El Nuevo mexicano., 1916-05-25

profit they have not hesitated to en-.
deavor to plunge our country into
war and seem entirely Indifferent to
the suffering and sorrow which such
a course might bring upon the coun'
try, so long as they get the offices.
But the record of the Democratic
party is so clear and SO clean that
we can afford to disregard those criti-
cisms and confidently appeal to the
American people for endorsement at
the ballot box next November. The
first achievement Of this administra.
tion was the restoration of harmony
between the executive and legisla'
tive branches of the government,
where for ten years jealousy and bit.
terness and confusion, approximating
anarchy at times, had been the pre-
vailing note. Among the results OF
that restored harmony we have upon
the statute books today:
Banking Law ~
First. A complete modernization
of our banking laws. For nearly SO
years there had been talk Of revis-
ion of our currency system, and for
a decade there had been ~insistent de-
mand for legislation that would make
it impossible for the great financiers,
by concerted effort, to bring depres.
sion or panic upon the country at
will as a means of coercing the poo
pie to give them such tariff legisla-
tion as they wanted and such immun-
ity from prosecution under the trust
laws as would enable them to plumber
the public at will.
In spite of the concerted oppo-
sition of the big bankers the admin
istration banking and currency bill
was passed, and from that moment
all talk Of panic passed, because the
machinery was so adjusted that a
panic was impossible, even when the
world was shaken by the greatest
humanity had ever experienced.
Every neutral nation had to declare
moratoriums except the United States.
Here there was not even d suggestion
of the issuance of clearing house GER
tificates, although this was the great
est of all debtor nations, because we
were still in our %swaddling Globes
and constantly borrowing from the
Old World for the development of
our resources, the payment of no dol
lar of Indebtedness, abroad or at
home. had to be postponed because Of
shortage Of available money. in our
banks.
Had It not been for the wisdom
and guiding of Woodrow Wilson the
fall of 1914 would have seen this ma
ton in the grasp of a panic beside
which 1898 and 1907 would have
seemed mere summer 2ephyrs. The
foresight and the guiding ability of
President Wilson saved this nation
from catastrophe in which banks and
mercantile institutions would have
like nine-pins, in which the
of every factory furnace Of the
land would have been banked, and
which the tramp OF millions of
idle men would have been heard
throughout the land. hunting for work
they could not find and beg
ging for bread which they could not
get.
The banking and currency act
have been achievement
enough for any previous administra-
ton since the Civil War: but it was
not enough for Woodrow Wilson. 1t
did not meet his ideas Of '"The New
Freedom which it was his mission
to establish in the land; therefore,
Trade Commission
Second. We have upon the statute
books provision for a Federal Trade
which has been in prac-
teal operation long enough to DEM
Dnstrate that it is the best friend,
next to the banking law, of both big
and little business, Of producer and
consumer. Before the creation OF the
Federal Trade Commission, corpora
ions didn't know what their rights
and powers were and the department
Of Justice was uncertain as to its du-
les regarding their regulation. Hence,
here were a multitude of suits for
dissolution and criminal prosecutions
instituted under the Taft administers
ion. Business was disorganized,
were compelled to pay
tut enormous sums in litigation, for
.unes were swallowed UP, the innocent
suffering with the guilty, and a condi-
ion of industrial anarchy ensued.
The practical, common sense Of the
PRESIDENT told him there should be
Iome way to correct the evils and
big business to book without
grecking 1t. Before the Federal Trade
Commission could be created, the de
,artment of Justice inaugurated a
of settling such matters by
conference between the officers of
attending trusts and the officers Of
he law, with the result that in all,
a few instances corporations
n restraint of trade were voluntarily
dissolved, monopolies disappeared,
uits were dropped and the consumer.
Who Heretofore had been ground be-
ween the upper and the neither mill
tones, found himself free to buy in
competitive market whatsoever
hing he wished.
The work Of the Federal Trade
commission is 10 investigate. ascer-
ain the facts, and point out to the