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Show WILSON FAVORS CHANGE ii THE ANTITRUST LAW Declares Exporters Should Be Allowed to Combine to Secure Common Selling Agencies. REGRETS DIVISION OF PUBLIC OPINION Makes Characteristic Speech to Business Men Attending Convention of the U. S. Chambers of Commerce. WASHING TOX, Feb. 3. Co-operation between the government and business busi-ness in framing the laws for the bena-fit bena-fit of all the people was urged by President Pres-ident Wilson tonight in an address bo-fore bo-fore several hundred representative business men hero attending tho annual an-nual meeting of the chamber of commerce of tho' United States. He declared that "we must all pool our interests," in order to discover th best means for handling public problems. prob-lems. The creation in the United States in time of pace of the same kind of united spiiit which moves nations during wars wat, advocated by tho president, who remarked that "when peace is as handsome hand-some as w-ar, there will be no wars," and "when men engage in the pursuits of peace in the same spirit of solf-6acrifice solf-6acrifice as they engage in wars, wars will disappear. ' ' The president predicted that, whiio there k a shortage, of food in tho world now, the shortage will bo much greater later. He pointed out that, under tho guidance of the department of agriculture, agri-culture, efforts must be made by farmers farm-ers in tho United States to grow more grain, in order that the world may be fed. Would Be Fair to All. Speaking ot the foreign trade of tho United States: the president suggested that the business men devise somo way of allowing exporters in the liuitcd States to combine to secure common selling agencies and to give long-time credits in such a way that thoo cooperative co-operative devices mav be open to tlio use of all. Ilo declared that apparently appar-ently the antitrust laws prohibited such combinations, but ho would favor a change if a method fair to all could bo i ouml. lie spoke of the. work being dono by tho bureau of foreign and domestic survice in ' surveying the world" for the benefit of all business men. Business Busi-ness men themselves 'are to blamo if intelligent, laws affecting them aro not framed, the president asserted. Ho added that they should come out into the open and iiBe their knowledgo of conditions to bring about fair laws to prevent business evils. The Mexican question was mentioned by Mr. Wilson ns an example of tho difficulty ho had in getting information. informa-tion. Regrets Lines of Separation. Continuing, lue president said: I would prefer that you receive mn as 11' for the time being I woro onn of vour own number, becnuso the longer I occupy the office that 1 nuw occupy the more 1 regret any linen of separation; tlio more I dcploro Buy ferlln that one set of men lias ono ts-t of interests and another set of men lias another set of interests; the more 1 feel 1 tie solidarity of the nation, the Impossibility of separating one Interest Inter-est from another without nilprnnoetv-Intr nilprnnoetv-Intr tl. the rooro I feel the nercsslty that we elK'iilc all understand one another an-other in orricr that we may umler-ptand umler-ptand ourselves. Thero ia an tllltntra-tion tllltntra-tion which f have used a great many tinvs. I will use it HKaln, because It. is the most serviceable to my miix. We often sp-ak of a man who cannot can-not find his way in some Juhk'to or desert as having lost Jilmeulf. I)iit you ever reflect that that is the only thhig lie has not lost? lie la there, if" haa Inst the rest of the world, lie has no fixed point by which to steer. Jl9 does not know which le north, whtch is south, which is east, which is weio. and, if lie did know, he Is so confused t!i:it he would not know In which of those directions his goal lay; and. therefore, following bin heart. In; walks in a great circle from right to lift and conies hark to where he started, to himself again. What Is Needed. To my mind, it Is a rlrturo of the world, ff you have Inst other Intci--Ms and do not know the relation of your iiit'-r-sts to those other Inl'-rcsts. then you do not ondfratand your ov.n interests and have lost youis. What you want is orientation, relationship In the point of the compass, relationship relation-ship to the other people In the world; vital connections which have for I he time being been severed. A nd so I am particularly glad to express my admiration for the kind of organization organiza-tion which you have drawn together. I have attended banquets of cnaui-bers cnaui-bers of ronimerre in various parts of toe country and have gr't the. imp Tension Ten-sion at ench uf thos- ban'jMets th;it there wns only one city in the country. coun-try. And it lias seemed to inc that those iissoe;;: ' ions were mennt In order to des-lrov mans perspe't Ive, In iiril.f lo destiny t;.e,- senc of relative Jro-por Jro-por t ioiu ; worst of all. if I may be p.