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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1902)
f&mwmmmmpSE5mSijBmmS 111,11 tifiS Oec. iat rpa The Commoner. if SllBPI(WWfP',WPffll I M t re ? ' . i. 4" . - V iMA-xsuMMjimiMXLusjmmmmimmm. One Step Nearer Cost Our New General Catalogue No. 71 brings our 2,000,000 customers nearer than they have ever been before to the actual manufacturing cost of everything they Gat, wear or use. We buy in largest quantities for spot cash, besides having many factories of our own. and sell direct to our customers,saving them the profits of the Jobber, wholesaler and rotailenthat's iht Tsecret. CHRISTMJtS BUYING has already begun. Retailers are advancing their prices for the ttpliday trade. Our prices are never advanced, our goods are of the very latest style and best quality and our customers save onefourth to onehalf on the orders they send us. AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT Sond for Cataloguo TODAY and got atioad of tbo Christmas rush. Montgomery Ward Co., Chicago. Enclosed find 15 conts, for which ploaso Bond mo Gatalocuo No. 71. Name. Exprcso OfHcc- Oounty Wrlto very plain. Post Offlco- -Btate. Our catalogue pictures and ' describes different &H4.U.V u.iiyiiiiiig yuu. wuni, to suit ait tastes and purses. Every article we offer is reliable, and you can have your money back willingly, and cheerfully if you are not satisfied. Hadn't you better send catalogue today? Fill out the slip to the left and send to us with iSc and the catalogue Is yours. Montgomery Ward 8r Co., Chicago sssMaasasssas)" S?.lSii'AT aiKtt'gim l..hm:.,, WTi.' -w-. w fi-t.t.w'UMWr.SW'"tvrAri rjuuuwtaaaKgw i'tvffi VTHT'irroTTtc-jLL-l. r: " Er'f-fljBv 1 QH3 Our Catnlojruo costs mm MKmm us nearly a dollar each H EmWj to print and forward. M VV Wo cliargo 15 cents WBl for It to prevent all iHPl wiistcful dlHtributlon I I 3P fcf to Pcoplo who would I I JHy E not " You can I I MJ Wm 8,lvo ten times 15 cts, I I mW mm on your flr8t onlcr 1 I for our rcSKlHSEflKRllB m ljrxVKMmMmjBU 'Mhn. f Jiicue&itiAt'm Mi$'AS mmJmr The President's Message. To the Senate and House of Rep resentatives: Wo still continue in a period of unbounded prosperity. This prosperity is not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the laws under which we work have been instrumental in creating the conditions which made "it possible, and by unwise legislation it would-be easy enough to destroy i-. There will undoubtedly be periods of depression. The wave will recede; but the tide "will advance. This nation is seated on a continent flanked by two great oceans. It is composed of men the descendants of pioneers, or, in a sense, pioneers themselves; of men winnowed out from among the nations of the old world by the energy, bold ness, and love of adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such a na tion, so placed, will surely wrest suc cess from fortune. As a people we have played a large part in the world, and we are bent up on making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the events of the last four years have definitely de cided that, for woe or for weal, our place must be great among the nations. We may eittfer fail greatly or succeed greatly; but we cannot avoid the en deavor from which either great failure or great success must come. Even if we would, we cannot play a small part. If we should try, all that would follow would be that we should play a large part ignobly and shamefully. . But our people, the sons of the men of the civil war, the sons of the men who had iror. in their blood, rejoice in the present and face the future high of heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed 'At the weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and of triumphant endeavor. We do not shrink from the struggle before us. There are many problems for us to face at the outset of the twentieth century grave problems abroad and still graver at home; but we know that we can solve them and solve them well, provided only that we bring to the so lution the qualities of head and heart which were shown by the men who, in the days of Washington founded this government, and, in the' days of Lin coln, preserved it, . ' THE? TRUSTS. No country has ever occupied a nicher plane of material well-belne thati ours at the present moment This "well-being is due to no sudden or ac cidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces in this country for over a century; to our laws, our sus tained arid continuous policies; above all, to the high individual average of our citizenship. Great fortunes have been won by those who have taken the lead in this phenomenal industrial de velopment, and most of these fortunes have, been won not by doing evil, but as an incident to action which has benefited the community as a whole. Never before has material well-being been so widely diffused among our peo ple. Great fortunes have been accumu lated, and vyet in the aggregate these fortunes are small indeed when com pared to the wealth of "the people as a whole. The plain people are better off than they have ever been before. The insurance companies, which are practically mutual benefit societies especially helpful to men of moderate means represent accumulations of capital which are among the largest in this country. There are more deposits in the savings banks, more owners of farms, more well-paid wage-workers in this country now than ever before In our history. Of course, when the conditions have favored the growth of so much that was good, they have also favored somewhat the growth of what was evil. It is eminently necessary that we should endeavor to cut out this evil, but