Decatur Democrat, Volume 45, Number 39, Decatur, Adams County, 5 December 1901 — Page 8

THE MESSAGE What the President Says on Important Subjects. TRUSTS AND RECIPROCITY How He Would Deal With These Problems. He Declare* Publicity Is at Present the Only Sure Remedy Against Evils of Combinations—While Opposing? Any General Tariff Change, He Uphold* the Principle of Reciprocity — Advocates Reduction of Duty on Cuban Imports Into This Country — Importance of BuildinK the Isthmian Canal nnd the Pacific Cable Lrged—The Philippines and Other Insular Questions. Washington, Pec. 3.—The president ( In his annual message to congress says: The congress assembles this year under the shadow of a great calamity. On the 6th of September President McKinley was shot by an anarchist while attending the Pan-American exposition at Buffalo and died in that city on the 14th of that mouth. Os the last seven elected presidents he is the third who has been murdered, and the bare recital of this fact is sufficient to justify grave alarm among all loyal American citizens. Moreover, the circumstances of this, the third assassination of an American president, have a peculiarly sinister significance. Both President Lincoln and President Garfield were killed by assassins of types unfortunately not uncommon in history, President Lincoln falling a victim to the terrible passions aroused by four years of civil war and President Garfield to the revengeful vanity of a disappointed office seeker. President McKinley was killed by an utterly depraved criminal belonging to that body of criminals who object to all governments, good and bad alike, who are against any form of popular liberty if it is guaranteed by even the most just and liberal laws and who are as hostile to the upright exponent of a free people's sober will as to the tyrannical and irresponsible despot. Anarchy nnd Anarchiat*. The president continues with a eulogy of Mr. McKinley, t|jen turns to the subject of anarchy, denouncing its doctrines and preachers. He says: I earnestly recommend to thecongress that in the exercise of its wise discretion it should take into consideration the coming to this country of anarchists or uersons professing principles

I "K T I « O j • The Cheapest and Most Conven- § &) I H O | ient Store to Trade in Adams County, ?SJ X IJLV X iVVV X CXII kjlviv DAVE VAN CLEEF, Proprietor. bg I A TELEPHONE FROM SANTA CLAUS. I For this occasion our entire store has been turned into the grandest Holiday Bazaar one could expect to view and enjoy’ Nothing has been neglected to make this the most convenient place in Decatur to buy your Holiday Presents. You may expect to see here Beautiful Ornamental. Useful and Practical Gifts Ey3 for man, women and child at prices that cannot help but attract your attention. || We Carry a Full and Complete Line of the Following Articles: Sjj SMOKING SETS STORY BOOKS SHAVING CASES J ™ 1 LINEN BOOKS ® WORK BOXES _ W '4 -, ' 4 l~s a. SCRAPBOOKS • MANICURE SETS ' /-J: PICTURE BOOKS TOILET BOXES ' i j J MOUTH HARMONICOS K 0 NECKTIE BOXES 1 DOLL CARBJAGES MM handkerchief boxes ' doll go carts GLOVEBOXES .Je-vH) S* ‘ 1 WOODEN WAGONS TRUMPETS 'jfW IRON WAGONS j® TOOLCHESTS '• I BANKS K’d IRON TOYS (J COMBINATION BANKS I® UN TOYS >• d| | MECHANICAL TOYS FgJ KID DOLLS 1 Z ? AUTOMOBILES KEs JOINTED DOLLS j JI CREEPING BABYS LS DRESSED DOLLS I®® wSSSP'.. RUNNING FERRIS WHEEL f yL> Mgß talking dolls 2jaa w [T drums of all sizes PSg pianos I B g handkerchiefs S)J TUBEPHONES 7 Z ' T GLOVES IMM bell ringers •TTy 1 - bL mitts gK Kgrrt W UMBRELLAS fiky? Mi? TOY DISHES fl I •J J f f W, U ~ A M 71 i We also carry the most complete j IKVj GAMES WJ a. 1 VSj line of Fancy China, worth while /7M ABC BOOKS ‘ ■.,X'."h ;.SiiZ?S3~:Qr - stKS^uLJ,.J.» looking at. j(7\3 I —J The Holiday Business at The New Fair Store is now in Full Blast. THE YOUNG ONES ARE TICKLED TO DEATH WITH THE TOYS THAT WE HAVE NOWHERE WILL YOU FIND A MORE ACCEPTABLE PLACE TO BUY CHRISTMAS GIFTS; NOWHERE WILL YOU FIND GUARANTEED QU AU- O TIES’AT OUR UNEQU ALED LOW PRICES

