting state sovereignties. Such a
policy is utterly out of keeping with
Lhe progress of the times and gives
Dur great commercial rivals in Europe
for International markets
golden opportunities of which they are
-apidly taking advantage.
1 very much wish that legitimate
business would no longer permit itself
% be frightened by the outcries of il
legitimate business into believing that
hey have any community of interest
Legitimate business ought to under
stand that its interests are jeopardized
when they are COMPOUNDED with those
IF illegitimate business; and the latter,
threatened with Just control
always tries to persuade the former
that it also is endangered. As a mat
ter of fact. if legitimate business can
only be persuaded to look cool-headedly
into our proposition, it is bound to sup
port us.
There are number of lesser but sill
important, ways of improving our bust
ness situation. 1t is not necessary to
7numerate all of them; but desire to
allude to two, which can be adopted
forthwith. Our patent laws should be
remodeled; patents can secure ANGLE
'oyaltles to inventors without our per
hitting them to be tools of MONOPOLY
Or shut out from general use; and a
parcels post, on the zone principle.
should be established.
The Tariff.
1 believe in a protective tariff mt
believe in it as a principle. annroacb-
go from the standpoint of the inter-
ests of the whole people, and not as
a bundle of preferences to be given
% Favored individuals. In my Opin-
ION the American people favor he
principle of a protective tariff buf
they desire such a tariff to he estab-
lshed primarily in the interests nf |
me Wase-worker and the consuno ar |
me Inc chief opposition to our tariff at |
the present moment comes frorT, +1,e
general conviction that certain into
ests nave been improperly favored nv /
L agree with this
new. me commercial and industrial |
experience of this country has de- |
nonstrated the wisdom of the pro I
-ectlVe policy, but it has also demon
'trated that in the application of thar
Dol1cy certain clearly recognized /
ABUSES have developed. 1t is NOT
merely the tariff that should be re- /
vised, but the method of tariff-1aG-
ng and of tariff administratio,,
Wherever nowadays an industry is 10 /
De protected it should be on +bs
heory that such protection will serve /
% keep up the wages and the stand
: IL u AANlnS OF the Wage-WOrker in
nat INDUSTRY with full regard for the
interest of the consumer. To accom-
'IIsh TINS the tariff to be levied should
Is nearly as is scientifically possible
approximate the differential betwe,en
he cost of production at home and
Lbroad. This differential is chieflv
I not wholly, in labor cost. No dufv
mould be permitted to stand as re-
'ards any industry unless the workers
ecetve their full share of the benefits
" that duty In other words, there IS
10 warrant for protection unless a a
legitimate share of the benefits gets
worker
The practice of undertaking a gem
raj revision of all the schedules ot
me time and of securing Information
S to conditions in the different in
ired chiefly from those engaged in