-r-Initiel to sa y so, they were Intended (Continued on Fago TwoJ WILSON H FAVOR OF CUBE M Tl LI (Continued from Page One.) to boost something in particular. "Boosting" Is a very unhandsome Uiing-. Advancing- enterprise is a very handsome thing- or a particularly in-, telltgent thing-. One Way to Boost. The advantage about a chamber of commerce of the United States is that there is only one way to boost the United States and thaMs by seeing see-ing to it that the conditions under which business is done throughout the country are the best possible conditions. condi-tions. There cannot be any disproportion dispro-portion about that. If you draw your sap and your vitality from all quarters, quar-ters, then the more sap and vitality there is in -you, he more there is in the commonwealth as a whole, and every time you lift at all you lift the whole level of manufacturing and mercantile enterprise. Moreover. the' advantage of It is that you cannot boost the United States in that way Without understanding under-standing the United States. You learn a great deal. T agreed with a colleague of mine in the cabinet the other day that we had never attended attend-ed in our lives before a school to compare com-pare with that we are now attending for the purpose of gaining a liberal education. Truth Always Matches. Of course, I learn a great many things that are not so. But the interesting in-teresting thing- about it is this: Things that are not so do not match. If you bear enough of them you see there is no pattern wha tever. It is a crazy quilt. Whereas, the truth always matches, piece for piece, with other parts of the truth. No man can lie consistently, and he cannot lie about everything- if he talks to you long. So that T would guarantee guar-antee that if enough liars talked to you, you would get the truth. I had somewhat that experience about Mexico, and that was about the only way in which I learned anything that was so, for there have been vivid imaginations and many special interests inter-ests which have depicted things as they wished me to believe them to be. Now, seriously, the task of this body is to match ail the facts of business throughout the country, and see the vast and consistent pattern of them. That is the reason and I think you are to be congratulated upon the fact that you ciunnot do this thing without with-out common counsel. I have asked myself, before I came here tonight, what relation you could bear the government of the United States and what relation the government govern-ment could bear you. There are two aspects and activities of the government govern-ment with which you will naturally wm into most direct contact. The first is the government's power of inquiry systematic and disinterested disinterest-ed inquiry and its power of scientific assistance. You get an illustration of the latter, for example, in the department de-partment of agriculture. Has Jt occurred oc-curred to you. I wonder, that wo are .iust upon the eve of a time when our department of agriculture will be of iniinite importance to the whole i world? Shortage of Food. Thre Is a shortage of food in the world now. That shortage will be more serious in a few months from now than it is now. It is necessary that we should plant a great deal more. It is necessary that our land should yield more per acre than it does now. It is necessary that there should not bo a plow or a spade idle in this country if the world is to be fed: and the methods of our farmers must feed upon the scientific information informa-tion to be derived from the state de-pa de-pa rtments of agriculture and from that tap root of all. the United States department of agriculture. The object and use of that department depart-ment is to inform men of the latest development and disclosures of science sci-ence with regard to all the processes by which soils can be put to their pr.jper use and t heir fertility made the greatest possible. Similarly with the bureau of stanl-ariiy. stanl-ariiy. It is ready to supply those things by which you can set forms, : on can ' state bases for all the scientific sci-entific processes of business. Bureau of Commerce. The government of the United States is properly a great instrumentality instrumen-tality of inquiry and information. One thing we are just beginning to do that we ought to have done long ago. We ought lun- ago to have had our bureau bu-reau of foreign and domestic commerce. com-merce. We ought long ago to have - sent the best exes of the government ' out into the world where the opportunities oppor-tunities and openings of American commerce