The Washington times., 1915-01-30
BUSINESS INSPIRED
BY WILSON SPEECH
Address Before Electric Railway
Men Expected to Speed tie
Return of Prosperity.

are expressing general satisfaction over
che tone Of President Wilson'S speech
before the American Electric Railways
Association. That It will tend further
to inspire business with confidence and
speed the return Of prosperity IL gen
orally believed. Members of the as
sociation who heard the President
speak, left washington today convinced
that as far as the Administration is
concerned, no further legislation aim
ing at business is contemplated.
Speaking for more than thirty
business Of the country was on the eve
perity. Dropping easily into the par
lance Of the sporting world. he laid
down what he regarded as the rules
of the game" under which bushes.
mi may ,.nor, now compete on a fa'r Held and
"Rules of the Came"
These were the rules he enumerated:
I. Come out in the open; adopt pub
licity and abandon secrecy.
2; Give the public a square deal; don't
3. Have high ideals Of business and
corresponding conscience.
=: Don't think only Of selfish interest.
have the spirit Of service.
Declaring that business and enterprise
had been checked for twenty years "be.
cauee men were moving in a maze OF
not know what was going to happen to
It, the President stated that the legis-
lation passed by the Democratic Con-
sress had cleared the business world
Of the 'fnists and miasmic airs Of sus-
picicn," SO that now. freed of handi-
caps and relieved Of special favors. busi-
ness would enter the race for prosperity
knowing that no man nan or Sc set to Of men %
serving the rules of the game. as he
conceived them, no business need fear,
he said, that 1t would be checked mere
" because 1t was big and strong, or
shut out because It was small and weak.
Urges Spirit of Sportsmanship.
1T is" he asserted. 1.-THE spirit Of true
craftsmanship that ought to get into
everything, and men who, when they
get beaten, squeal, do not deserve our
pity.
cause they have not the brains. they
have not the initiative. they have not
the skill, they have not the knowledge,
they have not the same capacity the cth-
er men have"
consist in framing laws to put such men
at the front, and say they have got to
be allowed to keep pace with the rest
because that would hold the whole pro-
cess Of civilization back. But it does
consist in saying, no matter how feath-
erweight the other man 10, you must not
arbitrarily interfere with him: that
there must be an absolutely free field
There have been times--1 will not
specify them-when the field locked
free. but when there were favors re-
ceived from the managers OF the course.
when there were ADVANTAGES given, r.
would block the other runner. rules
which would exclude the amateur who
wanted to get in.
Must Observe "Rules of the Track"
You are not going to be barred from
the contest because you are big and
strong; you are not going to be penal
lied because you are big and strong /;
but you are going to be made to observe
the rules Of the track. and not get In
anybody's way except as you can keep
out of his way by having more vigor
and skill than he has"
In the course OF his speech the Presi-
dent took sly dig at moro radical re-
formers.
1.-THE only reason" he said. I'VE quar-
rel with reformers sometimes Is be-.
cause they are, or suppose they arc, a
little more enlightened than the rest of
us, and they want US all Of q .uddcn to
be just MS enlightened as they are. and
We cannot stand the pace. That Is all
that makes US Uneasy about reformers." ."
Insisting that he did not mean that
these new rules of the game were neces-
sarily perfect because he happened to
believe them to be the right rules, the
President claimed the right to hold fast
to them until some one convinced him
that there were better rules.
There is" he added. 'an old rule
that ought to obtain in politics as in
everything else, and it Is expressed In
put up or shut up All I ask is that II
anything is being done that ought not
to be done. the fault In 1t be conclu-
sively pointed out and the way to cor
rect the mistake be explicitly shown"