Garland Globe | 1908-02-08 | Page 6 | Sizzling Message Sent to Congress

SIZZUK6 MESSAGE " SENT 10 CONGRESS PRE8IDENT ROOSEVELT SCORES DIG CORPORATIONS BECAUSE OF 'THEIR ATTITUDE. STANDARD'S METHODS ARE TORN TO PIECES Tendency of Oil Concern to "Over-Awe, "Over-Awe, Crush and Disdain Public," Proves Warm Theme In Chief's Communication. Trrerilent rtooscvcll'ii nlzzlln tries-miRo tries-miRo to conKrcKB imkrcl tlm t'linctmcnt of n filr pinplnycrH llnlilllty law, moro power for tlio Intci-stnto Commerce! (JoinmlpMoii. nnil tlio executive nKaln culled to tho attention of tho law-rnakerH law-rnakerH til n cntnrmlKn nRiilimt tho ":o-clnlly ":o-clnlly prlvllcwu rich." Hcirnrellnir tho employe' llnhlllty net, recently declared de-clared tincniiKlj'.utliiniil by tho supremo court, tho preKldcnt unld: "Ah roRiireln tho employe' llnhlllty law. I ndvocntu Its Immedlnto recniict-ment, recniict-ment, limiting Ita scope ho that It Hhnll npplv only to tho chiss of cases oh to which the court Hays It can constitutionally constitu-tionally apply, but HtreiiRthenlnR Its provlnlonH within this scope. Interstate! employment bclnR thus covered by nn ndciitiiito nntlnnul lnw, tho Held of In-trnxtutc In-trnxtutc employment will ho left to the action of tho Hevernl Mates, With thin clenr dcllnltlon of renponHlblllty tho Htntes will undoubtedly Klvo to tho performance nf tholr ditty within their Held tho connlderntlon tho Importance of tho Htthject dctnnndH. "I iilsn very ursently nilvise that n com-prehetiBlvi! com-prehetiBlvi! net he pnBHcd provldlnR for compennatlon by tho government to nil employes Injured In tho Rovernment nervlce. t'ndcr tho preHont law nn Injured In-jured workman In thu employment of tho Rovorntnent hns no remedy, nnd tho entire burden of tho accident fnlln on tho helpless man, his wife, nnd bin yotitiR children. TIiIh 1h an outrnRo. It Ih n matter of humiliation to tho nation na-tion that there should not bo on our Htntute hookn prnvlHlon to meet nnd partially ntono for cruel mlnfortuno when It comm upon n man thrniiRh no fault of bin own whllo faithfully serving serv-ing tho public" Assails Injunction Abuse. Abuno of tho ubo of the Injunction In labor ennen provided another thomo for tho executive. lie declared tbero Ih Homo need for notion roRiirdlnir tho rlRhtH nnd wtoiirh of labor from black-llHtlnR black-llHtlnR to boycottliiR. Continuing, bo said: "Ah rcRardn InJunctlnnH, I enn do llttlo llt-tlo but repent whnt I have Bald In my lnnt mcHsnRo to conRrewH, Kvon though It were possible, 1 Hhould conHlder It m out unwlHc to abolish the una of the proeeHH of Injunction. It Ih Decennary In order thnt tho courts may maintain their own dignity nnd In order thnt they rany In offcctlvo manner check disorder and violence. Tho JudRe who uhch It cnutlously nnd conservatively, but who, when tho need arisen, uhch It fearlessly, conferH tho irrentest ser-vlco ser-vlco upon our people, nnd IiIh preeminent preemi-nent usefulness nn a public Hcrvant nhnuld be heartily recognized. Hut thero Ih no question In my mind thnt It him nonietlnien been used heedlessly nnd unjustly, and thnt Homo of tho Injunctions In-junctions Issued Inflict grave and occasionally oc-casionally Irreparable wrong upon those enjoined." Thnt tho Hnnta ! railroad president lind RUllty knowledge of rebntliiR Ih nn assertion which tho executive mado with effect. In Ids message ho Inclosed In-closed letters of correspondence, which bo declnred point to the truth of IiIh statements. Ills words In this connection con-nection nro: "In enclose herewith n Htntement Is-sued Is-sued by the chief nf tho bureau of corporations cor-porations In answer to certain stnte-muiitH stnte-muiitH (which I also enclose), mnde by nnd on behalf of tho ngents of tho Htandard Oil Corporation nnd a letter of tho attorney-Rcncrnl containing nn nnswer to certnln HtntementH. nlso Inclosed, In-closed, made by tho president of the Bantu Ko Hallwny Company. Tho Standard Oil Corporation nnd tho railway rail-way compnny havo both been found Kullty by the courts of criminal misconduct: mis-conduct: both