Currency Legislation Regulation of
Corporations Inheritance and In
come Taxes Among Presi
dential Recommen
dations
To the Senate and House of
sentatives
No nation has greater resources than
ours and I think it can be truthfully
said that the citizens of no nation pos
sess greatei energy and industrial abil
ity In no nation are the fundamental
business conditions sounder than in
jOUrs at this very moment and it is
foolish when such is the case for peo
ple to hoard money instead of keeping
in sound banks for it is such hoard
ing that is the immediate occasion of
money stringency Moreover as a
rale the business of our people is con
ducted with honesty and probity and
this applies alike to farms and facto
ries to railroads and banks to all our
legitimate commercial enterprises
In any large body of men however
there are certain to be some who are
dishonest and if the conditions are
such that these men prosper or commit
their misdeeds with impunity their ex
ample is a very evil thing for the com
munity Where these men are business
men of great sagacity and of tempera
ment both unscrupulous and reckless
and where the conditions are such that
Or Hs
iaftatoiiyafti
JlJli C
vjjjfe yj 5ta A- j mV litS
JAlViES ABKAM GABFiELU
The twentieth president of the United States was born at Orange O In
1831 and died at Elberon N J Sept 19 1SS1 from a pistol wound inflicted
by an assassin named Charles J Guiteau at Washington on July 2 Garfield
served ably in the civil war and was promoted to be major general for his
services at Chickamauga lie was a prominent member of congress for many
years and was elected to the United States senate a few months before his
nomination for president at the Republican convention in 1SS0 His active
career as president lasted but four months
Republic Fundamentally
Sound Says Mr
Roosevelt
BUT SORE SPOTS EXIST
Dishonesty Must Be Eliminated
Though Innocent
Suffer
ADYOCATES NEW LAWS
J
rmTy acCvvrrnouiTsupCrViCToiror control
and at first without effective check
from public opinion they delude many
innocent people into making invest
ments or embarking in kinds of busi
ness that are really unsound When
the misdeeds of these successfully dis
honest men are discovered suffering
comes not only upon them but upon
the innocent men whom they have
misled It is a painful awakening
whenever it occurs and naturally
when it does occur those who suffer
are apt to forget that the longer it
was deferred the more painful it
would be In the effort to punish the
guilty it is both wise and proper to
endeavor so far as possible to mini
mize the distress of those who have
been misled by the guilty Yet it is
not possible to refrain because of such
distress from striving to put an end
to the misdeeds that are the ultimate
causes of the suffering and as a means
to this end where possible to punish
those responsible for them There may
be honest differences of opinion as to
many governmental policies but sure
ty there can be no such differences as
to the need of unflinching perseverance
in the war against successful dishon
esty
In my message to the congress on
Dec 5 1903 I said
If the folly of man mars the general
iwell being then those who are inno
cent of the folly will have to pay part
of the penalty incurred by those who
are guilty of the folly A panic brought
on by the speculative folly of part of
the business community would hurt
the whole business community but
such stoppage of welfare though it
might be severe would not be lasting
In the long run the one vital factor In
the permanent prosperity of the coun
try is the high individual character of
ithe average American worker the
average American citizen no matter
whether his work be mental or man
jual whether he be farmer or wage
i worker business man or professional
man
In our industrial and social system
the interests of all men are so closely
intertwined that in the immense ma
jority of cases a straight dealing man
jwho by his efficiency by his ingenuity
and industry benefits himself must
also benefit others Normally the man
of great productive capacity who be
comes rich by guiding the labor of
many other men des so by enabling
them to produce more than they could
produce without his guidance and both
he and they share in the benefit which
conies also to the public at large The
superficial fact that the sharing may
be unequal must never blind us to the
underlying fact that there is this shar
ing and that the benefit comes in some
degree to each man concerned Nor
mally the wageworker the man of
small means and the average consum
er as well as the average producer are
all alike helped by making conditions
such that the man of exceptional busi
ness ability receives an exceptional re
ward for his ability Something can
E F OSBORN
J W WENTZ
rbsrtJPrattl osborn wentz
Registered Graduate
Dentist
Office over McConnells Drag Store
McCOOK NEB
Telephones Office 160 residence 131
Former location Atlanta Georgia
BEGGS CHERRY COUGH
SYRUP Cures BRONCHITIS
Draymen
Prompt Service
Courteous Treatment
Reasonable Prices
GIVE US A TRIAL
he done by legislation to help the gen
eral prosperity but no such help of a
permanently beneficial character can
be given to the less able and less for
tunate save as the results of a policy
which shall Inure to the advantage of
all Industrious and efficient people who
act decently and this is only another
way of saying that any benefit which
conies to the less able and less fortu
nate must of necessity come even more
