The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-05
WILSON BEGINS HIS SECOND YEAR WITH BUSINESS FRIENDLY Unquestioned Impulse To- ward Great Revival of
 Industrial Activity TWO FEATURES ARE
 MOST CONSPICUOUS From All Parts of the Country Come Reports of the Most Encour-
 aging Nature About
 Business
Ry HOLLAND

1 at the beginning of the second year of President Wilson's administration which ! are spoken of in business circles as en- couraging. One of them is the unques- | toned impulse toward a great revival of | business and industrial activity. The best view seems to be that ebbtide ended l about the first of the year. Then | there came the change from ebb to flood. From all parts of the country come re- ports that are encouraging. This optim-
 istic view is in the forecasts rather than ! in actual conditions There is little dis agreement of opinion respecting the | healthful and great stimulus to industry, trade and commerce consequent upon the shift from the old national banking and
 currency law to the new one. It some- times seems as though business men were disposed to overestimate the immediate eff feet in the United States of the opening of | the Panama canal to navigation, which. according to the forecasts, will be done some time in the second year of President Wilson's administration. Ships may be navigating the canal at the time of the campaign next fall for election of mem bers to the next Congress, and it is possi- ble that this may have some effect upon the result at the polls.
 Andrew Carnegie, in a recent communi- cation to the public, stated that in his view a new epoch of trade and business had begun. MT. Carnegie has apparently been reading the statement recently made by the Secretary of Commerce, MT. Red- field, than whom there is no more enthu- siastic optimist so far as the coming of prosperity is concerned to be found any where in the United States. The chances q orn hat fha off nf hn to g.if Ia " will greatly stimulate incoming commerce. It has already led to very large importa- tions from Argentina and probably these importations from South America will be increased by great amount of commodi- ties sent here by way of the Panama ca- nal.
 Canadians expect that with the opening
 of the Panama canal there will begin
 what will speedily be found to be enor-
 nous importations of Canadian timber
 into the United States. It is yet to be
 demonstrated whether the new tariff law
 is to yield revenue sufficient together
 with that collected by the internal reve-
 nue officers, to meet the expenses of the
 government. But the common opinion
 here is that MT. Carnegie is correct when
 he says that the new tariff law will lead
 to large importations, although it is yet to be demonstrated that it will have
 beneficial effect. upon our exports. The Other Features
 But what is regarded as perhaps the
 most encouraging feature of the business situation, as 1t is at the beginning of
 President Wilson's second year in the White House, is the unquestionable
 change or changing attitude of many men
 in public life and many of the citizens to-
 ward business One illustration of this is
 to be found in the recent address of
 xfa ah h To it1ctt nf ha C1lnr of New York state, John Ford. In speak ing to a gathering large in numbers of the employees of one of the greatest of American corporations, he said that the gigantic organizations whose tentacle rec ognized no state lines and which are stretching out in every direction for profit or sources of profit do not more than illus
 trate the economic impulses of modern
 civilizction. They ought, therefore, to
 be highly beneficial to the public and with wise regulations these benefits can be se- cured.
 He was of the opinion that the public is more and more realizing that While there is need of governmental regulations, so that the public may be assured that 1t will receive its fair share of the economic advantages of big business and so that abuse of its powers will be pre- vented; on the other hand oppressive leg islaton is positively harmful not only to the corporations, but to the public An Echo of Other Addresses Justice Ford's address is merely an echo of much that has recently been said not by men who are actually engaged in big business, but by men of intelligence who. like Justice Ford, have no part in big business
 From all parts of the country there have come recently good illustrations of the c. IL. Al. l. ..r.ar derstand what the real issue is. and that the issue is wise and competent regula- tion of what is called "big business" and that, on the other hand. the tearing up by the roots of .big business will be more harmful to the people in the long run than to the corporations themselves In various states this new attitude is il-
 lustrated by legislation to which in an address delivered by George w. Wicker sham, Attorney General in President
 Taft's administration. before the American
 Academy of Political and Social Science,
 he alluded, intimating that this legisla-
 tion is very encouraging. Some of it now
 recognizes that combinations may be for
 the good of the community. Mir. Wicker
 sham pointed to the California provision
 that no agreement or combination shall
 be deemed unlawful if the object and bus-
 ness of the corporations are to conduct the operations at a reasonable profit.
 California now also makes it lawful for
 persons or firms engaged in manufactur-
 ing or selling commodities of like char
 acter to form associations and make
 agreements for the transportation or mar
 keting of these commodities. Colorado
 has also adopted similar provisions. and
 Mir. Wickersham refers with evident
 pleasure to the fact that North Carolina,
 Oklahoma and South Carolina in their
 antitrust legislation provided that it might
 be lawful to organize some enumerated
 form of commercial cooperative activity. A Better Understanding
 Many of our business men are inclined to think that the most encouraging. feat
 ure of President Wilson's first year was
 his clear intimation that there should be good understanding between the business and the government and cordial, sincere cooperation to the end that business ac- tivity may be stimulated while at the same time the laws are obeyed.
 Anyone who studies the statistics which tell of present-day material conditions in the United States the undertakings of business. and the magnitude of our com- merce realized that in the long run honor- able and fair business will have it's way with the government, state and national. It cannot be suppressed. Apparently the
 business world believes that Congress is
 speedily to learn what the business in-
 terests of the United States as a whole
 regard as safe and sane legislation for
 C., 1k~-<z IL