and American genius are to be found. Men who were not sent out as the particular agents of any pa rticular set of industries In the United States, but who were eyes for the whole community. Rut there are other ways of using the government of the United States, ways tliat have long been tried, though not always with conspicuous success or fortunate results. You can use the government of the United States by influencing its legislation. That has been a very active industry, but it has not always been managed in the interests of the whole people. It is very instructive and useful for the government of the United States to have such means as you are ready to supply for getting a' sort of consensus con-sensus of opinion which proceeds from no particular quarter or originates origi-nates with no particular interest, because be-cause information is the very foundation founda-tion of all right action in legislation. Blocking Legislation. , Men on the inr.ide of business know how business is conducted, and they cannot complain if men on the outside make mistakes about business busi-ness if they do not come from the inside in-side and give the kind of advice which is necessary. The very hest In the past for I think the thing is changinghas chang-inghas been that they generally came with their bristles out. They came on the defensive. They came to see not what they could accomplish accom-plish but what they could prevent. They did not come to guide, but they came to block, and that is of no use whatever to the general body politic. What has got to pervade us like a great motive power is that we cannot can-not and must not separate our interests inter-ests from one another, but must pool our interests. A man who is trying to fight for Ids single hand is fighting fight-ing against the community and not fighting with it. Splendid Side of War. There are a great many dreadful things about war. as (nobody need be toid in this day of distress and of terror. But there is one thing about war which has a very splendid side, and that Is the consciousness that a whole nation gets that they must all act as a unit for the nation, and when peace is as handsome as war there will be no war. When mein, I mean, engage in the pursuits of peace in the same spirit of self-sacrifice and of conscious service of the community with which at any rate the common soldier engages In war. then shall there be wars no more. You have moved the vanguard for the United States in the purposes of this association asso-ciation just a little nearer that ideal. That is the reason I am here because be-cause T believe there Is a specific matter about which I. for one. want vour advice. Let me say. if I may say it without disrespect, that T think you are not prepared to give it right away. Ton will have to make some rather extended Inquiries before vou are readv to give It. What I am thinking of is competition in foreign markets as between the merchants of different nations. I erpeak of the subject with a certain cer-tain degree of hesitation, because the thing farthest from my thought is taking advantage of nations now disabled dis-abled from playing the full part in that competition and seeking a sudden sud-den selfish advantage, because they are for the time being d'sabled. Pray believe me, that we ought to eliminate elimi-nate that thought from our minds and consider this matter as if we end the other nations of the world were In the normal circumMan-'es of commerce. There is a normal circumstance cir-cumstance of commen-e In whmh we are apparently at a disadvantage. Shut Out by Law. Our antitrust laws apparent I sav apparentlv because I s"e the at-tornev at-tornev general is present a nd T a in not sure I am right the antitrust laws of the United States apparentlv appar-entlv make it illegal for merchants in the United States to form combinations combi-nations for the purpose of Mrongtn-enlng Mrongtn-enlng themselves in taking advantage advan-tage of the opportunities of foreign competition. T:at is a very seiioue matter, for this reason: Thro arc some corporations and .some Anns for all I know, whose business is great enough and whose resources are abundant enough to enable them to establish selling agencies in foreign countries, to enable them to extend the long credits whlm In some ascn a re nece s ea ry in order to keep the trade they desire; wbmh en.ible them, in other words, to organize thir business In foreign territory in a way which the smaller man cannot afford to do. His business has not grown big enough to permit him to e?t,abli.h selling a gencies. The expert ex-pert commission merchant, perhaps, (axes him a little too high to make that an available competitive means of conducting an extensive business. The ouest I on arise?, therefore, how