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JBRUARY 7, 1908
The Commoner
THE PRESIDENT'S CALL TO ARMS
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11 message Friday,- January 31. IIo explains
fhe occasion for this message by saying: "The
accent decision of the supremo court in regard
to the employers' liability act, the experience
of the interstate commerce commission and of
e department of justice in enforcing the in-
KSrstate commerce and anti-trust laws, and the
Bravely significant attitude toward the law and
'iiti administration recently adopted by certain
!mads of great corporations, render it desirablo
gftkat there should be additional legislation as
gfgards certain of the relations between labor
and capital, and between the great corporations
K5d the public."
WHAT THE PRESIDENT RECOMMENDS
The message is very long and the follow
ing synopsis is taken from the Lincoln (Neb.)
Journal :
The president begins by recommending the
sage of an employer's liability law, to apply
only to men engaged in interstate traffic. Then
e warms up to the main subject and discusses
e whole corporation question, and the attacks
at have been made upon the administration.
He says there has been abuse of the in-
tnction in labor union disputes, and the abuse
beginning to bring discontent and disrespect
xor uie reaerai juaiciary.
Stock watering is denounced.
The federal government must assume a
J?5irtain measure of control over the physical
operation of railways.
Corporations, he Insists, have duties as
kwell as rights, and they must be taught that
fact.
Gambling on the stock market is no better
than with cards and on the race track.
Corporation lawyers are declared largely to
blame for delay in justice; and equally culpable
,.V)Rare men who oppose enactment or just laws.
The man who seeks to corrupt legislatures
less important lawmaking bodies is in the
me class as the blackmailer, the bribe-giver,
e gambler and the thug.
The judges who fined the Standard Oil
company and the Santa Fe Railroad company
are defended.
The president charges certain rich men with
.banding together to evade the law and discredit
the administration.
He denies any attack on law-abiding wealth,
but says the most efficient instrument of cor
ruption is in the purchased politician and the
purchased newspaper.
He singles out the Standard Oil company
as a law-defying corporation, which controls
books and pamphlets and speeches by public
and private men.
The president says his purpose is to put
Jthe real wrongdoer in prison, and this is what
has been done with some wealthy criminals and
what he hopes to do with others.
He does not believe the acts of the admin
istration have brought about business distress,
but if the panic was necessary at this time to
expose corruption, he has no misgivings.
DEMOCRATS ARE PLEASED
A Washington dispatch referring to the spe
cial message says: "When the striking pas
sages were reached many of the senators looked
around the chamber and exchanged smiles. Mr.
Tillman seemed especially pleased with the doc
ument." In the senate Mr. Davis, democrat, of Ar
kansas moved that 10,000 copies of the mes
sage be printed as a public document. Mr.
Davis said: "It is the best democratic doctrine
that I have ever heard emlnating' f rom a repub
lican source." In the house the democrats
made a demonstration of their approval by ris
ing to their feet and clapping their hands. Mr.
James, democrat, of Kentucky, tauntingly asked
Mr. Payne, republican, "How many additional
thousand do you desire for circulation?" Mr.
Payne laughingly replied: "Oh, the usual
number."
SOME HARD HITS
Following are some extracts from the
message:
There is no moral difference between gambling-
at cards or in lotteries or on the race track
and gambling in the stock market.
It is not the puppets, but the strong cun
ning men and the mighty forces working for
evil behind and through the puppets, with whom
wo have to deal.
When we are able to put the real wrong
doer in prison, this Is what we strive to do.
That stockholder is not innoceut who vol
untarily purchases stock in a corporation whoso
methods and management ho knows to be
corrupt.
The apologists of successful dishonesty al
ways declaim against any effort to punish or
prevent it on the ground that any such effort
will "unsettle business."
They have hurt honest business men, honest
workingmon, honest farmers, and now they
clamor against the truth being told.
The business which is hurt by the movement
for honesty is the kind of business which, In tbo
long run, it pays the country to have hurt. It
is the kind of business which has tended to
make the name "high finance" a term of scandal
to which all honest American men of business
should join, in putting an end.
Most certainly it behooves us all to treat
with the utmost respect the high office of judge,
and our judges, as a whole,- are brave and up
right men.
The opponents of the measures we cham
pion single out now one and now another meas
ure for especial attack, and speak as if the
movement in which we are engaged was purely
economic. It has a large economic side, but
it is fundamentally an ethical movement.
The methods by which the Standard Oil
people and those engaged in the other combina
tions of which I have spoken about have
achieved great fortunes can only be justified
by the advocacy of a system of morality which
would also justify every form of criminality on
the part of a labor union, and every form of
violence, corruption and fraud, from murder
to bribery and ballot box stuffing In politics.
I do not for a moment believe that the
actions of this administration have brought on
business distress.
