New-York tribune., 1921-05-24
President Prescribes Honesty, Fair
Dealing and Worh for Business

far call from those days to these;
from weakness to power, from poverty
Co affluence, from the minor to the
major participation. For the strides
We nave taken in every phase of ma
uonal Importance we are indebted in
great part to the vision, the energy,
tne unbounded confidence and unfail-
ing optimism of the American business
community and to the far-reachinc
leadership of men like those who have
directed the great commercial news
paper whose guest we are tonight.
New Responsibilities Rise
Every generation has its problems.
Our rise in power and influence has
imposed new possibilities. Those
who for more than a dozen decades
| have determined the course of this
pioneer OF the business press have
! given US q lesson well worth attention.
They have seen the country go through
! many times of stress and crisis, and
! ttheir institution has gone through with
1T; wiser for the experience, stronger
for the tests. They have seen the
time when our weakness as q nation
made 1T impossible for Us to avoid in
voivement in the troubles of the Old
World, and again they have seen how
our strength imposed an obligation
that made such avoidance equally i'm
possible.
To-day, in the particular realm of
this newspaper, we face a like condi-
ton. Our strength in the Industrial
financial and commercial world, our
capacity to produce, our ability to ex-
| tend credits which others cannot give
and which brave but unfortunate peo-
pies sorely need-all these make it
necessary that we shall adopt new
commercial methods whereby to insure
the fullest possible service to civiliza-
ton. | bespeak the help of every
organ of intelligent, understanding
business, to enable the nation to meet
these demands.
"It has been said many times, but it
cannot be too often repeated and en-
phasized, that in doing this we will be
alike discharging duty to others and
advancement. There have seldom beel,
more convincing proofs than we see
all around us now of the essential in
terdependence of all parts Of the
world. No people, no race, no conti-
nent, can live within itself alone. He
who displays the broadcast spirit OF
brotherhood, helpfulness and true
charity will most surely be casting his
bread upon the waters. The instru-
adapted, it is true to the conditions
which face us; conditions unlike any
that our times have known, though not
greatly different, in their economic
I fundamentals, from those OF some
other epochs. But changing epochs do
not alter everlasting principles.
Courage, confidence and wisdom,
along with fitting measure of enter
! prise and even adventure, are needed.
+Lo Mono1oCpTc
some who viewed the future gloomily;
but those who looked to it with hope
ful vision, with assurance in the basic
| things of civilization, at last enjoyed
both the satisfaction of duty performed
and the substantial rewards of indus
Try expanded, commerce extended and
enterprise firmly established. The
day of like opportunity for our gem
GRAFTON is dawning after the night Of
storm and trial.
"Our duty to the world at large is
pressing, but we will equip ourselves
best to perform helpfully if we are un-
| waveringly loyal to ourselves. The
| most important thing to Americans is
America, and the most important thing
to America is our constitutional sys-
TEN. Our Constitution was adopted in
order to perfect more perfect union,
and as the national life has developed
under it that union has been so per
fected that state lines have well-nigh
ceased TO have more than geographical
and political significance. We have the
test of disnnion, the triumph of re-
union, and now the end Of sectionalism.
On the social side, we have naturally
fallen into groupings with community
of interests--agricultur and indus
trial and incidentally social. These
groupings have drawn US rs q com
munity still closer together. The great
war effaced the last vestige of section
alism, and we stand to-day more firmly
unified than ever before.
Perfection Far From Attained
"Inseparable from the formation of
mere perfect union, the Constitution
sought to establish justice True, we
have not attained the perfection of our
ideals in this regard, l.or has any other
human society done so, but it is the
proof of our national righteousness of
purpose that we are never satisfied, |
and therefore are always trying to
maintain as far as possible the ecuilib- |
rlum of precise justice.
"Justice, like charity, must begin at |
home. We must be just to ourselves
and to our own, first of all. This is |
not selfish, for selfshness seeks more
than fair share; we seek only that |
winch is rightfully our own, and then
W preserve that to ourselves and our i
posserity. The war sadly disjointed |
things in the world and we are now
seeking to restore the p. oper balance. !
IN our efforts to do this, to achieve
1us5ce without selfshness, we will do
%eii to cling to our firm foundations.
r, believe in the inspired Beginning.
mere we vii find that national great
!. pess .ts was founded on agriculture. that
1n sta we aeveloped Industry, and ulti-
foreign. '''' "i'"
We will do well to keep in mind at
this tine the fundamental Importance