Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-12-03
President Wilson's Message to
] Congress on State of the Union.

to see the result, the handicap and
embarrassment which have been put
upon those who produce our food.
Conscious of this backwardness and
neglect on our part, the Congress re-
Gently authorized the creation of a
special commission to study the vari-
GUS systems of rural credit which have
been put into operation in Europe, and
this commission is already prepared to
report. It's report ought to make it
easier for us to determine what meth
DDS will be best suited to our own far
mers. l hope and believe that the
committees of the Senate and House
will address themselves to this matter
with the most fruitful results, and
formed plans of the Department of
Agriculture may be made to serve
them very greatly in their work of
framing appropriate and adequate leg
islation. 1t would be indiscreet and
presumptuous in anyone to dogmatize
upon SO great and many-sided ques-
ton, but feel confident that common
counsel will produce the results we
must all desire.
Turn from the farm to the world of
business which centers in the city and
in the factory, and / think that all
thoughtful observers will agree that
the immediate service we owe the
business communities of the country
Is to prevent private monopoly more
effectually than it has yet been pre-
vented. 1 think 1t will be easily
agreed that we should let the Sher-
man antitrust law stand, unaltered, as
II is, with its detable ground about
1t, but that we should as much as pos
sible reduce the area of that debatable
ground by further and more explicit
legislation; and should also supple
ment that great act by legislation
which will not only clarity it but also
facilitate its administration and make
1t fairer to all concerned. No doubt
we shall all wish, and the country will
expect, this to be the central subject
of our deliberations during the present
session; but 1t is a subject so many
sided and SO deserving of careful and
discriminating discussion that / shall
take the liberty of addressing you
upon it in a special message at later
date than this. 1t is of capital impor-
lance that the business men of this
country should be relieved of all I'M
certainties of law with regard to their
enterprises and investments and a
clear path indicated which they can
travel without anxiety 1t is as i'm
portant that they should be relieved
of embarrassment and set free to
prosper as that private monopoly
should be destroyed. The ways of
action should be thrown wide open.
l turn to a subject which I hope can
be handled promptly and without seri-
Gus controversy of any kind. I NEAR
the method of selecting nominees fol
the Presidency of the United States.
feel confident that I do not misinter-
pref the wishes or the expectations OF
the country when 1 urge the prompt
enactment of legislation which will
provide for, primary elections through.
cut the country at which the voters OF
the several parties may choose theil
nominees for the Presidency without
the intervention of nominating cenven-
tons. l venture the suggestion thai
this legislation should provide for the
retention of party conventions, but only
for the purpose of declaring and ac-
cepting the verdict of the primaries
and formulating the platforms of the
parties; and l suggest that these con-
ventions should consist not of delegates
chosen fer this single purpose, but OF
the nominees for Congress, the nomi-
nees for vacant seats in the Senate OF
the United States, the Senators whose
terms have not yet closed. the national
committees, and the candidates for the
Presidency themselves, in order tina,
platforms may be framed by those re-
sponsible to the people for carrying
them into effect.
These are all matters of vital domes-
tic concern, and besides them, outside
the charmed circle of our own national
life In which our affections command
us. as we'll as our consciences, there
stand out our obligations toward oni
territories over sea. Here we are trus-
fees. Porto Rico. Hawaii the Phlilp-
pines. are ours, indeed, but not ours to
do what we please with. Such terri
tories. once regarded as mere posses