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The Commoner
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DECEMBER, 1914
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President Wilson Sees Bright Business Future
Following is an Associated Press report:
Washington, D. C, Nov. 17. "A future clear
and bright with promise of the best things," was
the way President Wilson summed up his view
of the business prospect tonight in a letter to
Secretary McAdoo of the treasury department,
congratulating him upon the opening of the new
federal reserve bank system.
"Fundamental wrongs once righted, as they
may now easily and quickly be," wrote the pres
ident, "all differences will clear away. We are
all in the same boat, though apparently we had
forgotten it. We now know the port for which we
are bound. We have and shall have more and
more as our new undertakings ripen, a common
discipline of patriotic purposes. We shall ad
vance and advance together with a new spirit
and enthusiasm, a new cordiality of spirited co
operation. It is an inspiring prospect."
Mr. Wilson referred to the new tariff law,
the new currency law, the new trade commission
law and the labor provision of the new anti
trust law as the means through "which the soil
everywhere had been laid bare, out of which
monopoly is slowly to be eradicated."
FREEING OF CREDIT, KEY PIECE
He added that "undoubtedly the means by
which credit has been set free is at the heart of
all things; is the keypiece of the whole struc
ture." Referring to "opportuneness" of the currency
law the president said:
"The war which has involved the whole of the
heart of Europe has made it necessary that the
United States should mobilize its resources in
the most effective way possible." He spoke of
the difficulty of marketing the cotton crop, and
added that "no doubt in the light of the new day
with its new understandings, the problems of the
railroads will also be met and dealt with in a
spirit of candor and justice."
, PRESENT'S LETTER ,
The president's letter, which was in reply to
one from Secretary McAdoo announcing the
opening of the reserve banks, said:
"My Dear Mr. Secretary: I warmly appreciate
your letter of yesterday for I share your feeling
entirely about the significance of the opening of
the Federal Reserve banks for business.
"I do not know that any special credit belongs
to me for the part I was privileged to play in the
establishment of this new system of which we
confidently hope so much; in the labor and
knowledge and forethought and practical ex
perience and sagacity of so many men are em
bodied who have co-operated with unusual wis
dom and admirable public spirit. None of them, I
am sure, will be jealous of the distribution of the
praise for the great piece of legislation upon
which the new rests; they will only rejoice
unselfishly to see the thing accomplished upon
which they had set their hearts.
"It has been accomplished and its accomplish
ment is of the deepest significance, both because
of the things it has done awa; with and be
cause of the things it has supplied that the coun
try lacked and had long needed. It has done,
away with agitation and suspicion, because it
has done away with certain fundamental
wrongs. It has supplied means of accommoda
tion in the business world and an instrumental
ity by which the Interest of all without regard
to class may readily be served.
"We have only to look back 10 years or so to
realize the deep perplexities and dangerous ill
humors out of which we have now at last issued
as if from a bewildering fog, a noxious miasma.
Ten or twelve years ago the country was torn
and excited by agitation which shook the very
foundations of her political life, brought her
business ideals into question, condemned her
social standards, denied the honesty of her men
of affairs, the Integrity of her economic pro
cesses, the morality and good faith of many of
the things which her law sustained.
"Those who had power, whether in business
or in politics, were almost universally looked
upon with suspicion and little attempt was made
to distinguish the just from the unjust. They,
in their turn seemed to distrust the people ana
to wish to limit their contro'. There was an
ominous antagonism between classes. Capital
and labor were in sharp conflict without pros
pect of accommodation between them. Interests
harshly clashed which havo co-operated.
SAYS REAL WRONGS EXISTED
"This was not merely the work of irresponsible
agitators. There were real wrongs, which cried
out to be righted, and fearless men had called
attention to them, demanding that they bo dealt
with by law. Wo were living under a tarifC,
which had been purposely contrived to confer
private favors upon those who wore co-operating
to keep the party that originated it in power;
and in that all too fertile soil all the bad, inter
laced growth and jungle of monopoly had sprung
up. Credit, the very life of trade, the very air
men must breathe if they would meet their op
portunities, was too largely in the control of
the same small groups who had planted and cul
tivated monopoly. The control of all big busi
ness, and by consequence of all little business,
too, was for the most part potentially, if not
actually, in their hands.
"And the things stood so until the democratic
party came into power last year. The legisla
tion of the past year and a half has in very large
measure done away with these things. With
their correction, suspicion and ill-wlil will pass
away. For not only have these things been
righted, but new things have been put into ac
tion, which are sure to prove the instruments of
a new life in which the mists and distempers
which have so embarrassed us will be cleared
away; the wrongs and misunderstandings cor
rected, which have brought distrust upon so
many honest men, unjustly. That is the main
ground of my own satisfaction.
"The tariff has been recast with a view to
supporting the government rather than support
ing the favored beneficiaries of the government.
A system of banking and currency Isbucs has
been created which puts credit within the reach
of every man who can show a growing business;
and the supervision and control of the system is
in the hands of a responsible agency, of the gov
ernment itself.
LABOR MADE SOMETHING HUMAN
"A trade tribunal has been created in which
those who attempt unjust and oppressive prac
tices in businesses can be brought to book. Labor
has been made something else in the view of the
law than a mere mercantile commodity, some
thing human and linked with the privileges of life
itself. The soil has everywhere been laid bare,
out of which monopoly is slowly to bo eradi
cated. And undoubtedly the means by which
credit has been set free is at the heart of all
these things, is the key-piece of the whole struc
ture. ,.
