Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1907 — Page 3

WAR ON THE TRUSTS

Roosevelt Declares There Will Be No Let-Up in Fight Against Predatory Wealth. WILL SHOW NO MERCY Corporations Must Obey Statutes if Their Heads Hope to Keep Out of Prison. C ! rWation'a Chief, In Speech to Puritans, Declares Government’s Prosecntion of Criminal Combines Will Be Poshed Until They Are ExThe war that has been carried on during the present administration against unlawful combinations and law-breaking corporations is to be continued until Theodore Roosevelt leaves office eighteen months hence. The President made the announcement at Provincetown, Mass., in no uncertain phrases, and, moreover, he emphasized the statement by adding that criminal prosecutions against the executives of guilty corporations hereafter will be the rule. President Roosevelt was the principal orator at the laying of the corner stone -of the monument erected on the spot of the first arrival of Pilgrim fathers on the coast of Massachusetts. To strengthen the hands of the administration the President urged the enactment of new and revision of present legislation. Chief among the measures he advocated were: Federal incorporation law. Increased power for the interstate ■commerce commission. _ Employers’ liability law. Imprisonment clause in anti-trust legislation.

Legitimatizing of lawful combinations in business. Federal supervision of or co-opera-tion with States in safeguarding the public health. There was no mistaking the President's •attitude on the unlawful corporation problem. He emphasized this section of his speech with vigor, talking slowly and bringing out his meaning with characteristic Rooseveltian incisiveness. Cause of Financial Trouble. “During the present trouble with the •stock market,” he said. “I have, of course, received countless requests and suggestions, public and private, that I should oay or do something to ease the situation. There is a world-wide financial disturbance. It is felt in the bourses of Paris and Berlin, and British consols are lower, while prices of railway securities have also depreciated. On the New York Stock Exchange the disturbance has been particularly severe, most of it, I believe, to be due to matters not particularly confined to the United States and to matters wholly unconnected with any governmental action; but it may well be that the determination of the government, in which, gentlemen, it will not waver, to punish certain malefactors of great wealth, has been responsible for something of the troubles at least to the extent of having caused these men to combine to bring about as much financial stress as they possibly can in order to discredit the policy of -the government and thereby to secure -a reversal of that policy so that they may enjoy the fruits of their own evil doings. That they have misled many goAd people into believing that there should be such reversal of policy is possible. If so, I •am sorry, hut it will not alter my attitude. No Change) No Let-up. “Once for ail, let me say that as far as I am concerned, and for the eighteen months of my administration that remain, there will be no change in the policy we have steadily pursued, nor let-up in the ■effort to secure the honest observance of tho law, for I regard this contest as one to determine who shall rule this government —the people through their governmental agents, or a few ruthless and determined men, whose wealth makes' them particularly formidable because they are behind the breastworks of corporate organization. £ “I wish there to be no mistake on this point. It is idle to ask me not to prosecute criminals, rich or poor. But I desire oo less emphatically to have it understood that we have undertaken and will undertake no action of a vindictive type, and, •hove nil. no action which shall inflict great or unmerited suffering upon the innocent stockholders and upon the public as a whole. Our purpose is to act with the minimum of harshness compatible with obtaining our ends. In the man of great wealth who has earned his wealth honestly and used it wisely we recognize A good citizen worthy of all praise and respect. Business can only be done under modern conditions through corporations, and our purpose is to heartily favor the corporations that do well. The administration appreciates that liberal but honest profit for legitimate promoters and generous dividends for capital employed either in founding or continuing an honest business venture are the factors necesaary for successful corporate activity, and therefore for generally prosperous business conditions.

Help (or Honeat Men. “All »*(ese are compatible with fair dealing: a« between man and man and rigid obedience to the law. Our aim ia to help every honest man, every honest corporation, and our policy means in Its ultimate analysis a healthy and prosperous expansion of business activities, of honest business men and honest corporations.” In making known the policy to press criminal action against the executives of law-breaking corporations, the President yeterred to recent failures, notably in connection with the prosecution of the socalled licorice trust. The failure here to find the corporation guilty' and let its managers go scot free appeared to have Impressed President Roosevelt deeply. Hs asserted that such corporation heads, srhen the evidence against them Is strong.