bnvo been Hentenced to pay heavy fines; nnd each lias Issued nnd published broadcast theso statements, state-ments, asserting their Innocence nnd denouncing ns Improper the nctlon of the courtB nnd Juries In convicting them of inillt. Theso statements nro very elaborate, are very Ingenious, nnd nro untruthful In Important particulars, Tho loiter nnd Inelnsuro from Mr. Henoy sufllclently Illustrate the methods meth-ods of the high officials nf the Santa Ko nnd Hhnw tho utter falsity of their Plea of Ignorance, the similar plea of the Standard OU bolntr equally without with-out foundation." Would See Traffic Associations. Uniformity of railroad rates was tin-other tin-other ono of tlio executive's themes which Is of Interest to tho generat public pub-lic nnd President Roosevelt advised a pool of tralllo associations for tho purpose pur-pose of conferring on rates. In that connection ho contluned ns follows: "I denlro to repent my rceommendn-tlon rceommendn-tlon that railways b permitted to form trafllc associations for the purpose of conferring about nnd agreeing ' ipiti rates, regulations, nnd practices affecting affect-ing Interstate business In which tho members of tho association nro mutually mu-tually Interested. This doen not mean that they should bo given the rlcrbt to pool their earnings or their tralllc. Tho law roqulres that rates shall bo ho adjusted ns not to discriminate between be-tween Individuals localities, or different differ-ent species of tralllc. Ordlnnrlly rates by nil competing lines must bo tho s.ime. Ah applied to practical conditions, tho rnllwuy operations of this country can not bo conducted according to law without what Is equivalent to conference confer-ence nnd nRreoment. The articles under un-der which such associations operate should be approved by the commission; nil their operations should bo open to public Inspection; and the rates, regulations, regu-lations, nnd practices upon which they ngreo Hhould be subject to disapproval by tho commission." Then followed n "roast" on tho "evil rich." Tho president told of tho cam-pal-rn which the wealthy Inwbreukers enndticted nnd set forth rotnedlnl legls-lnt legls-lnt on. Ills statement In thnt regard follows: 'Tnder no clrcnmHtnnces would wo cnuiiti nance attacks upon Inw-nbldlng property, or do ought but condemn those who hold up rich men ne being evil men because of their riches. On the contrary, our whole effort lo to In-Mst In-Mst upon conduct, nnd neither wealth nor property nor nny other elans distinction, as being the proper standard by which to Judge tho actions of men. Kor the honest hon-est man of great wealth we havo n nearly regard, Jint ns o havo a hearty ren.ud for tho honest politician and honest hon-est newspaper. Hut part of tho movement move-ment to uphold ImneHty must be a movement move-ment to frown on dishonesty. Wo attack at-tack only corrupt men of wealth, who find In tho purchased politician tho most efllclent Instrument of corruption nnd In tho purchased newspaper tho most elll-clent elll-clent defender of corruption. Our main quarrel Is not with theso ngents and representatives of tho Interests. They derlvo their chief power from the great Inlstcr ononders who stand behind them. They nro but puppets who move ns tho strings nro pulled. It Is not tho puppets, but the strong cunning men rani the mighty forces working for evil behind nnd through tlm puppets, with whom wo havo to denl. We Beck to control con-trol law-defying wealth, In tho ilrst placo to provont its doing dire evil to the republic, re-public, nnd In tlio next place In avoid Uio vindictive and dreadful radicalism which, If left uncontrolled, It Is certain In tho end to urouso." Big Corporations Are Hit. Hy easy stages the president drew nnr to the Htnndatd Oil trouble of n short tlmo ago, nnd then he told of nllegcd methods of the Rockefeller syndicate to "overawe common carriers, crush out every competitor nnd look down upon tho people with n contempt which tho public deserves us long ns It permits such men to act with Impunity." It wns at that point nnd In