a re the smaller niercha nte. how are the ounger a ud weaker corpm m lions going io get a foothold as against the combinations which are permitted and ven encouraged by foreign governments govern-ments in this vrrv field of competition': compe-tition': Wants to Be Shown. American merchants feel that they are at a very considerable disadvantage disadvan-tage in contending asainst that. The matter has been manv times brought to my attention and J have each time suspend M Judgment because in this mat ter "I am from Missouri," a nd I i want to bo ehown this: 1 want to be ' shown how that combination can be mafic and conducted in a way which won't close it against the ufe "f everybody ev-erybody who wants to use 11. A com-b com-b nation has a tendency lo exclude new members. When a group of men' get control of a good thing they do not any particular point In let ting other people into the good lining. What ! would like very much to be shown, therefore. Is a method of cooperation co-operation whifh is not a method of combination, not Hint the two words are mutually exclusive, but we havn come to have a ppe-.-ial meaning attached at-tached to tlf word "combInn tlon." Most of otir combinations have Pnfe-ry Pnfe-ry lock and you have to gd t Mr com-hlnHtion com-hlnHtion to get. in. I want to know how these co-operative methods ran he adopted for the benefit of everybody every-body who wants to usf tbfm, and T nay frankly If I can be fdiown Unit I a in for them. I C I ca n not be nh own that, T am againBt them, and f hasten to add that T hopefully expect Ihal r cjtn b nbown. The president paid that he hopM Ihe orgfi nlz.-i I km would take stops to discover 1 1 ir ordniuii or the pnll n irrcha nl s and hanker in the '-oiruiry disirlctn on Hie subject. 4 'outlniilng. he said: As a matter of fact, yoti dn not have time lo think in a, city. It lakes time to think'. K ymi r n gel wlin I you c;i1l opinions ,y collision In a cily, and fc'-t them vrrv 'lujcklv, yon dn not alw;iyfl know where tb germ June Troni. Vim have no scleuliflc la bura l ot v met bod I . which to determine de-termine v.heili'-r It 1m a good g-rm -r a bnd germ. Solid Thinking. There, are thinking npin-f? In Ihla c.iini r , and H"iin' of the t hlnking done Is vrrv solid thlnl-.hiK. Indeed; lb thinking or Ihe .uri of men that we :ill 1..vc i.eKl. who think for llion- rivet.-, who do uol 1 1 u 1 1 s th-v Hie tol, I.) .wee lliem. hill look ill Ht ..'d Hie,,, fnr tlirmfch ,-h, ;iln If Hhv are , h.-v aie v.hli,- wh.. Ihey arc Hot while, plainly na Ihal t hey are black : men wfth eyes and with a courage back of thoe eves to tell what they se. The country id full of ( hose men. They have been singularly reticent son i rimcs. singularly slh-nt. but the country 1 full of th'fn arid wlmt I re-jnieo re-jnieo In Is thiit you havo called thein Into the i'h nks. Your met hods are bound t le democratic in spile of sou. r dul not mean democratic with a hip D, though 1 ha.ve a private conviction con-viction that you cannot be. h democrat demo-crat with a small d long without becoming be-coming l'emocrn tic with a. big V. Still, ihal. if; .just between ourselves. The. point Is Hint when we huve a. consensus uf opinion, when we have this common counsel, then the h-i;is-l;i Hvo processes of Ibis gov eminent will be infinitely liluniinuted. Common Counsel. Experience has taught hltn, the president presi-dent said, not to try to dominate, any conference called lo get the 'bent .solution of a problem, Iuvhuso "common counsej" alw,is brings the best .results, ite continued: con-tinued: Many minds n re ncecst-'firy to compound com-pound a. workable method of lite In a nrloiis and populous country. ; s I think about, the whole thing and picture pic-ture the rurporen, H,n hillullely dlT-1 dlT-1 1' n 1 1 a nd complex purposes w inch wo must conceive and cany out. not onlv dorit ii minister to mv own umd-f umd-f sty, I hope, of opinion, ' but it alfo fills me with very KiVHt entliui'laMiii. 11 i.s a Hpl'-mlld I hliiff lo be part of it refi I whle-ji wh kn rui t inn ; it In a , splendid lliintr to know tlmt your own f-lr.-m:ih Is liuiniielv mnltlplh-d by the Hirfomlii of utlcr men who love Ihe country; it i a splendid Ibhiy to fee? that the wholesome blood of a great . ou ni ry can )m united In h common, purpose, ii nd ili;it by frankly Jooklntr one :i not her in t ho fa re ii ud ta ki u counsel will one apmher, preiudice;, ulll drop iiv.iiv and handsome undrr-slii undrr-slii tidhiu-; v.lll nrh-e and a univerral f pit-it of Nei-vire will be engendered. :nid wilh lids Increased sense of coin- iiinniO of putpose v.lll cor,,.' j, vasllv enKi nr. d lndi i.lnal p-itt .'I' of achieve, inent. for we will be elevated bv the wIiuId iinish of which i e cops i it ut n a purL l , . w... . |