Once for all, let me say that, as far as I am concerned, and for" the eighteen months of my administration that remain, there will be no change In the policy we have steadily pursued. 0' ; ■ * * • There will be no let-up in the effort to , secure the honest observance of the law, for I regard this contest as one to determine who shall rule this government—the people through their governmental agents pr a few ruthless'and determined men whose wealth makes them particularly formidable, because they are .behind the breastworks of corporate organization. * * * ' No individual, no corporation obeying the law, has anything to fear from this administration. * * * It is idle to ask me not to prosecute criminals, rich or poor. * * *

The determination of the government to punish certain malefactors of great wealth has been responsible for something of the financial troubles, at_ least to the extent of having caused these men to combine to bring about as much financial stress as they possibly can, in order to discredit the policy of the government and thereby to secure a reversal of that policy so that they may enjoy the fruits of their own evil doings. *** . Our aim Is to help every honest man, every honest corporation; and our policy means In its ultimate analysis a healthy and prosperous expansion of business activities, of honest business men and honest corporations. - | —;•* —'• —w -.7 - It will be highly disastrous if we permit ourselves to he misled by the pleas of those who see m an unrestricted individualism the all-sufficient panacea for social evils; hut It will be even more disastrous to adopt the opposite panacea of any socialistic system which would destroy all Individualism, which would root out the fiber of our whole citizenship. * * * Where the power of the law can be wisely used to prevent or to minimize, the acquisition or business employment of such wealth and to make it pay by income or inheritance tax its proper share of the burden of government, I would Invoke that power without a moment’s hesitation. • • • Those professed friends of .liberty who champion license are the worst foes of liberty and tend by the reaction their violence causes to throw the government back Into the hands of the men who champion corruption and tyranny in the name of order. _ * * * There is unfortunately a certain number of our fellowcountrymen who seem to accept the view that unless a man can be proved guilty of some particular crime he shall be counted a good citizen, no matter how infamous the life he has led, no matter how pernicious his doctrines or his practices. g ** * " We should all of us work heart and soul for the real and permanent betterment which will lift our democratic civilization to a higher level Of safety and usefulness.

will feel the strong arm of the govern* ment. “When, InT addition to moral responsibility, these men have a legal responsibility, which can be proved, so as to impress a judge and jury,” he said, “then the department will strain every nerve to reach them criminally. Where this is impossible, then it will take whatever action will be most effective under the actual conditions.. “In the last six years we have shown that there is no individual and no corporation so powerful that he or it stands above the possibility of punishment under the law.” Sees Changed Conditions. , The President led up to his talk about corporate evils with a comparison of men in early colonial days with men of the present. This brought him face to face with his principal theme, on which he said the following: “The utterly changed conditions of our national life necessitate changes In certain of our laws, of our governmental methods. Our federal system of government is based upon the theory of leaving to each community, to each State, the control over those things which affect only its own members and which the people of the locality themselves can best grapple with, while providing for national regulation in those matters which necessarily affect the nation as a whole, it seems to me that such questions as national sovereignty and State’s rights need to be treated not empirically or academleally, but from the standpoint of the Interests of the people as a whole. National sovereignty Is to be upheld in so far as it means the sovereignty of the people used for the real and ultimate good of the people; and State’s rights are to be upheld in so far as they mean the people's rights. Especially is this true in dealing with the relations of the people hs a whole to the great corporations which aro the distinguishing feature of modern business conditions. Greater Control Needed. “Experience has shown that it is necessary to exercise a far more efficient control than at present over the business use of those vast fortunes, chiefly corporate, which are used (as under nAdern conditions they almost invariably are) in interstate business. When the constitution was created none of the conditions of modern business existed. They are wholly new, and we must create new agencies to deal effectively with them. There is no objection in the minds of the people to any man's earning any amount of money if he does it honestly and fairly, if he gets it as the result of special skill and enterprise, as a reward of ample service actualy rendered. But there is a growing determination that no man shall amass a great fortune by special privilege, by chicanery and wrongdoing, so far as it Is In the power of legislation to prevent, and that the fortune when amassed shall not have a business use that is antisocial. Most large corporations do a bust-, ness that is not confined to any one State. Experience has shown that the effort to control these corporations by mere State action cannot produce wholesome results. In most cases such effort fails to correct the real abuses of which the corporation Is or may be guilty, while in other cases the effort is apt to cause either hardship to the corporation itself or else hardship to neighboring States which bare not tried to grapple with the problem in the same manner, and, of course, we must be as scrupulous to safeguard the rights of the corporations as to exact from them in return a full measure of justice to the public. Nation Should Control. “I believe In a national corporation law for corporations engaged In interstate business. I believe, furthermore, that the need for action Is most pressing as regards those corporations which, because they are common exercise a quasi-public function, and which can be completely controlled in all respects by _tbe federal government, by the exercise of the pouter conferred under the Interstate commerce Clause, and. If necessary, trader the poet road clause, of ths constitution. During the lan