connection with tho Insurance Insur-ance nnd Chlcngo & Alton scnndnls thnt Mr. Roosevelt took tho henvlest fall out of wealthy corporations which hnvo been held to nccount by tho government. Tho message continued: "Tho keynoto of nil these attacks upon the effort to secure honesty In business nnd In politics Is well expressed In brazen bra-zen protests against nny effort for tho mornl regeneration of tlio business world, on the ground that It Is unnatural, unwarranted, un-warranted, and injurious, and that business busi-ness panic Is the necessary pennlty for such effort to secure business honesty, Tho morality nf such a plea Is precisely as great ns If made on behalf of tho men caught In a gambling establishment when thnt gambling establishment Is raided by the police. If such words mean nnythlng they mean that those whoso sentiments they represent stand ngnlnst tho effort to bring nboilt n moral regeneration of business which will prevent n repetition of tho Insurance, In-surance, banking nnd street rnllroad scandals In New York; u repetition of tho Chicago & Alton denl; a repetition of the combination between certnln professional pro-fessional politicians, certain professional labor lenders, nnd certain big financiers, from the dlsgrnre of which San Krnncls. Co hns Just been rescued; a repetition of tho successful effort by tho Htandard Oil people to crush out every competitor, to overawe the common carriers, nnd to estnhllsh a monopoly which treats tho public with n contempt which the public deserves so long ns It permits men of such principles nnd such sentiments to nvow and net on them with Impunity. The outcry against stopping dishonest prnctlccB ntnong wrongdoers who bap-pen bap-pen to be wealthy Is precisely similar to the outcry raised against every effort for cleanliness and decency In city government, gov-ernment, because, forsooth, It wilt 'hurt buulness.' " .... Tells of Criticising Judges. "Our opponents havo recently been bitterly bit-terly criticising tho two Judges referred to in the ncconipunvlng communlcntlons from the Standard Oil Compnny nnd tho Bantn Ko Itnllrond for hnvlng Imposed heavy tines on theso two corporations; nnd yet these same critics of theso two Judges exhaust themselves In denouncing denounc-ing the most respectful and cnutlous discussion of the otlh Inl action of a Jndgo which results In Immunity to wealthy nnd powerful wrongdoer. Most certainly certain-ly It behooves us all to treat with tho utmost respect the high ofllco of Judge: nnd our Judges, ns n whole, nro brnvo and upright men. Respect for the law must go hnnd In band with respect for tho Judges: nnd. ns n whole. It Is truo now ns In the past that the Judges Htand In character ond servlco nbove nil other men among their fcllow-servnnts of tho public. The Judge who docs his full duty well stands higher, nnd renders a better servlco to the people, thnn nny other public servnnt; ho Is entitled to grenter respert: and If be Is n truo servant ser-vant of the people. If bo Is upright, wise and fearless, he will unhesitatingly dls-regard dls-regard even tho wishes of tho people If they conlllct with tho eternal principles prin-ciples of right ns against wrong. Ho must serve tho people; but ho must servo his own consclenco first. All honor to such n Judge: nnd nil honor can not bo rendered him If It Is rendered equnlly to his brethren who fall Immeasurably below tho high Idenls for which ho stands. Untruthful criticism Is wicked nt nil times, nnd whoever mny bo tho object: ob-ject: but It Is a peculiarly llagrnnt Iniquity In-iquity when n Judgo Is tho object. No man should lightly crltlclso n Jndgo; no man Hhould. even In his own mind, condemn con-demn n Judge unless ho Is Hiiro of tho facts. If a judge Is nssalled for standing stand-ing ngnlnst populnr folly, nnd nbove n for standing ngnlnst mob violence, nil bonornble men should rnlly Instantly to his support. Nevertheless If ho clearly falls to do his duty by tho public In dealing with lawbreaklng corporations, lawbreaklng men of wenlth. ho must expect ex-pect to feel the weight of