le us keep a due sense of proportion; let us not in fixing our gaze upon the lesser evil forget the greater good. The evils are real and some of them are menacing, but' they are the outgrowth, not of miserv nr decadence, but of prosperity of the progress of our gigantiCindustrial de velopment. This industrial develop ment must not be checked, but side" by side with it should go such progressive regulation as will diminish the evils. We should fail in our duty if we did not try to remedy the evils, but we Shall SllflfiPpd nnlv If vn nrnioA.1 n tiently, with practical common sense good from the bad and holding on to the former while endeavoring to get rid of the latter. PUBLICITY. In my message to the present con gress at Its first session I disoussed at length ths question of the regulation of those big corporations common Iv (doing an interstate business, often j with some tendency to monopoly, which aro popularly known as trust. The experience of the past year ha emphasized, in my opinion, the desir ability of the steps I then proposed. A fundamental requisite of social "il ficiency is a high standard of indi vidual energy and excellence; but this is in no wise inconsistent with power to act in combination fqr alms which cannot so well bo achieved hv the in dividual acting alone. A fundamental uase or civilization Is the Inviolability of property; but this is in no wise In consistent with the right of society to regulate the exercise of the artificial powers which it confers upon the own ers of property, under the name of cor porate franchises. In such a wav nq fo prevent the misuse of these powers Corpdrations, and especially combina tions of corporations, should bo man aged under public regulation. Exper ience has shown that under our sys tem of government the necnorv su pervision cannot be obtained by state action. It must therefore be achieved by" national action. Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the con trary, these big 'aggregations are an inevitable development of modern in dustrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile unless accom plished in ways that would work the Utmost mischief to the on tiro bnrlv politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and supervis ing these corporations until wo fix clearly in our minds that wo are not attacking the corporations, but endeav oring to uo away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the pub lic good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth. The capitalist who, alone or in conjunc tion with his fellows, performs some great industrial feat by which he win3 money is a well-doer, not a wrong doer, provided only he works in proper and legitimate lines. We wish to favor such a man when he does well. We wish to supervise and contror his ac tions only to prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest corporation; and we need not be overtender about snarinc the rU. nonest corporation. In curbing and regulating the com binations of capital which are or may become injurious to the public we must be careful not to stop the great enterprises which have legitimately reduced the cost of production, not to abandon the place which our country has won Jn the leadership of the inter national Industrial world, not to strike down wealth with the result of clos ing factories and mines, of turning tho wage-worker idle in the streets anil leaving the farmer without a market for what ho grows. Insistence upon tho Impossible means delay in achlov-" ing tho possible, exactly as, on tho other -hand, the stubborn defonso allka of what Is good and what Is bad In the existing system, the resolute effort to obstruct any attempt at betterment, betrays blindness to the historic truth that wise evolution is the sure safe guard against revolution. INTERSTATE BUSINESS. No more important subject can come beforo tho congress than this of tho regulation of Interstate business. This country cannot afford to sit supine on the plea that under our peculiar system of government we are helpless in the presence of tho new conditions, and unable to grapple with them or to cut out whatever of evil has arisen in connection with them. Thd power of the congress to regulate interstate commerce Is an absolute and unqual. fled grant, and without limitations other than those prescribed by tho constitution. The congress has con stitutional authority to make all laws necessary and proper for executing this power, and I am satisfied that thta power has not been exhausted by any legislation now on the statute books. It is evident, therefore, that evils re strictive of commercial freedom and entailing restraint upon national com merce fall within the regulative power of the congress, and that a wise and reasonable law would bo a necessarv and proper exercise of congressional authority to the end that such evils should be eradicated. I believe that monopolies, unjuct discriminations, which prevent or crip ple competition, fraudulent overcapi talization, and other evils in trust or' ganizations and practices which in juriously affect interstate trade can bo prevented under the power of the con gress to "regulate commerce with for eign nations and among the several states" through regulations and re quirements operating directly upon such commerce, the instrumentalities thereof, and those engaged therein. I earnestly recommend this subject Tobacco Heart may be cured. Don't neglect your symptoms. D& Miles' Heart Cure is a great heart and blood tonic about which you will learn a groat deal and also about heart troublo by sending postal for free book on diseases of the h art and nerre. Dr. Mujca Medical Co.. Elkhart, Ind.