I hostile to an government ano justrrying the murder of those placed in au- : thority. Such individuals as those who not long ago gathere,! in open meeting to glorify the murder of Klug Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and the law should insure their rigorous punishment. They and those like them should be kept out of this country, and if found here they should be promptly deported to the country whence they I came, and farreachlng provision should be made for the punishment of those who stay. No matter calls more urgently for the wisest thought of the congress. A Subject For Federal Court*. The federal courts should be given jurisdiction over any man who kills or attempts to kill the president or any man who by the constitution or by law is in line of succession for the presidency, while the punishment for I an unsuccessful attempt should be proI portioned to the enormity of the ofI sense against cur institutions. Anarchy is a crime against the whole j human race, and all mankind should I band against the anarchist. His crime | should be made an offense against the I law of nations, like piracy ami that | form of man stealing known as the i slave trade. i The president next considers business conditions, which lie finds highly satisfactory. He continues: The tremendous and highly complex industrial development which went on with ever accelerated rapidity during the latter half of the nineteenth century brings us face to face at the beginning of the twentieth with very serious social problems. The old laws and the old customs which had almost the binding force of law were once quite sufficient to regulate the accumulation and distribution of wealth. Since the industrial changes which have so enormously increased the productive power of mankind they are no j longer sufficient. Trade Combination.. The growth of cities has gone on beyond comparison faster than the growth of the country, and the upbuilding of the great industrial centers has meant a startling increase not merely in the aggregate of wealth, but , in the number of very large individual i and especially of very large corporate ’ fortunes. The creation of these great corporate fortunes has not been due ' to the tariff nor to any other governmental action, but to natural causes in tlie business world, operating in otb- ' er countries as tfry operate in our own. ‘ The process lias aroused much an- ; tagonism. a great part of which is j wholly without warrant. It is not true i' that as the rich have grown richer the > poor have grown poorer. On the con- ' trary, never before has the average j man. the wageworker, the farmer, tie ’ small trader, been so well off as in th t ■ country and at the present time. Theis 1 have been abuses connected with tci accumulation of wealth, yet it remain l » true that a fortune accumulated i

legitimate business can be accumulat- ! ed by the person specially benefited only on condition of conferring immense incidental benefits upon others. Successful enterprise of the type which benefits all mankind can only exist if the conditions are such as to offer great prizes as the rewards of | success. Reason. For Cantion. The president adds that there are many reasons for caution in dealing with corporations. He says: The same business conditions which have produced the great aggregations of corporate and Individual wealth have made them very potent factors in international commercial competition. Moreover, it cannot too often be pointed out that to strike with ignorant violence at the interests of one set of men almost inevitably endangers the interests of all. The fundamental rule In our national life—the rule which underlies all others—ls that, on the whole aud in the long run, we shall go up or down together. The mechanism of modern business is so delicate that extreme care must be taken not to interfere with it in a spirit of rashness or ignorance. In dealing with business interests, for. the government to undertake by crude j and ill considered legislation to do, what may turn out to be bad. would , be to incur the risk of such farreach- [ ing national disaster that it would be preferable to undertake nothing at all. The men who demand the impossible or the undesirable serve as the allies of the forces with which they are nominally at war, for they hamper those who would endeavor to find out in rational fashion what the wrongs really are and to what extent and in what manner it is practicable to apply remedies. How to Correct the Evil.. All this is true, and yet it is also tr " ’’'at there are real and grave evils, oi the chief being overcapitaliza- ..... because of its many baleful consequences, and a resolute and practical eilort must be made to correct these it is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to require that when men receive from government the privilege of doing business under corporate form, which frees them from individual responsibility and enables them to call into their enterprises the capital of the public, they shall do so upon absolutely truthful representations as to the value of the property in which the capital is to be invested. Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should be regulated if they are fouud to exercise a license working to the public injury. It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunuing as to rid the entire body politic of crimes of violence. Great corporations exist only , because they are created and safe-1 vimntod hv our institutions, and it is; ,iu.r.>f,,re our wight and our duty to!

see that they work m narraony nuu these institutions. Publicity the First E.»entl«l. The first essential tn determining how to deal with the great industrial combinations is knowledge of the facts —publicity. In the interest of the public the government should have the right to inspect and examine the workings of the great corporations engaged in interstate business. Publicity is the only sure remedy which we can now invoke. What further remedies are needed in the way of governmental regulation or taxation can only be determined after publicity has been obtained by process of law and in the course of administration. lhe first requisite is knowledge, full and com-plete-knowledge which may be made public to the world. Artificial bodies, such as corporations and joint stock or other associations, depending upon any statutory law for their existence or privileges should be subject to proper governmental supervision, and full and accurate information as to their operations should be made public regularly at reasonable Intervals. The large corporations, commonly called trusts, though organized in one state, always do business in many states, often doing very little business in the state where they are incorporated. There is utter lack of uniform-, ity in the stateTaws about them, and, as no state has any exclusive interest in or power over their acts, it has in practice proved impossible to get adequate regulation through state action. Therefore, in the interest of the whole jieople. the nation should, without interfering with the power of the states in the matter itself, also assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations doing an interstate business. Amend Constitution if Necessary. When the constitution was adopted, at the end of the eighteenth century, no human wisdom could foretell the sweeping changes, alike in industrial and political conditions, which were to take place by the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time it was accepted as a matter of course that the several states were the proper authorities to regulate, so far as was then necessary, the comparatively insignificant and strictly localized corporate bodies of the day. The conditions are now wholly different, and wholly different action is called for. I believe that a law can be framed which will enable the national government to exercise control along the lines above indicated, profiting by the experience gained through the passage and administration of the interstate commerce act. If, however, the judgment of the congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to pass such nn act, then a constitutional amendment should be submitted to confer the power. I There should be created a cabinet of- - fleer, to be known as secretary of ; commerce and industries, as provided