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT GIVES WARNING TO RICH CRIMINALS.

few years we have taken marked strides In advance along the road of proper regulation of these railroad corporations, but we must not stop In the work. The national government should exercise over them a similar supervision and control to that which It exercises over national banks. We can do this only by proceeding farther along the lines marked out by the recent national legislation. “In dealing with any totally new set of conditions there must at the outset be hesitation and experiment. Such has been our experience in dealing with the enormous concentration of capital employed in interstate business. Not only the legislatures but the courts and the people need gradually to t>e educated so that they may see what the real wrongs are and what the real remedies. Guilty Not to Escape. “Almost every big business concern Is engaged In interstate commerce, and such a concern must not be allowed by a dexterous shifting of position, as has been too often the case in the past, to escape thereby all responsibility, state or to nation. The American people became firmly convinced of the need of control over these great aggregations of capital, especially where they had a monopolistic tendency, before they became quite clear as to the proper way of achieving the control. Through their representatives In' Congress they tried two remedies, which were to a large degree, at least as Interpreted by the courts, contradictory. On the one hand, under the anti-trust law the effort was made to prohibit all combination, whether It was or was not hurtful or beneficial 1 6i the public. On the other hand, through the Interstate commerce law a beginning was made in exercising such supervision and control ever combinations as to prevent their doing anything harmful to the body politic. The first law, the so-called Sherman law, has filled a useful place; for It bridges over the transition period until the American people shall definitely make up its mind that it will exercise over the great corporations that thoroughgoing and radical control which It Is certain ultimately to find necessary. The principle of the Sherman law, so far as it prohibits combinations which, whether because of their extent or of their character, are harmful to the public, must always bo" preserved. Ultimately, and I hope with reasonable speed, the national government must pass laws which, while Increasing the supervisory and regulatory power of the government, also permits such useful combinations as are made with absolute openness and as the representatives of the government may previously approve. But it will not be possible to permit such combinations save as the second stage in a course of proceedings of which the first stage must be the exercise of a far more complete control by the national government. Famishment In Prison. “In dealing with those who offend against the anti-trust and Interstate commerce laws the Department of Justice has to encounter mauy and great difficulties. Often men who have been guilty of violating these laws have really acted In criminal fashion, and If possible should be proceeded against criminally; and therefore It is advisable that there abould be a change in these laws providing for Much criminal action, and for punishment by Imprisonment as well as by fine. Bat, as is well .known, In a criminal action the law Is strictly construed In favor of the defendant, and in our country, at least, both judge and'.Jury are far more Inclined to consider bis rights than they are the Interests of the general public; 'While In addition It is always true that a man's general practices may be so bad that a civil action will lie when it may not be possible to convict him of any one criminal actThere la unfortnnately a certain number of our fellow countrymen who seem to accept the view that unless a man can be proved guilty of some particular crime he shall be counted a good oUlien, no matter how Infamous the life he has led, no matter how pernicious bis doctrines or his practices. This Is the view announced from time to time with clamorous Insistence, now by a group of predatory capitalists, now by a group of sinister anarchistic leaders and agitators, whenever a special champion of elthar class, no matter how ertl his general life, is acquitted of some one specific crime. la “Vadesirsbts Cltlsoa” Class. "Such a view D wicked, whether applied so capitalist or labor leader, to rich man or p<for man; and all that 1 have said as