to the more able and more fortunate
If therefore the loss fortunate man
is moved by envy of his more fortu
nate brother to strike at the condi
tions under which they have both
though unequally prospered the result
will assuredly be that while damage
may come to the one struck at it will
visit with an even heavier load the
one who strikes the blow Taken as
a whole we must all go up or go down
together
Yet while not merely admitting but
insisting upon this it is also true that
where there is no governmental re
straint or supervision some of the ex
ceptional men ufo their energies not
in ways that are for the common good
but in ways which tell against this
common good The fortunes amassed
through corporate organization are now
so large and vest such power in those
that wield them as to make it a matter
of necessity to give to the sovereign
that is to the government which rep
resents the people as a whole pome ef
fective power of supervision their
corporate use In order t i rure a
health social and industrhl e every
big corporation should be held respon
sible by and be accountable to some
sovereign strong enough to control its
conduct I am in no sense hostile to
corporations This Is an age of com
bination and any effort to prevent all
combination will be not only useless
but in the end vicious because of the
contempt for law which the failure to
enforce law inevitably produces We
should moreover recognize in cordial
and ample fashion the immense good
I effected by corporate agencies in a
country such as ours and the wealth
ot intellect energy and lidelity devoted
to their service and therefore normally
to the service of the public by their of
ficers and directors The corporation
has come to stay just as the trades
union has come to stay Each can do
and has dore great good Each should
be favored so long as it does good
But each should be sharply checked
where it acts against law and justice
xhe makers of our national
constitution provided especially that
the regulation of interstate commerce
should come within the sphere of the
general government The arguments
in favor of their taking this stand were
even then overwhelming Cut they are
far stronger today in view of the enor
mous development of great business
agencies usually corporate in form
Experience has shown conclusively
that it is useless to try to get any ade
quate regulation and supervision of
these great corporations by state ac
tion Such regulation and supervision
can only be effectively exercised by a
sovereign whose jurisdiction is coex
tensive with the field of work of the
corporations that is by the national
government I believe that this regu
lation and supervision can be obtained
by the enactment of law by the con
gress our steady aim should
be by legislation cautiously and care
fully undertaken but resolutely per
severed in to assert the sovereignty of
the national government by affirmative
action
This is only in form an innovation
In substance it is merely a restora
tion for from the earliest time such
regulation of industrial activities has
been recognized in the action of the
lawmaking bodies and all that I pro
pose is to meet the changed conditions
in such manner as will prevent the
commonwealth abdicating the power
it has always possessed not only in
this country but also in England be
fore and since this country became a
separate nation
It has been a misfortune that the
national laws on this subject have
hitherto been of a negative or prohib
itive rather than an affirmative kind
and still more that they have in part
sought to prohibit what could not be
effectively prohibited and have in part
in their prohibitions confounded what
should be allowed and what should
not be allowed It is generally useless
to try to prohibit all restraint on com
petition whether this restraint be rea
sonable or unreasonable and where it
is not useless it generally hurtful
The successful prosecution of
one device to evade the law immedi
ately develops another device to accom
plish the same purpose What is need
ed is not sweeping prohibition of every
arrangement good or bad which may
tend to restrict competition but such
adequate npe i ion ard regulation as
will prevent any restriction of com
petition from being to the detriment of
the public as well - such supervision
and regulation as will prevent other
abuses in no way connected with re
striction of competition
I have called your attention in these
quotations to what I inve already said
because I am satisfied that it is the
duty of the national governmont to cm
body ii action the principles thus ex
prc cl
INIEiSrV COMMERCE
Founders Provided Fir Tallest Govern
ment Coniroi
No small part of the trouble that we
have comes from carrying to an ex
treme the national virtue of sri reli
ance of independence in initiative and
action It is wise to conserve this vir
tue and to provide for its fullest exer
cise compatible with seeing that lib
erty does not become a liberty to
wrong others Unfortunately this is
the kind of liberty that the lack of all
effective regulation inevitably breeds
The founders of the constitution pro
incut at once proceeded to regulate In j Often railroads would like to combine
Should Be Amended to Permit Proper
Combinations In Business
Moreover in my judgment there
should be additional legislation looking
to the proper control of the great busi
ness concerns engaged in interstate
business this control to bo exercised
for their own benefit and prosperity no