In the bill introduced at the last session of the congress. It should be h.l province to deal with commerce in its broadest sense, including among many other things whatever concerns labot and all matters affecting the great business corporations and our merchant marine. Labor. The president declares that he regards it necessary to re-enact the Chi nese exclusion law. In regard to labor he says that the government should provide in its contracts that all work should be done under “fair” conditions and that all night work should be forbidden for women and children as well as excessive overtime. He continues: Very gieat good has been and will be accomplished by associations or unions of wageworkers when managed with forethought and when they combine insistence upon their own rights with law abiding respect for the rights of others. The display of these qualities in such bodies is a duty to the nation no less than to the associations themselves. Finally, there must also in many cases be action by the government in order to safeguard the rights and interests of all. Under our constitution there is much more scope for such action by the state and the municipality thau by the nation. But on points such as those touched on above | the national government can act. He asserts that the immigration laws are unsatisfactory and that a law should be enacted to keep out not only anarchists, but persons of a low moral tendency or of unsavory reputation and those who are below a certain standard of economic fitness to enter our industrial field as competitors with American tnhor.

The Tariff and Reciprocity. The president declares that nothing could be more unwise than to disturb the business interests of the country by any general tariff change at this time. He adds: Yet it is not only possible, but eminently desirable, to combine with the stability of our economic system a supplementary system of reciprocal benefit and obligation with other nations. Such recipwcity is an incident and result of tffe firm establishment and preservation of our present economic policy. It was specially provided for in the present tariff law. Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden of protection. Our first duty is to see that the protection granted by the tariff in every case where it is needl'd is maintained, and that reciprocity be sought for so far as it can safely be done without injury to our home industries. .Just how far this Is must be determined according to the individual case, remembering always that every application of our tariff policy to meet shifting national needs must be conditioned upon the cardinal fact that the duties must never be reduced below the point that will cover tl>e difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well being or

me wageworker is a prime cofisiaerntion of our entire policy of economy legislation. Need For Wider Market*. Subject to this proviso of the proper protection necessary to our Industrial well being at home, the principle of reciprocity must command our heartv support. The phenomenal growth of our export trade emphasizes the urgency of the need for wider markets and for a liberal policy in dealing with foreign nations. Whatever is tnerelv petty and vexatious in the way c ‘f trade restrictions should be avoided The customers to whom we dispose of our surplus products in the long run, directly or Indirectly, purchase thost" surplus products by giving us something in return. Their ability to pur chase our products should as far as possible be secured by so arranging our tariff as to enable us to take from them those products which we can use without harm to our own industries and labor or the use of which will be of marked benefit to us. It is most important that we should maintain the high level of our present prosperity. We have now reached the point in the development of our interests where we are not only able to supply our own markets, but to produce a constantly growing surplus for j which we must find markets abroad. To secure these markets we can utilize existing duties in any ease where they are no longer needed for the purpose of protection, or in any case [ where the article is not produced here , and the duty is no longer necessary , for revenue, as giving us something to • offer in exchange for what we ask. , The cordial relations with other nations which are so desirable will naturally be promoted by the course thus

required by our own interests. The natural line of development fur a policy of reciprocity will be in connee tion with those of our productions which no longer require all of the support once needed to establish them upon a sound basis and with those others where either because of natural or of economic causes we are beyond the reach of successful competition. I ask the attention of the senate to the reciprocity treaties laid before it by my predecessor. The Merchant Marine. The condition of the American merchant marine is such as to call for immediate remedial action by the congress. It is discreditable to us as a nation that our merchant marine should be utterly insignificant in comparison to that of other nations which we overtop in other forms of business. We should not longer submit to conditions under which only a trifling jiortion of our gr°at commerce is carried in our own ships. To remedy this state of things would not merely serve to build up our shipping interests, but it would also result in benefit to all who are interested in the permanent establishment of a wider market for American products and would provide an auxiliary force for the navy. Ships