Pioneer press. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1882-19??, 1915-04-03
WHAT Is BUSINESS AFRAID OFT


Root declared that the men who
| control the government today are the
| men who have been lighting the tar
| IN and the trusts and the railroads
SO long that when they come TO adj
minister the government they can
not rid themselves OF an underlying
hostility to American enterprise
IL this true, or Is it mere as.er-
ton?
So far as the tarin IL coucernad
the Democratic revision OF 1913 " as
about what the Republican revision OF
1909 was expected TO be. 1t was not
radical. 1t was not more radlcal
revision than the Republicans them
selves had promised i'll the 1908 cam
paign. Nor did it indicate hostility
Go business, Tor the agricultural
schedules wore reduced Ill greater
degree than the manufacturing scned-
ulss.
There was no hostility to business
In this revision OF the tariff unless
every revision that reduces rates Of
duty mus the interpreted as hostile
to business.
AS for the trusts, there has been
no adverse Legislation against them
under the Wilson administration. The
only legislation enacted was adopted
at the request OF the business inter
eStS themselves to clarity the law
There has been less trust prosecution
under the Wilson administration than
under the Taft administration. There
has been less political agtat ion
against trusts and corporations since
Mr.. Wilson became President than
at any time since the Sherman law
was enacted in 1890.
tn all
Legislation now on the federal atute
books was adopted by Republican
Congresses. The only important tc-
ton affecting railroads which las
been taken since Mr.. Wilson became
President was the granting of per-
mission to increase their freight and
passenger rates. The ruling of the
Interstate Commerce Commission in
THIS instance was favored not only by
the Administration but by the Ameri-
can people as a whole.
AS to finance, the only cOnStruc-
tive measure enacted by the United
States government since the Civil
War is the new Banking and Currency
law, under which the United States
has been able to weather the tinau-
clal storms OF the Most disastrous
war in history without the shadow
or panic. Even Mr.. Bryan, who
| led the free-silver crusade in 1896,
used all his influence to put this
great measure on the statute books.
Where is the hostility of which
Mr.. Root speaks? Where, for that
| matter is there any general hostility
toward business, such as that which
! ragged during the Cleveland admins,
tration and was erected into the form
OF political religion under the
| Roosevelt administration? Where is
! there disposition in the States or
| III the Nation to harass or pcrSecute
{ legitimate business OF any kind, big
or little?
| What, then, is business afraid Of?
We do not know and we cannot even
surmise. Not in twenty years has it
had SO little to fear from govern
| ment. Not in twenty years was it
| known so clearly what was expected
of it under the law. What more can
| it ask?
The great weakness of American
business at this time is the great
weakness Of MI. Root himself. |,
refuses to trust the people. Mr. Root
retired from the Senate because, as
1t is generally believed, he was afraid
to submit his candidacy to "a popular
| vote; yet he would have been re-
| elected by an overwhelming major
| lty. Business seems to be in much
the same state Of mind as Mr. Root,
and for the same reason. 1t is afraid
to trust the people because it is ig-
norant of popular opinion and sus,
picious Of popular good faith.
That is madness. The government
or the United States is not hostile to
business The people of the United
States are not hostile to business II
business cannot see these plain, un,
mlstakable facts, then business Is
blind and ignorant and weak-witted
New York World