"This is more significant, because of its op
portunities. It is brought to its final accom
plishment just as it is most imperatively needed.
"The war, which has involved the whole of
the heart of Europe, has made It necessary that
the United States should mobilize its resources
in the most effective way possible and make her
credit and her usefulness good for the service of
the whole world. It has created, too, special
difficulties, peculiar situations to bo dealt with,
like the great embarrassment in selling our im
mense cotton crop, which all the world needs,
but against which, for the time being, the mark
ets of the world are in danger of being artifi
cially shut. ... ..
"That situation the bankers of the country
are meeting so far as possible in a business-like
fashion and in the spirit of the new time which
fs opening before us. The ;ailroads of the coun
try are almost as much affected, not so much
hpcause their business is curtailed as because
Scredlt is called in question by doubt as to
fhfi r earning capacity. There is no other in
w i central to the business welfare of the
cteTaattS No doubt in the light of the
new day with its new understandings the prob
fems of the railroads will also be met and dealt
m! -Vf iJsnlrit of candor and justice.
WUU FUTURE PROMISES BEST THINGS
"For the future is clear and bright with prora-
x f fhl best things. While there was agitation
iS6i Ciinicion and distrust and bitter complaint
a?ironcs . ctoSSs and classes were at war with
f JZfer did not see that their interests were
onennnd suffered only when separated and
common and Buaerea , d to, wrong8
broUgllih!?d as they may now easily and quickly
once rffeVnees win clear away. We are all
be'a11 I5fhont though apparently we had for
tten i Wetw TnfwTe port for which we
are bound. Wo have and shall havo more and
more as our now understandings ripen, a com
mon discipline of patriotic .purpose. We shall
advance and advance together, with a now spirit,
a now onthusiasm, a now cordiality of spirited
co-oporatlon. It Is an inspiring prospect. Our
task is hencoforth to work,' riot for any single
interest, but for all the interests of the country
art a united whole.
"The future will bo very different from the
past, which wo shall presently look back upon,
I venture to say, .as it upon a bad dream. The
future will be different In action and different in
spirit, a time of healing, because it will be a time
of just dealing and co-operation between men
made equals bofore the law in fact us well as in
name. I am speaking of this bocauso the new
banking system seems to me to symbolize all of
it. The opening of the federal resorvo banks
seems to rno to be the principal agoncy we have
created for the emancipation wo Heck. The 10th
of Novomber, 1914, will bo notablo as marking
the time when we were best able to realize just
what had happened.
"In the anxious time through which wo have
been passing, you have, my dear Mr. Secrotary,
been able to do many noteworthy things to
strengthen and facilitate the business operations
of the country. Henceforth you have a now
instrument at hand which will render many
parts of your task easy. I heartily congratulate
you upon the part you yourself havo played In
its conception and creation and upon the suc
cessful completion of tho difficult work of or
ganization. A now day had. dawned for the
beloved country whoso lasting prosperity and
happiness we so earnestly desire.
"Sincerely yours,
"WOODROW WILSON."
ME
WHAT the onsEftjMns mn
Tho public has just received details of
what Secretary Bryan's "observers" did at tho
recent elections in Santo Domingo. It was
known that a commission had been dispatched
to the republic to watch tho casting oE the votes,
but it was not clear that thoy would bo able to
exercise any effective Influence. It now appears
that the merc act of inspection was quite suffi
cient, that a strictly honest election was hold,
and the popular choice elected without any mil
itary or revolutionary manifestations.
The American commission detailed watchers
to be present at every voting place in th0 re
public. Civilians wore chosen as far as possible,
but when tho supply of civilians rah out, ma
rines from tho American warships were detailed
for this special service. Nowhere was thor0
any resentment against the presence of the
Americans, and nowhere were there any at
tempts at Irregularity or dishonesty. An elec
tion in the United States could scarcely have
been moro regular.
The plan was novel and appears to havo been
justified by its results. That Americans in an
unofficial capacity could, by merely watching,
make a fair election certain In a country where
fair elections are rare, would not at first glance
seem probable. Tho Domincians, apparently,
have a praiseworthy appreciation of the desir
ability of tho good opinion of the United States.
It remains to bo determined whether the lesson
will be of lasting effect. ,f
Such methods', of course, can not be generally
applied. In a large republic such as Mexico or
Venezuela they would be Impossible. Only in
the littlest nations, which are, moro or less def
initely wards of tho United States, could an ob
servation of elections lead to results so desir
able as those which have been achieved in Santo
Domingo. Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The addition of Nevada and Montana to the
list of suffrage states makes that entire section
of the country from Wyoming and Colorado to
the Pacific solidly suffragists. Kansas and Ill
inois aro the outposts to the east. Thus we
have as suffragist territory a section most re
mote from the headquarters of the feminist
movement. And yet the averment that suffrage
and the feminist movement were one and the
same is still regarded by the antis as one of
their strongest arguments.
The effort of the big nations to change the
map of Europe has so far resulted In nothing.
Meanwhile the map publishers seem to be thor
oughly satisfied with the demand for the old
maps from those who never knew there were
any such towns as they now read about i the
war bulletins.
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