The Forrest City times., 1914-01-23
PRESIDENT WOULD BAR CONCERNS BEING
 INTERESTED IN BUSINESS OF COMPETITORS

Washington Wilson in his message on the trust question, ad- dressed personally to a joint session of congress, said:
 Gentlemen of the Congress: In my report "On the State of the Union, " which I had the privilege of reading to you on the 2d of December last, ventured to reserve for discussion at a later date the subject of additional legislation regarding the very graph ical and intricate matter of trusts and monopolies The time now seems Op- portune to turn to that great ques- tion; not only because the currency legislation which absorbed your atten- tion and due attention of the country in December is now disposed of. but also because opinion seems to be clearing about us with singular rapid fly in this other great field of action. In the matter of the currency it cleared suddenly and very happily after the much-debated act was passed; in respect to the monopolies which have multiplied about us. and in regard to the various means by which they have been organized and maintained, it seems to be coming to a clear and all but universal agree ment in anticipation of our action. as if by way of preparation, making the way easier to see and easier to sat cut upon with confidence and without confusion of counsel
 Masters of Business Yield.
 The great business men who or ganfzed and financed monopoly, and those who administered it in actual everyday transactions. have year aft CT year, until now. either denied it's existence or justified it as necessary for the effective maintenance and de velopment of the vast business processes of the country in the mod facture and finance; but all the while opinion has made headway against them. The average business man is convinced that the ways of liberty are also the ways of peace and the ways of success as well; and at last the masters of business on the great scale have begun to yield their preference and purpose, perhaps their judgment also. in honorable surrender.
 We are all agreed that private mo- nopoy is indefensibe and intolera- ble," and our program is founded upon that conviction It will be a comprehensive but not a radical or unacceptable program. and these are it's items the changes wnieh opinion deliberately sanctions and for which business waits,
 Favors Fair Competit on.
 It waits with acqujescence. in the first place, for laws which will effec- tually prohibit and prevent such inter- lock.aGs O. the persouhel of the d. rectorates of great corporations banks. railroads, industrial. conner cial and publicseryice bodies as in effect result in making those #ho bor- row and those who lend practically one and the same. those who sell and those who buy but the same persons trading with one another under differ cnt names and in different combina- tiOns and those who affect to com pete in fact partners and masters Of some whole field of business. Suffi- cient time should be allowed, of course, in which 10 effect these changes of organization without in convenience or confusion.
 To Regulate Financing of Railroads,
 In the second place, business men as well as those who direct public af- fairs now recognize. and recognize with painful clearness. the great harm and injustice which has been done to many if not all of the great railroad systems of the country by the way in which they have been financed and
 heir own distinctive interests subOr dinated to the interests of the men who financed them and of other busi ness enterprises which those men wished to promote. The country is ready. therefore, to accept, and ac cept with relief as well as approval, a law which will confer upon the inter state commerce commission the power to superintend and regulate the financial operations by which the rail roads are henceforth to be supplied with the money they need for their proper development to meet the rap idly growing requirements of the country for increased and improved facilities of transportation.
 We cannot postpone acton in this matter without leaving the railroads exposed to many serious handicaps and hazards and the prosperity ot he railroads and the prosperity of tho country are inseparably connected Upon this question those who are chiefly responsible for the actual man agement and operation of the rail roads have spoken very plainly and very earnestly, with purpose we ought to be quick to accept. It vii be one step, and very important one toward the necessary separation oi the business of production from the business of transportation.