Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-02-07
PRESIDENT WOULD BAR CONCERNS BEING
INTERESTED IN BUSINESS OF COMPETITORS

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 / had the privilege of reading
to you on the I'd of December last,
ventured to reserve for discussion at
later date the subject of additional
legislation regarding the very graph
zeal and intricate matter of trusts and
monopolies. The time now seems op-
perfume to turn to that great ques-
ton; not only because the currency
legislation which absorbed your atten-
ton 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
ity 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
clear and all but universal agree
ment in anticipation of our action. as
IL by way of preparation, making the
way easier to see and easier to set
cut upon with confidence and without
confusion of counsel.
Masters of Business Yield.
The great business men who or
ganized and financed monopoly, and
those who administered it in actual
everyday transactions, have year aft
er year, until now, either denied its
existence or justified it as necessary
for the effective maintenance and de-
velopment of the vast business
processes of the country in the mod
ern circumstances of trade and manu-
facture and finance; but all the while
opinion has made Roadway against
them. The average business man is
convinced that the ways of liberty are
also the ways of peace and the ways
o. success as we'll; 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-
nopoly is indefensible and intolera-
ble," and our program is founded
upon that conviction. 1t will be
comprehensive but not a radical or
unacceptable program, and these are
its items, the changes which opinion
deliberately sanctions and for which
business waits:
Favors Fair Competition
1t waits with acquiescence, in the
first place, for laws which will effec-
tually prohibit and prevent such inter-
bookings OF the personnel of the di-
rectorates of great corporations
banks, railroads, industrial, CONNER
cial and public-service bodies as in
effect result in making those who Dor
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
ent names and in different combina-
lions, 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 to 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 at
fairs now recognize, and recognize
with painful clearness, the great harm
and injustice which mas Doon uOno 10
many. if not all, of the great railroad
systems of the country by the way in
which they have been financed and
their own distinctive interests suboT-
dinated to the interests of the men
who financed them and of other bust
ness enterprises which those men
wished to promote. The country is
ready, therefore, to accept, and &C
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 action in this
matter without leaving the railroads
exposed to many serious handicaps
and hazards; and the prosperity of
the railroads and the prosperity of the
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 a purpose We
ought to be quick to accept. 1t will
be one step, and very important one.
Of