The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-06

row margin which separates many OF
/ them from want. I am we'll aware OF
| the acute suffering which has been
/ caused among those workers py the
rise in the prices of their food supply,
| and what any future rise in that sup
ply must mean to them.
| In his reciprocity program the pres
ident with clear foresight stroVe 70
meet this great national need and to
| alleviate this coming burden or dis
/ tress upon our working populatlon:
He sought to open the grain fields OF
| Canada as a food supply against the
| time when our own fields should De
no longer sufficient. He sought TO 90
| it at a time when IL could be done
| without undue injury to any American
producer, but simply as guarantee
against future hardship and oppres-
sion He rose far above the narrow
vision of locality or trade into a con-
tinental policy which Is nouno 10 pc
right if the laws of nature and the
| features of geography are right.
The Trust Problem.
In almost his first message to the f1rst
regular session of congress under ms
administration, in January, 1910, Presl-
dent Taft recommended a far-slghteo
nolicy of federal regulation over our
great Industrial corporations. He even
presented to congress, through his at
tornev general a bill providing for the
incorporation under federal laws OF cor
porations engaged in interstate business
similar system of federal regulation
this nation must. in my opinion, even
tuallv come if il Is ever to solve the
problem of the trusts. But at the time
when he thus suggested 1t, the nation
was SO unaliye to it's necessity that his
recommendation was virtually ignored
The president then proceeded to en-
force the laws against trusts ALREADY
standing upon the statute BOOKS ana
he enforced them with v1gor Wn1ch
a.p.fn
question to the attention of the coun-
try. The necessities of the situation are
now abundantly apparent; AMI when In
his message on the Sherman Antitrust
Law last December the president again
renewed his former recommendations
as to federal regulation, his words fell
upon more receptive ears
People throughout the country now
realize that there is a trust problem
which mere denunciation and even Wig
orous prosecution alone will not solve.
They realize now the need of construc-
tive legislation to meet great econ
onaic puzzle which was unknown TO
earlier generations. On the one side the
captain of industry has now learned his
lesson. He now well realizes that he
cannot, by hoping for an unenforced
Sherman Law, escape an effective gov
eminent regulation. And on the other
side the people have come to know that
there is real problem which cannot be
met by indiscrininate attack on busi-
ness or an indiscriminate demand foF
criminal prosecution
The public interest thus aroused has
brought forward a host of earnest in
vestigators. The resulting suggestions
of constructive remedies are gradually
narrowing down int very similar lines,
and these lines approach with remark
able closeness the recommendation for
which the president stands. AS soon IS
we can get over the unsettling effect of
an imminent presidential election, we
seem to be in a fair way of solving our
trust problem and solving it right.
Corporation Tax.
For years the battle of those progress
sives who wished property to pay
larger and fairer share of the expenses
of government has been directed
towards the passage of an income tax.
To do this, in view of the decision of
the supreme court, a constitutional
amendment was necessary. Without
waiting for the long process of obtain
ing such an amendment, Mr.. Taft has
advocated and brought about the en-
actment of and has brought into sue
cessful administrative working a cor
poration excise tax which serves SUBJ
stant3ally the purpose of an income tax.
Practically all of our large business IS
now incorporated. Therefore, this tax
on the net earnings of business corpor-
atoms reaches much the same property
as would be reached by an income tax.
1t reaches the income from virtually
all investments, except investments In
the form of bonded or other debt And
it does it without many OF the objee-
tionable features which characterize an
income tax. The law has already been
held constitutional by the supreme
court, and thus in the great battle for
progress Mr.. Taft has turned the flank
of one of the most stubborn fortresses
of reaction.
Interest in Human Welfare.
Some of the presidents critics have
suggested that he was more interested
in the machinery of government and
In questions of property rights than in
the promotion of human welfare. Tt
is a singular criticism to make of a
man who gave up his cherished pro-
fession, who abandoned the honorable
seat upon our highest bench, in order
to undertake, amid the dangers of a
tropical climate, the heavy burden of
leading slowly upward in the paths
of civilization and self-government a
helpless and alien people. To the Fill
ipino his name is synonymous with
that kindly, hrotherly attitude which
his policy in the islands, |
and this deep personal interest in the
welfare of the inhabitants of those |
islands has continued ever since, and
manifested itself in countless efforts
in their behalf. Fortunate it is for
American rule in the Philippine is |
lands that the real character of Mr.. |
Taft is better known there than to
these mistaken American critics.
Vital interest in humanity is prop
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