Norwich bulletin., 1915-01-30

Washington. Jan. 2S.-AnOtf1cr con- hdent prediction that the country will soon enter upon a new era Of enter prise nd prosperity was voiced today by President Wilson. in a speech before the convention of the American Electric Railway association.
 Speaking to business men and through them to the world of busi- ness generally. the president outlined what the democratic congress has tried to accomplish through it's trust legislation and declared that, while test period would be required to de- termine whether the correct remedy had been applied, he believed the maze of interrogation points" which had checked enterprise for twenty years had been cleared away.
 Will AIIay Suspicion.
 With common understanding re- garding business reached he said, hencefOrth nobody is going to be sus- picious of any business just because 1t is big. He gave some of the rules of the @ame'' which he thought ought to be followed, heading the list with publicity-"not doing anything under cover"
 T have always maintained that the only way in which men could under stand one another was by meeting one another,' said the president "Tf be- lieved all that I read in the newspa- perS, I would not understand anybody. l have met many men whose horns dropped away the moment Twas per- mitted to examine their character.
 New Era Of Prosperity.
 Tt seems to me that I can say with 8 good deal Of confidence that we are upon the eve of 8 new era of en- terprfse and of prosperity. Enterprise has hRaT7 chnPkSa7 n this fnr almost twenty years, because men were moving amongst Q maze of in tefrogation points.
 They did not know what was s5- ing to happen to them. All sorts Of regulation were proposed and 1t was a matter of uncertainty what sort of regulation was going to be adopted All sorts of charges were made agains business as if the business were at fault, when most men knew that the great majority of business men were honest were public-spirited, were in tending the right thing and that many were made afraid because the few did not do what was right
 All America of One Principle. ''The most necessary thing. there fore, was for us to agree. as we did by slow stages. upon the main partic- ulars of what ought not to be done and then to put our laws in such shape as to correspond with that general judgment. I for one have never doubt ed that all America was of one prin- ciple. I have never doubted that that all America believed in doing what was fair and honorable and of good report.
 ''But the method. the method of control, by law against the small mi nority that was recalcitrant against these principles was 0 thing that ii was difficult to determine upon. And 1t was a very great burden, let me say, to fall upon q particular admin istration of this government to have to undertake practically the whole business of final definition That is what has been attempted by the con- gress now about to come to q close. It has attempted the definitions for which the country had been getting ready or trying to get ready for near ly half a generation.
 Will Require Period of Test Tt will require a period of test to determine whether they have success fully define ed them or not, but no one needs to have il proved to him that it was necessary to define them and remove the uncertainties and that the uncertainties being removed. common understanding are possible and uni versal cooperation.
 s.In the first place. I feel that the
 
 that have filled the world have now been blown away. I believe that we have passed the era of suspicion and have come now into the era of con- fidence. Knowing the elemenuts we have to deal with, we can deal with them. and with that confidence Of knowledge we can have confidence of enterprise. Ard that enterprise is go- ing to mean this: nobody is hence forth going to be afraid of or suspi-
 
 it is big.
 Watch the Bio Fellows.
 If my judgment is correct, mo- body has been susDiciouS of any bus mess merely because it was big, but thev have been suspicious whenever they thought that the bieness was be- ing used to take an unfair advantage. We all have to admit that it is easier for a big fellow to take advantare advantage of you; therefore. we in- stinctively watch the big fellow with little closer scrutiny than we watch the little fellow. But bond having been eiyen for the big fellow, we can sleeD o'nights
 "The era of private business, ir the sense of business conducted with the morev of the partners-I mean of the managing partners-is practically passed. not only in this country. but almost everywhere.
 Constant Report to the Public.
 Therefore, almost all business has this direct responsibility to the public in general. We owe a constant report to the public, whose money we are constantly asking for in order to con- duct the business itself
 Therefore, we have got to trade not only on our efficiency, not only on the service that we render but on the con fidence that we cultivate There is a new atmosphere for business The oxygen that the lungs of modern busi- ness takes in is the oxygen of the pub lie confidence. and if ye.s have not got