STRIKING WORDS
The president concludes his message with
these striking words:
"On behalf of all our peoplo, on behalf
no less of the honest man of means than of
the honest man who earns each day's livelihood
by that day's sweat of his brow, it is necessary
to insist upon honesty in business and politics
alike, in all walks of life, in big things and in
little things; upon just and fair dealing as be
tween man and man. Those who demand this
are striving for the right in the spirit of Abra
ham Lincoln when ho said:
" 'Fondly do we hope, fervently do we
pray, that this mighty scourge of war may
speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that
it continue until all the wealth piled by
the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years
of unrequited toil shall bo sunk, and until
every drop of blood drawn with the lash
shall be paid by another drawn with the
sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so still
it must be said that the judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous altogether.
With malice toward none; with charity for
all; with firmness in the right, as God gives
us to see the right, let us finish the work
we are in.'
"In the work wo of this generation are in,
there is, thanks be to the Almighty, no danger
of bloodshed and no use for the sword; -but there
is grave need of those stern qualities shown
alike by the men of the north and the men of
the south. in the dark days when each valiantly
battled for the right as It was given each to
see the right. Their spirit should be our spirit,
as we strive to bring nearer the day when greed
and trickery and cunning shall be trampled
under feet by those who fight for the righteous
ness that exalteth a nation."
MR. BRYAN ON THE MESSAGE
It is a brave message 'that the president sent
to congress last Friday, and is needed at this
time. All friends of reform have reason to
rejoice that the president has used his high
position to call attention to the wrongs that
need to be remedied. He has discovered the
running sore in our national life. He has point
ed out the corrupting influences that flow from
predatory wealth and the monopolistic enter
prises which havo given unearned riches to tho
fow, who, by controlling tho great Industrie of
tho nation havo loviod tribute on tho wholo
country.
Ills warnings are entirely In harmony with
tho warnings which democrats have boon u tier
ing for moro than a decade, and I hope that tho
democrats in the senate and Iiouho will prompt
ly challongo the republicans to meet tho Ihhuoo
that havo been presented by tho president.
Thoro ought to bo enough republicans In
tho two housos to join with tho democrats and
insure some romcdlal legislation at this seaaion.
If there be nono tho public ought to know It,
so that when tho next nation-1 republican con
vention endorses tho present administration tho
hypocrisy of tho endorsement will be understood.
Tho president has discussed the relative sphoroa
of tho state and of tho nation. We hope that in
tho measures which may he Introduced in re
sponse to tills appeal there will be no attempt
to take from the states any power that they now
have.
Tho domocrats aro in favor of tho present
power vested in tho congress, but they want tho
national remedies added to tho state remedies
and not substituted for them. If tho presidents
republican friends will jol.. with tho democrats
in devising legislation which will bo effectivo
and yet.wthin tho recognized constitutional
power of congress, great good may be accom
plished before congress adjourns.
Tho president has issued a call to arms.
Now let tho battle begin and wo shall soon bo
able to pick out tho purchased newspapers and
tho purchased legislators described by the presi
dent, but not specifically named.
CHANCELLOR DAY ON THK MKSSAGH
Chancellor Day of Syracuse University
seems ready to speak for tho special Interests.
Speaking to a representative of the AsHoclatcd
Press at Syracuse, N. Y., Mr. Day said:
"Of tho president's message If i am entirely
honest and frank, I am compelled to say that
much of it roads like the raving of a disordered
mind, and other portions, in which appeal Is
made to class prejudice and excitement, is largo
with tho suggestion of tho adroit and cunning,
the shrewd, but reckless demagogue.
"The wholo message Is his familiar ranting
against what he calls 'criminal wealth' and it
proceeds upon the slanderous assumption that
so great a -piece of corporate business of this
country Is so corrupt as to demand special mes
sages to congress, popular harangues by tho
president and the entire time, ability and effect
of the congress in volume of corrective legisla
tion such as tho world has never seen.
"It Is wrong, a great wickedness, for tho
Standard Oil to defend Itself, but there is no
impropriety in the president's assailing this cor
poration by name and defaming it and slander
ing it with the 'envenomed' influence of his
great office, while its cause is still undecided
in the higher courts. The 'square deal' has long
been a farce and this inconsistency seems to
have escaped Mr. Roosevelt's ethical standard,
of which he makes so much.
"As I am one of those 'hired' book writers
referred to, a personal word may be permitted.
Not a nickel or dime was ever offered to mo
by any person, company or corporation for a
sentence or paragraph In print in any shape or
form whatever. No such party knew a syllable
contained In my book until it was published.
"I was warned that if I wrote, my reputa
tion would be assailed by the president and
every unworthy motive would be charged against
me. I have been accused of personal piquo
and revenge. I am charged with selling my
character and bartering my reputation for pay
to a cause that I know to be corrupt. When
one hears the high source of such a slander,
can one imagine a much lower descent of vitu
peration or a more astounding use of the pre
rogatives of the highest of influences in our
land?
"These are strange times when American
citizens are to be assailed under cover of a mes
sage to congress for exercising their inalienable
right to criticize the 'policies' and acts of the ad
ministration of the country. If this liberty Is
to be taken from the people what Is there left
(Continued on Page C)
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