The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-01-29
pEACE-AND RECONSTRUCTION.

President Wilson's message is no
less admirable for it's tone and tenn
per than for it's substance. ~.
TO say that the presidents recon-
mendations are not radical would be
absurd. They were intended to be
radical. But this radicalism is the
radcalism of sanity and justice. 1t
is the sort of radicalism that regis
tiers the deliberate, we'll considered
sentiments of the American people in
accordance with the presidents max
i'm that Legislation is business
of Interpretation, not of origination. "
1t is a radicalism to which even the
leaders of big business have in a
large measure subscribed. and which
represents what the president we'll
describes as "a common effort to
square business methods with both
public opinion and the law"
Such message as Mr.. Wilson has
written cannot fail to be reassuring
to American commerce and industry.
The days Of government by denunci-
alton, no less than of government by
purchase are ended All the froth
and foam and fury of the Roosevelt
rocking horse crusade seem as far
removed from the question at issue
as one of Thad Stevens speeches on
Andrew Johnson. The executive
authority of the government of the
United States is now in the hands of
a man. not in the hands of a spoiled
child of fortune. and the president is
seeking to use that power to estab-
lish the peace that is honor and
freedom and prosperity
His programme involves no new
and startling exercises of govern
mental power. 1t involves no dan
gerous Capitalization of authority. 1t
involves no careless experimentation
with theories born of loose and way,
ward thinking. 1t creates no ire
sponsible bureaucracy with the pow
er of life and death over the business
of the country. Mr.. Wilson is not
working under a new nationalism
but under the old nationalism, and
he is employing the powers and pre-
cedents of that old nationalism to
carry into effect the principles upon
which he came into Office.
Whoever reads the presidents
message must feel at once that here
is a man who knaws what he is talk
ing about; that here is a man who
has clear, definite purpose; that
that purpose is to translate into law
in a useful, practical and safe way
the general verdict OF public opinion
in the case of the People vs.. Big
Business, and that this work is to be
done not only with a minimum Of
disturbance to every man who is con-
l,,o in
faith, but with definite assurances
to such man that it is the duty OF
government to guarantee to him the
largest measure OF liberty under the
law.
Mr.. Wilson's message is the final
answer to the late J. Pierpont Nor
gan's cynical remark that you can't
unscramble eggs The eggs are 60
ing to be unscrambled. Some Of
them have been unscrambled. The
eggs could never have been unscram-
bled by a president who fried cam
paign fat out of Wal street and talk
ed about the great Morgan interests
which have been SO friendly to us."
They never could have been un-
scrambled by president whose par
~ organization was in the pay of big
business. They could never have
been unscrambled by demagogue
intent on keeping the issue alive for
his own political ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
But they can be unscrambled by a
president who is honest, just, intel
ligent and sincere, and is seeking
only to promote the public welfare.
This is the great lesson that Wood
row Wilson has taught the country.
Wall street itself responds to the
programme of such man, and finds
in him a buiwark against the assault
of demagogy, passion and socialism.
The president has done his work
we'll. 1t remains now to be seen
how we'll congress will do its share.
The measures Of legislation suggest
ed by the president reach into all
the complicated machinery of bust
ness, and they are not to be drafted
crudely or carelessly. To throw the
whole trust question into the courts
again by congressional incompetency
will be to toss away half that has
been gained. The president speaks in
terms of general recommendation. To
turn these recomm endations into law
is a worI. of care, patience and skill
which calls for the highest order Of
craftsmanship of which the congress
of the United States is capable
Nou, Vork World ,