to desirable and undesirable citizens remains true. But we have to take this feeling into account when we are debating whether It Is possible to get a conviction In a criminal proceeding against some rich trust magnate, many of whose actions are severely to be condemned from the moral and social standpoint, but no one of whose actions seems clearly to establish such technical guilt as will Insure a conviction. As a matter of expediency, in enforcing the law against a great corporation, we have continually to weigh the arguments pro and con as to whether a prosecution can successfully be entered into, and as to whether we can be successful In a criminal action against the chief Individuals in the corporation, and If not whether we can at least be successful against the corporation Itself. Any effective action on the part of the government Is always objected to, as a matter of course, by the wrongdoers, by the beneficiaries of the wrongdoers, and by their champions; and often one of the most effective ways of attacking the action of the government is by objecting to practical action upon the ground that it does not go far enough. One of the favorite devices of those who are really striving to prevent the enforcement of these laws is to clamor for action of such severity that It cannot be undertaken because It will be certain to fall If tried. An instance of this is the demand often made for criminal prosecutions where such prosecutions would be certain to fail. We have found by actual experience that a Jury which will gladly punish a corporation by fine, for Instance, will acquit the Individual members of that corporation if we proceed against them criminally because of those very things which the corporation which they direct and control has done. "Many pien of large wealth have been guilty” of conduct which from the moral standpoint Is criminal, and their misdeeds are to a peculiar degree reprehensible, because those committing them have no excuse of want, of poverty, of weakness and ignorance to offer as partial atonement" Speaking of legislation favorable to the wage-earner, the President Indorsed the law limiting the number of hours that railway employes should work. He also spoke favorably of the employers’ liability law, but said ultimately a more far-reaching and thoroughgoing law must be passed. “It Is monstrous," the President said, "that a man or woman who Is crippled In an Industry, even as a result of taking what are the necessary risks of the occupation, should be required to bear the whole burden of the loss. That burden should he distributed, and not placed solely upon ttfg weakest individual, the one least able to carry it. By making the employer liable the loss will ultimately be distributed among all the beneficiaries of the business." The President said he favored the national government's work In increasing the people’s health. He especialy was pleased with the war being waged against tuberculosis. Of Socialism he said In part: “Certain Socialistic leaders propose to redistribute the world's goods by refusing to thrift and energy and Industry their proper superiority over folly and Idleness and sullen envy. Such legislation would. In the words of the president of Columbia University, ‘wreck the world's efficiency for the purpose of redistributing the wlrld's discontent.* ” The first part of the President's speech was devoted to a remarkably eloquent eulogy of the chatacier of the Pilgrim fathers. ■'Men," he said, £»ust be Judged with reference to the' age In which they dwell and the vyork they have to do. The Puritan's task Was to conquer a continent; not merely to overrun It, but to settle It, to till It; to build upon It a high industrial and social Ufa, and while engaged In the rough work Of- taming the shaggy wilderness at that very time also to lay deep the Immovable faondations of our whole American system of civil, political and religious liberty achieved through the orderly process of law. This was the work allotted to him to do; this Is the work he did. and only a master spirit amqpg men could have dona It" For Inheritance Tax. The President touched here on tho Inheritance |ax, eaylng: "Where the power of the law can be wisely used to prevent or to minimize tha acquisition or business employment of auch wealth and to> make It pay by in corns or inheritance tax Its proper share of the burden of government I would Invoke that power without a moment's hesitation."

HAT PASSED FOB A BISHOP.

