The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-01-22
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
PRESIDENT Woodrow Wilson Deliver
ed His Message on Trusts to
CONGRESS on Tuesday.


Washington, d. c., Jan. 90
President Wilson personally laid be-
for a joint session of congress today
the fundamental principles of the
democratic administrations program
for dealing with trusts and "big busi-
ness" The president, in presenting
the case, said, "as it lies in the
thought of the country" reiterating
that private monopoly is indefen-
sible and intolerable," and declaring
that conscientious business men
throughout the nation would not be
satisfied until practices now depre-
Gated by public opinion as restraints
of trade and commerce were correct
ed.
The presidents address to congress
on the subject of trust regulation is
in full as follows:
Gentlemen of congress: In my re-
port ION the state of the union"
which had the privilege of reading
to you on the second of December
last, ventured to reserve for discus
sion at a later date the subject of
additional legislation regarding the
very difficult and intricate matter of
seems opportune to turn to that great
question, not only because the cur
rency legislation. which absorbed
your attention and the attention of
the county in December, is now dis
posed OF, but also because opinion
seems to be clearing about us with
singular rapidity 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 pass
ed; 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
set out on with confidence and with
out confusion of counsel. .... .-.
Legislation has its atmosphere like
everything else anu tie atmosphere
of accommodation and mutual under
which we now breathe with
so much refreshment is matter of
sincere congraulation. 1t ought to
make our task very much less diff
cult and embarrassing than it would
have been had we been obliged to
continue to act amidst the atmOs-
phere of suspicion and antagonism
which has so long made it impossible
to approach such questions with dis
passionate fairness.
Embodiment OF Experiment.
Constructive legislation, when sue
cessflll, is always the embodiment of
convincing experience and of the ma
ture public opinion which finally
springs out of that experience. Legis-
lation is business of Interpretation
not of organization, and it is now
plain what the opinion is to which
We must give effect in this matter.
1t is not recent or hasty opinion. 1t
springs out of the experience OF a
whole generation. 1t has clarified
itself by long contest and those who
for q time battled with it and sought
to charge it are now frankly and
yielding to it and seeking
to conform their actions to 1t.
The great business men who or
ganized and financed monopoly and
those who administered it in actual
every day transactions have year af-
ter year, until now, either denied its
existence or justified it as necessary
for the effective maintenance and
of the vast business
processes of the country in which
modern circumstances of trade and
manufacture and finance: but all the
while opinion has made head against
h,1c
that the ways of liberty are
also the ways of peace ana the ways
of 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.
Not to Hamper Business.
What we are purposing to do,
therefore, is, happily, not to hamper
or interfere with business as en-
lightened business men prefer to do
it, or in any sense to put it under
the ban. The antagonism between
business and government is over. We
are now about to give expression to
the best business judgment of Ameri-
ca, to what we know to be the busi-
ness conscience and honor OF the
land. The government and business
men are ready to meet each other
half way in a common effort to
SQUARE business methods with both
public opinion and the law
The best informed men of the busi-
ness world condemn the methods and
processes and consequences of mon
opoly as we condemn them; and the
instructive judgment of the vast ma
iority of the business men every
where goes with them. We shall now
be their spokesman. That Is the
strength of our position and the sure
prophesy of what will ensue when our
reasonable work is done. -.-
When serious contest ends, when
men unite in opinion and purpose.
those who are to change their ways
of business joining with those who
ask for the change. it ia possible to
effect in it the way in which prudent
and thoughtful and patriotic men
5-o~lA u;oh &o 200 II brought ahONf