less than for the protection of invest
ors and of the general public As I
have repeatedly said in messages to
the congress and elsewhere experience
has definitely shown not merely the
unwisdom but the futility of endeav
oring to put a stop to all business com
binations Modern industrial condi
tions are such that combination is not
only necessary but inevitable It is
so in the world of business just as it is
so in the world of labor and it is as
idle to desire to put an end to all cor
porations to all big combinations of
capital as to desire to put an end to
combinations of labor Corporation and
labor union alike have come to stay
Each if properly managed is a source
of good and not evil Whenever in
either there is evil it should be prompt
ly held i account but it should re
ceive hearty encouragement so long as
it is properly managed It is profound
ly imrv il to put or keep oi the stat
ute booko lv noinriMy in the
terest of pi Ii- io i
puts a premivs vj m
ity by undertaking to
men from doing vh
that really
v
1 honest
t I e done
under modern busmen c r
that the law Ieir prie fv
own infraction must the i u
precedent uuti bhiess success
jn
To
- 4i r 11 l I I
vantages m iiiw j mnun mum
pers and of the general public Such a
combination instead or being forbid
den by law should be favored
It is a public evil to have on the
statute books a law Incapable of full
enforcement because both judges and
This means that the law as con
strued by the supreme court is such
that the business of the country can
not be conducted without breaking it
As I have elsewhere said
Not a New Proposition
All this is substantially what I have
said over and over again Surely it
ought not to be necessary to say that
it in no shape or way represents any
hostility to corporations as such On
the contrary it means a frank
tion of the fact that combinations of
capital like combinations of labor are
a natural result ot modern conditions
and of our national development As
far as in my ability lies my endeavor
is and will be to prevent abuse of
power by either and to favor both so
long as they do well The aim of the
national government is quite as much
to favor and protect honest corpora
tions honest business men of wealth
as to bring to justice those individuals
and corporations representing dishon
est methods Most certainly there will
be no relaxation by the government
authorities in the effort to get at any
great railroad wrecker any man who
by clever swindling devices robs in
vestors oppresses wageworkers and
does injustice to the general public
But any such move as this is in the
interest of honest railway operators
of honest corporations and of those
who when they invest their small sav
ings in stocks and bonds wish to be
assured that these will represent
money honestly expended for legitimate
business purposes To confer upon
the national government the power for
which I asked would be a check upon
overcapitalization But it alone would
who complain should put the blame
but it is not responsible for what the
light showed I ask for full power to
be given the federal government be
cause no single state can by legisla
tion effectually cope with these pow
erful corporations engaged in inter
state commerce and while doing them
full justice exact from them in return
fuil justice to others The conditions
mfcoC i
vided that the national government Inevitably to threaten injury It has comb Or the contrary the surest
should have complete and sole control is unfortunate that our present laws way to Invite reaction Is to follow the
interstate commerce There was should forbid all combinations Instead lead of either demagogue or visionary
then practically no interstate bus 1 of sharply discriminating between
ness ve such as was conducted by those combinations which do good and
water and this the national govern- those combinations which do evil
In a sweeping assault upon property
values and upon public confidence
which would work Incalculable dam
age In the business world ami would
thoroughgoing and effective fashion for the purpose of preventing a big produce such distrust of the agitatoia
Conditions have now so wholly shipper from maintaining improper ad- that in the revulsion the distrust would
ed that the Interstate commerce by
water is insignificant compared with
the amount that goes by land and al
most all big business concerns are now
engaged in interstate commerce As a
result it can be but partially and im
perfectly controlled or regulated by
the action of any one of the several
states such action inevitably tending
to be either too drastic or else too lax
and in either case Ineffective for pur
poses of justice Only the national
government can in thoroughgoing fash
ion exercise the needed control This
docs not mean that there should be
any extension of federal authority for
such authority already exists under
the constitution in amplest and most
far reaching form but it does mean
that there should be an extension of
federal activity This Is not advocat
ing centralization It is merely looking
facts in the face and realizing that
centralization in business has already
come and cannot be avoided or undone
and that the public at large can only
protect itself from certain evil effects
of this business centralization by pro
viding better methods for the exercise
of control through the authority al
ready centralized in the national gov
ernment by the constitution itself
There must be no halt in the healthy