Incident of n Collection Talcen If* Anton* Cowboy. ' »• Bishop Talbot, the “cowboy bishop,” who has recently told In his book of reminiscences, “My People of the Plains,” of his strange life as bishop among the cowboys and miners of early Wyoming and Idaho, had many an amusing experience .and made hosts of devoted friends. „ An Incident at the close of one of his meetings In the dance hall of a mining town Is thus described: “Another hymn was given our and I was about to dismiss the congregation with my blessing when Colonel Burns, my landlord, stepped forward and in a low but distinct voice said: “ ‘Bishop, haven’t you forgot something?’ “ ‘What do you mean?’ said I. “ ‘Why, the hat,’ replied the colonel, It won’t do to forget the lmt, for yesterday was pay day and these boys have a lot of money and if yon don’t get-lt~the~saloens-wilL"awl~lt~ls much better for you to have it.’ “ ‘Very good,’ I said. ‘Have you any suggestions, colonej^’ “ ‘Only this, bisliop: I wish you would give us about five hymns. - T want plenty of time. Ido not want to be crowded. The boys are a little slow on collections.’ “I stepped over to the organ and we started In. The colonel presented the lmt to the. man Immediately on my left. He was sitting on the edge of the platform. lie brought out a silver dollar, called a ‘.wheel’ in the language of the camp. The second and -third men to whom the hat was passed followed the example..of .the first, each giving a dollar, hut the fourth man seemed nervous and hesitated while he fumbled in bis pocket. After considerable delay he brought out a quarter. — 4t ‘Oh, put that back. Come, now, Bill, the bishop Is not after small game to-day. White chips don’t go here. He wants a wheel out of you. Hurry up.’ “The hymns were being rapidly used up and at last the colonel returned to the platform with the tat. His face beamed with satisfaction. After the service I asked hiiu why It took him so long. ' —“ ‘Oh, J he replied; bishop, you-see, I charge up every feller 'accordin’ to his pile. I know these boys. Most on ’em grub with me. I made one feller cough up a $lO gold piece and you will find a good many fives in the liat.’ “I Seed not say that ( the collection was a generous one.” —Harper's Magazine.

HIPPO’S BATHING PLACES.

South African Lake for Which Big Beauts Have a Liking. A few miles from Muliokya we came to Klkarongo, a circular lake, once a crater, about half a mile wide, writes a correspondent of the Westminster Gazette from Uganda. The water Is slightly salt, and Is greatly appreciated by the hippos, who come here in large parties from Lake Rulsamba to bathe. The lake is shallow for a few yards only and then deepens rapidly, so the hippos, who do not like deep water, never go very far from the shore. On a still day it Is an amusing pastime to Bit by the lake and watch the great brutes enjoying themselves. For tt moment nothing is to be seen, then suddenly a score or more of huge heads burst through the water with loud snorts and squirting Jets of water through their nostrils; they stare around with their ugly little pigltke eyes, yawn prodigiously, showing a fearful array of tusks and a cavernous throat, then sink with a satisfied gurgle below the surface, to repeat the performance a minute or two afterward. Sometimes one stands almost upright in tha water; {hen he rolls ever with a sounding splash, showing a broad expanse of back like a huge porpoise. Or a too venturesome young bachelor approaches a select circle of veterans, who resent his intrusion and drive him away with roars and grunts. There Is something Irresistibly suggestive of humanity about their ungainly gambol. Only bathing machines are wanted to complete the picture.

Spider that Makes Fine Cobwebs.

The queen of spiders—the largest, handsomest and most capable workman of her tribe —Is the orange-yellow and black creature known as orange Argiope. Hera are the most beautiful cobwebs made, hung low to catch the Innumerable Insects required for a rather large appetite, and you find them among the bushes and vines and In the fields Dr. Henry O. McCook, president of the American Entomological Society, describes her habits and hauuts. Arglope, as the author relates, captures and tie* up her victims as ably as a cowboy might do with a lasso, and abe excels the cowboy by manufacturing her own rope as abo goes.

Cities with Wood Pavements.

I’i’he five cities In which tho largest amounts of wood pavement are found are, In order, Indianapolis, New York, Minneapolis, Toledo and Boston. Together these cities have more creoaoted wood pavement than all other cities 1* the United States combined. Tbe total amount of this pavement lu use In this country at the end of the year 1906 was about 1,400,000 square yards, equivalent to nearly eighty miles of pavement on a street thirty feet wide.

Memento.

