West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1915-02-04

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WASHINGTON. Jan. 29-Another
confident prediction that the country
will soon enter upon a new era OF
ente. prise and prosperity was voiced
today by President Wilson in speech
before the convention of the Ameri-f
can Electric Railway association.
Democratic congress has tried to ac-
complish through its trust legislation
and declared that while test period
would be required to determine
whether the correct remedy has been
applied. he believed the maze OF in
terrogation points" which had checked
enterprise for 20 years had been
cleared away.
With common understanding re-
garding business reached. he said,
henceforth nobody is going to be sus-
picious OF any business Just because
II is big. He gave some of the rules
| OF the game" which he thought ought
| to be followed heading the list with
publicity-"Not doing anything under
cover"
| Il have aiways maintai e d thn. the
| only way in which men could under
stand one another was by meeting one
another" said the president. IF be-
lieved all 1 read in the newspapers /
would not understand anybody.
have met many men whose horns
| dropped away the moment l was per-
mitted to examine their character.
at seems to me that can say with
| good deal of confidence that we are
| upon the eve of new era OF enter
prise and of prosperity. Enterprise
has been checked in this country for
| almost 20 years because men are mcv-
| ing amongst maze of Interrogation
| points. TheyNdid not know what was
| going to happen to them. All sorts
| of regulations were proposed and 1t
was a matter of uncertainty what sort
OF regulations were going to be adopt
| ed. All sorts of charges were made
| against business as il business were
| at fault, when most men knew that
the great majority of business men
were honest, were public spirited, were
intending the right thing and the
many were made afraid because the
| few did not do what was right
THE most necessary thing, there
fore, was for us to agree as we did by
| slow stages agree upon the main par
ticulars of what ought not to be done
and then to put our laws in such
shape as to correspond with that gem
| eral judgment. i, for one, have never
| doubted that all America was of one
principle. l have never doubted what
was fair and honorable and Of good
report. But the method of control by
law against small minority that was
recalcitrant against these principles
was a thing that it was difficult to
determine upon. And 1t was vely
great burden, let me say, to fall upon
particular administration OF this
government, to have to undertake
practically the whole business of final
definition. That is what has been at
tempted by the congress now about to
come to close. 1t has attempted the
definition for which the country had
been getting ready or trying to get
ready for nearly half generation.
1T will require a period of tests
that to determine whether they have
successfully defined them or not but
no one needs to have it proved to him
that ii was necessary to define them
and remove the uncertainties, and that
the uncertainties being removed, COM
mon understandings are possible and
universal cooperation.
''In the first place feel that the
mists and miasmic airs of suspicion
that have filled the business world
have now been blown away. I be-
lieve that we have passed the era of
suspicion and have come now into the
era of confidence. Knowing the ele-
ments we have to deal with we can
deal with them; and with that conf
dence of knowledge We can have con-
fdence of enterprise. And that enter
prise is going to mean this: nobody
is henceforth going to be afraid of or
suspicious of any business merely be-
cause 1t is big.
If my judgment is correct nobody
had been suspicious of any business
merely because 1t was big, but they
have been suspicious whenever they
thought that the business was being