constructive course of action which
this nation has elected to pursue and
has steadily pursued during the last
six years as shown both in the legis
lation of the congress and the admin
istration of the law by the depart
ment of justice The most vital need
is in connection with the railroads As
to these in my judgment there should
extend to honest men who In sincere
and sane fashion are trying to remedy
the evils
The antitrust law should not be re
pealed but It should be made both
more efficient and more In harmony
with actual conditions It should lie
juries realize that Its full enforcement so amended as to forbid only the kind
would destroy the business of the of combination which does harm to the
country for the result is to make de- general public such amendment to bo
cent men violators of the law against accompanied by or to be an Incident of
their will and to put a premium on the
behavior of the willful Avrongdoers
Such a result in turn tends to throw
the decent man and the willful wrong
doer into close association and In the
endi to drag down the former to the
hitters level for the man who be
comes a lawbreaker in one way un
happily tends to lose all respect for
law and to be willing to break it in
many ways No more scathing con-
demuation could be visited upon a law
than is contained in the words of the
interstate commerce commission when
in commenting upon the fact that the
numerous joint traffic associations do
technically violate the law they say
The decision of the United States
preme court in the transmissouri case
and the Joint Traffic association case
lias produced no practical effect upon
the railway operations of the country
Such associations in fact exist now
as they did before these decisions and
with the same general effect In
justice to all parties we ought i
ably to add that it is difficult to see i
how our interstate railways could be
operated with due regard to the inter
est of the shipper and the railway
without concerted action of the kind
now be either a national incorporation afforded through these associations
act or a law licensing railway compa
nies to engage in interstate commerce
upon certain conditions The law
should be so framed as to give to the
interstate commerce commission pow
er to pass upon the future issue of se
curities while ample means should be
provided to enable the commission
whenever in its judgment it is neces
sary to make a physical valuation of
any railroad As I stated in my mes
sage to the congress a year ago rail
roads should be given power to enter
into agreements subject to these agree
ments being made public in minute de
tail and to the consent of the inter
state commerce commission being first
obtained Until the national govern
ment assumes proper control of inter
state commerce in the exercise of the
authority it already possesses it will
be impossible either to give to or to
get from the railroads full justice The
railroads and all other great corpora
tions will do well to recognize that this
control must come The only question
is as to what governmental body can
most wisely exercise it The courts
will determine the limits within which
the federal authority can exercise it
and there will still remain ample work
within each state for the railway com
mission of that state and the national
interstate commerce commission will
work in harmony with the several
state commissions each within its own
province to achieve the desired end
SE SHERMAN LAW
a grant of supervisory power to the
government over these big concerns
engaged in interstate business This
should be accompanied by provision
for the compulsory publication of ac
counts and the subjection of books and
papers to the inspection of the govern
ment officials A beginning has al
ready been made for such supervision
by the establishment of tbo bureau of
corporations
MONOPOLY DENOUNCED
No Combination Should Be Permitted to
Corner Necessities of Life
The antitrust law should not prohibit
combinations that do no injustice to
the public still less those the existence
of which Is on the whole of benefit to
the public But even if this feature
of the law were abolished there would
remain as an equally objectionable fea
ture the difficulty and delay now inci
dent to its enforcement The govern
ment must now submit to irksome unl
repeated delay before oM iining a final
decision of the courts upon proceedings
instituted and even a favorable decree
may mean an empty victory More
over to attempt to control these cor
porations by lawsuits means to impose
upon both the department of justice
and the courts an impossible burden It
i Is not feasible to carry on more than a
j limited number of such suits Such a
law to be really effective must of
course be administered by an executive
body and not merely by means of law
suits The design should be to pre
vent the abuses incident to the creation
of unhealthy and improper couibina
tions instead of waiting until they are
in existence and then attempting to de
stroy them by civil or criminal pro
ceedings
A combination should not be toer
ated if it abuse the power acquired by
combination to the public detriment
No corporation or association of anv
kind should be permitted to engage in
foreign or interstate commerce that is
formed for the purpose of or whose
operations create a monopoly or gener
al control of the production sale or
distribution of any one or more of the
prime necessities of life or articles of
general use and necessity Such com
