Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-01-30
WILSON OUTLINES
"RULES OF GAME"
Wants Spirit of True Sportsman
ship to Hold Good in Busi-
ness World.
SEES ERA OF PROSPERITY
Maze of Interrogation Points" 4"
That Has Checked Enterprise
for Years, Cleared Away.

WASiIINGTON, January 2e-Anoihcr
confident prediction that the country
soon Will enter upon a new era of en-
tcrprlse and prosperity vas voiced to-
day by President Wilson In speech
before the convention of tn. American
Electric Railway Associations
Speaking to business men. and.
through them. to the world OF bust
ness generally, the President outlined
what tn" Democratic Congress has tried
to accomplish through it's trust lcCisla :
ton. and declared that, while test
period would be required TO determine
whether the correct remedy had boon
applied he believed tho maze Of in
tcrrogation points" which had check id
enterprise for twenty years had been
cleared away.
With a common understanding rc-
Sarding business reached. he said.
henccforth nobody is going TO bc sus-
pictous OF any business just because it
Is big. He gave some OF the rules
OF tho game" which he thought ought
TO be followed, heading the list with
pubNcity-"not doing anything under
cover"
II have always maintained that. the
only wa% in which men could under
stand one another was by meeting one
another" said the President ..If be-
li.v"d all that I read in tho newspa-
pcrs. would not understand anybody.
] have met many men whose horns
dropped away the moment ! was per
'nittcd to examine their character.
UPON EVE OF NEW
ERA OF PROSPERITY
1T seems to me that can say with
a good deal Of confidence that We are
upon the eve of 4 new era Of enter
prise and of prosperity. Enterprise
has been checked in this country for
years because men were moving
amongst maze of Interrogation
points. They did not know what was
going 10 happen to them. All sorts OF
regulations were proposed and il
was matter of uncertainty what
sort ot regulation was going TO be
adopted.
The most necessary thing, therefore
was for us 10 agree. as we did by slow
stages agree, upon the main particu-
lars OF what ought not to be done and
then 10 put our laws In such shape as
10 correspond with that general judE-
m"nt have never doubted that
all America believed in doing wnat was
fair and honorable and of good report.
But the method. the method of control
by law against the small minority that
was recalcitrant against thes, princl-
pies. was thing that ii was difficult
to determine upon. And II was a very
great burden. lc. me say, to fan upon
a particular administration of this gov
ernment 20 have to undertake. prac-
tically the whole business Of final def :
milton.
That is what has been undertaken
by the Congress now about to come
to Il close.
PERIOD or TEST
WILL BE REQUIRED
Now 1t Will require a period of test
TO determine whether they have sue
ccssfully defined them or not, but no
ono needs 10 have 1t proved to him
that II was necessary TO define them
and remove the uncertainties, and
that. the uncertainties being removed
common understandings are possible
and universal co-opcration
In the first place, | feel that tho
mists and miasmic airs OF suspicion
that have filled tho business world
have now hcen blown away. l believe
that We have passed the era OF sus-
picion, and have come now into the
era OF confidence. knowing the clc
ments we have 10 deal with we can
deal with them; and with that conf
dcnce OF knowledge We can have con
hdencc of enterprise
IF my judgment is correct, nobody
has been suspicious of any business
merely because il was big. but they
nave been suspicious whenever they
thought that the bigness was being
used To take an unfair advantage.
But bond having been given for the
big fellow. we can sleep o. nights.
The era of private business i'm tn.
sense OF business conducted with the
money OF the partncrs-I mean of the
managing partners - is practically
past. not only in this country. but
almost everywhere. Therefore. almost
all business has this direct RESPONSE
bility to the public in general w.
owe constant report to the public.
whose money we are constantly asking
for in order To conduct the business
itself. Therefore. we have got to
trade. not only on our efficiency. not
only on the service that we render
hnt on the confidence that we Guilt
Nate Ihere Is 4 new atmosphere for
business. The oxygen that the lungs
OF modern business takes In is tho
oxygen OF the public confidence. and if
YOU have not got that, your business is
essentially paralyzed and asphyxfated
POSITION NOW TO COME
TO COMMON ASnISc
II take 1t that we are in n position
now 10 come to common understand
ing. knowing that only common mn
derstanding Will he the stable basis Of
business. and that what we want for
business hereafter is the same kind of
liberty that we want for the indi-
vidual.
There have been times-I will not
specify them, but there have been
the field looked free. but
when there were favors received from
the managers of the course. when there
were advantages given. inside tracks
accorded. practices which would blocI,
the other runner. rules would exclude
the amateur who wanted to get in