Evening star., 1924-10-23
NatioI's Business, Its Chief
Concern, Fundamentally
Sound, He Adds.
BUILDING UP AMERICAN
GENIUS, EXECUTIVE HOLDS
Higher Sense of Obligation to Pub
lie Evident, New York Visitors
Are Told.

dress to several hundred members of
the New York Business Mems Repub-
lican Association, assembled today in
the rear grounds of the White
House, warned the people of this
country to think before they tear
down a system under which so much
has been accomplished. merely be-
cause of minor defects that have not
yet been entirely eliminated"
ITO do so would be a policy of de-
struction," the President said. He
stated, however, that he does not fear
that the American people will commit
themselves to a policy OF destruction.
inasmuch as it is the long expressed
genius of the American people to
build up, to construct"
President Coolidge said that the
genius to build up was never more
vigorous, or more intent on exercis-
ing itself than at this time, and he
firmly believes it will continue to be
supreme in the United States.
Want Business Government.
The Presidents address in full fol-
lows:
you gentlemen who have come
here in behalf of business come to
speak for. the interest that by far
surpasses any other in the American
community. This is a business coun-
tFy, pre- eminent in all kinds of busi-
ness, industrial and agricultural, and
it wants a business government. l
do not mean by that a Government by
business, nor a Government for busi-
ness. But l do mean Government
that will understand business. i
mean a Government able to establish
the best possible relations between
the people in their business capacity
and the people in their social capac-
ity.
at is not possible in a country like
ours to pick business up in ginger
ly fashion and set it off on one side
for a careful examination, as if it
were something rather apart from
the comm unity as q whole, TO treat
business in our American life as IL
it were somehow a thing apart would
be impossible. 1t Is part of our
whole national life.
Obligation With Privilege.
"The primary thing which We have
to do in our country is 20 preserve
the initiative and enterprise of men.
The progress of the community is the
sum of the progress of the individuals
that make up the community. The
freedom of initiative and of enter
prise carries a stern obligation on the
part of those who enjoy IT. This is
three-way obligation. 1t is an obli-
cation upon those whose savings are
intruSted to our business managers.
These savings must be safeguarded,
and they must be made remunerative.
Only thus will we provide the slim
ulus to saving. and assure the ac-
cumuiation of necessary provision for
old age.
Then there is an obligation to the
employees of every business establish
ment. The conduct of that business
must be so directed as to furnish
security of employment. to insure an
improving standard of living, and to
provide conditions of labor which
shall make fundamentally for physi
cal and moral improvement
Efficiency Prime Need.
Finally, there is an obligation to
the consumer that he shall receive
goods and services of the highest
quality that can be produced. This
includes the requirement that the
management of the business shall De
efficient. 1t must produce its goods
and services at the lowest cost. II
must deliver thesA in the largest
quantities and give them the widest
But the management of business is
responsible for still more than these
things 1t is under obligation to as
sure that every advance in science,
or in technical process, shall be in
terpreted and applied in the reduc-
tion of labor and the decreased cost
of production. AS the cost of pro-
duction is fessened, the price to the
consumer must also be lowered. For
iv clr n
processes of production, labor. the
consumer and the savings account
are all entitled to their just partici-
patton in benefits.
Our economic system is funda
mentally sound. 1t has provided our
people with the highest standard of
comfort, the greatest security of life,
that is enjoyed by any nation. 1t has
assured to us the greatest range of
opportunities that men have ever en-
joyed. 1t does, indeed, contain some
abuses But these abuses are empha-
sized out of all due proportion by
those who indulge the habit of ex-
pressing themselves in exaggera-
tions.
Business Leaders Alert.
The primary correction Of abuses
lies in the hands of those who adj
minister our commerce and our, in
dustry. 1t is they who can prevent
the necessity of Government inter-
vention. Already they have made
great advances in this direction.
Their sense of responsibility has
made steady growth during the last
two score of years. We no longer
hear expression of an Indifferent at
titude toward the relation of business
to the people. Rather, we hear more
and more the word, and we note in
creasingly the sentiment, that 'Serv-
ice has come into the business
world The merchant and the manu-
facturer today are seeking to deliver
something besides their goods. and
they are delivering 1t with pride.
| That new something Is a sense of
service to the community.
These are the lines of real prog.
ress. To tear down a system under
| which so much of genuine progress
has been accomplished in so short a
I period. merely because of minor de-
fects that have not yet been entirely
eliminated, would be q policy of de-
struction. We need not fear that the
American community will commit it
| self to such policy. 1t is the long
| expressed genius of the American
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