binationsaroagainst public policy Th y
violate the common law the door
of the courts are closed to tho e v no
are parties to them and I believe tin
congress can close the channels of in
terstate commerce against them for its
protection The law should make its
prohibitions and permissions as cleai
and definite as possible leaving the
least possible room for arbitrary action
or allegation of such action on the part
of the executive or of divergent inter
pretations by the courts Among the
points to be aimed at should be the
prohibition of unhealthy competition
such as by rendering service at an ac-
mean an increase in the value an in 1 tual loss for the purpose of crushing
crease in the safety of the stocks and
bonds of law abiding honestly man-
aged railroads and would render it far
easier to market their securities I
believe in proper publicity There has j
been complaint of some of the investi
gations recently carried on but those
out competition the prevention of in
flation of capital and the prohibition
of a corporations making exclusive
trade with itself a condition of having
any trade with itself Reasonable
agreements between or combinations
of corporations should be permitted
provided they are first submitted to
where it belongs upon the misdeeds mtl approved by some appropriate gov
which are done in darkness and not eminent body
upon the investigations which brought Tue congress has the power to char
them to light The administration is j ter corporations to engage In interstate
responsible for turninc on the light I an1 foreign commerce and a general
law can be enacted under the pro
visions of which existing corporations
could take out federal charters and
new federal corporations could be cre
ated As essential provision of such a
law should be a method of predeter
mining by some federal board or com
mission whether the applicant for a
federal charter was an association or
of railroad activity the conditions of combination within the restrictions of
our immense interstate commerce are
such as to make the central govern
ment alone competent to exercise full
supervision and control
Grave Results of Abuses
The grave abuses in individual
cases of railroad management in the
past represent wrongs not merely to
the general public but above all
wrong to fair dealing and honest cor
porations and men of wealth because
they excite a popular anger and dis
trust which from the very nature of
the case tend to include in the sweep
of its resentment good and bad alike
aim at the ac opIIshnient of too From the standpoint of the public I
much rsiially ritis the accomplish- cannot too earnestly say that as soon
meit of too itrl and often the doing as the natural and proper resentment
of positive da 1 ire In my message to aroused by these abuses becomes in-
the congress n year ago In speaking of
the nntirrurt laws I said
The actual working of our laws has
Bhown that the effort to prohibit all
combination good or bad is noxious
where it is not ineffective Combina
tion of capital like combination of la
bor is a necessary element in our pres
ent industrial system It is not pos
sible completely to prevent it and if
It were possible such complete preven
tion would do damage to the body
politic- What we need is not vainly
to try to prevent all combination but
to secure such rigorous and adequate
eontrol and supervision of the com
binations as to prevent their Injuring
the public or existing In such forms as
discriminate and unthinking it also be
comes not merely unwise and unf r
but calculated to defeat the very c
which those feeling it have in vie
There has been plenty of dishonest
work by corporations in the past
There will not be the slightest let up in
the effort to hunt down and punish ev
ery dishonest man But the bulk of
our business is honestly done In the
natural indignation the people feel over
the dishonesty it Is all essential that
they should not lose their heads and
pet drawn into an indiscriminate raid
fipon all corporations all people of
wealth whether they do well or ill
Out of any such wild movement good
will not come cannot come and never
the federal law Provision should al o
be made for complete publicity in a
matters affecting the public and com
plete protection to the inventing pub5
and the shareholders in the matter of
issuing corporate securities If an in-
law is not deemed
e a license act for big interstate
rations might be enacted or a com-
nation of the two might be tried
he supervision established might be
- nalogous to that now exercised over
al mi At least the antitrust
t shi I e supplemented by specific
ohibitions of the methods which ex
l nonce has shown have been of most
rvice in enrblir ir monopolistic com
binations to crush out competition
T he real owners of a corporation
rhould be compelled to do business in
their own name The right to hold
stock in other corporations should here
after be denied to interstate corpora
lions unless on approval by the proper
government officials and a prerequisite
to such approval should be the lasting
with the government of all owners and
stockholders both by the corporation
owning such stock and by the corpora
tion in which such stock Is owned
To confer upon the national govern
ment in connection with the amend
ment 1 advocate in the antitrust law
power of supervision over big business
concerns engaged in interstate com
merce would benefit them as it bast
benefited the national banks In the
recent business crisis it is noteworthy
V
V
I