Though generations, pass, the marks Of their Indian origin appear. For instance, there’s the coppery hue— A sort of Sioux veneer. f—Puck

THIS WEEKLY HISTORIAN

1344 —Earl of Derby defeated the French at Atfberoche. 14S3 —Edward V. and his brother, Richard, Duke of York, smothered in tha Tower. 1513 —French routed by the English at the “Biattle of Spurs.” 1585—Capitulation of Antwerp. 1642 —Fort Richelieu, in Canada, founded. ' 1648—Cromwell defeated the Royalist# at battle of Preston. 1654—Port Royal taken by Sedwick. 1692 —Five persons executed for witchcraft at Salem, Mass. ~—^ 1704—English and the Allies, commanded by the Duke of Marlborough, defeated the French and Bavarians at the battle of Blpnheim. 1717 —Turks defeated by Eugene at Belgrade. 1719—Capitulation of St. Sebastian. 1721—First issue of the New England Courant. 1760—Battle of Liegnitz. 1762 —Havana taken by a British force under the Earl of Albemarle. 1766—First issue of the Nova Scotia Gazette. y 177 defeated the British at Bennington, Vt. 1782 —British warship Royal Georg* sunk near Spithead. 1784- —The Province of New Brunswick formed. 1799—Peter Hunter appointed Lieutenant Governor of upper Canada. 1806—Napoleon laid the first stone sot the Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile in Paris... .Baden elected into a grand duchy, as member of the Rhenish Confederation. 1809 —Foundation laid for Nelson’s monument in Trafalgar Square, London .... Flushing taken by the English.

1812 —Capture of 'Detroit by Gen. Brock. 1814 —Americana repulsed the British at Fort Erie. 1818—Sir Peregrine Maitland appointed Lieutenant Governor of upper Canada. 1821—King George IV. of England viaited Ireland. 1843 —Cardinal Rampolla^born. 1850 —T. McKennon of Pennsylvania became Secretary of the Interior. 1859 —Blondin walked a rope across Niagara.... Foundation stone laid for Spurgeon’s tabernacle in London. 1865—Great Britain and Prussia concluded a navigation treaty. 1867 —New reform bill passed for England. 1891— The President ordered the Cherokee strip in Indian territory closed to whites.... Steamship Teutonic broke the trans-Atlantic record. Tima 5 days, 16 hours and 31 minutes. 1892 Conflict between State troops and miners at Coak Creek, Trim. 1894 — Explorer Wellman and party arrived at Tromsoe, having abandoned attempt to reach the North Pole. 1895 — Boiler explosion in a hotel at Denver, Colo., killed 25 persons.... Viscount Wolseley succeeded tha Duke of Cambridge as commander-in-chief of the British army. 1896 — -Dr. Nansen, the Polar returned to Vardo, after an absenco of three years and twenty-three day* 1897 — Prince Henry of Orleans and the Count of Turin fought a duel near’ Paris. 1900 —President Sanclemente of Republic of Colombia, resigned office. 1906—Many lives lost in earthquake and fire at Valparaiso, Chile.

The Science of Love.

Speaking before the International School Congress at London, Dr. Sir Jamas Creighton-Brown stated that the tender passion of first love could be traced to two scientific causes, the first being % species of cerebral commotion and ths second the stirring of some hitherto dormant association centers by an appropriate affinitive impression. Dr. CreightonBrown also spoke of dietary for school children, and ridiculed the common idea that fish was especially adapted for feeding the brain, saying that phosphorus Is no more the secret of genius than tomatoes arc the cause of cancer. What tho working brain did need, be said, was food in which the chemical constituents were properly proportioned, and which was digestible and palatable. In his opinio* animal food was necessary in order to supply an abundance of proteid. Brain workers of all ages he advised to take frequent small meals rather than infrequent heavy meals.

Minneapolls-to-Gulf Line.

The Minneapolis, Kansas City and Gulf Railway Company has just been incorporated in Oklahoma, with 130,000,000 capital stock, for the purpose of construction a double-track electric railroad alon; tha line indicated by the title. The Hue ia routed from Minneapolis to Des Moine% tl-ence to Kansas City, Wichita, Guthries Oklahoma City, Dallas and Galveston. A Louisiana woman supports herself by raising mjnt, and a Jersey City wom*% makes a living by painting signs.