public opinion: opin-ion: nnd this Is but right, for except n extreme cases this Is tho only way In which be can bo reached at nil. No servnnt ser-vnnt nf the peoplo has n right to expect to bo free from Just nnd honest criticism. "An Ethical Movement." "Tho opponents of tho mensures wo champion single out now ono nnd now nnother monsuro for especial attack, nnd spenk as If tho movement In which wo nre engaged wns purely economic. It has n large economic side, but It Is fundamentally funda-mentally nn ethical movement. It Is not a movement to bo completed In ono yenr, or two years or three years; It Is n movement which must bo persevered In until the spirit which lies behind It sinks deep Into tho henrt and tho conscience of tho wholo people. It Is nlwnys Important Im-portant to choose tho right menus to nchlevo our purpose, but It Is oven more Important to keep this purposo clenrly beforo us; nnd this purpose Is to secure national honesty In business nnd In politics. We do not subscribe to the cynical belief that dishonesty nnd unfair dealing nro essential to business success, nnil nre to be condoned when tho success Is mndernte nnd npplnuded when the success Is grent. Tho tnothods by which the Standard Oil peoplo and those engnged In tho other combinations nf which I havo spoken nbovo hnvo achieved great fortunes enn only bo Jus-titled Jus-titled by tho ndvnrncy of n HVHtom of morality which would nlso Justify every form of criminality on tho part of a Inbor union, nnd every form of violence, corruption, nnd fraud, from murder to bribery and bnllot-lmx shilling In politics. poli-tics. We aro trying to Hectiro equality of opportunity for nil; nnd the strugg o for honesty Is tho Bnmo whether It Is mnde on behulf of ono set of men or of nnother. In the Interest of the small settlers and landowners, nnd ngnlnst tho embittered opposition of wealthy owners of huge wnnderlng Mocks of sheep, or of corporations desiring to rob tho peoplo of coal nnd timber, we strlvo to put an end to the theft of public land In the west. When wo do th s, nnd protest against the action of nil men, whether In public life or In prlvato life, who i-Ifher tnko part In or refuse to try to stop such theft, wo nr really engaged In the same policy lis when we endeavor in put a stop to robntes or to prevent the upgrowth of uncontrolled monopolies, our effort Is simply to mforce tho prln-o'plcs prln-o'plcs of common honesty mid common sense. It would Indeed bo III for tho country should tbero bo liny halt In our work " State Government Must Aid. Kill ., the stato or national government gov-ernment must undertake tho regulation, regula-tion, of which tho president spoke, nnd the executive nnked tho commonwealths common-wealths to share the rosponBlhlllty of curbing thoHo corporations, which nro accused of evil-doing. "Of course In nny event both the national and state gmeinmentH must each do Its part, said President Roosovelfs mossngn. and each can do n certain nmoiint that tho other cannot do, whllo the only really satisfactory results must be obtained by tho representatives of the national and state governments working heartily together within their r. spectlve spheres. Hut In my Judg-im Judg-im nt thorough-going nnd satisfactory control can In the end only bo obtained hv the notion or tho national govern-in govern-in nt, for nlmost nil the corporations of i normoiiH wenlth thnt Is. the rorpo-rations rorpo-rations Which It Is especially desirable to control nre engaged In interstate commerce, nnd derive their power nnd tholr Importance not from that portion of their biisln.ss which Is Intrastate, but from the Int. r'-tate huslncHH. It Is not eiisyulwnys tod. clde Just where the line of demovcutlon between tho two kinds of business falls. This line must nit 1 -mately be drawn by tho federal courts. Much of the effort to Hecuro adequato control of tho great corporations corpora-tions by Hlnte nctlon has boon wIbo and effective, but much nf It bus been neither: for when tho effort Ih made to accomplish by tho nctlon of tho utate whnt can only bo accomplished by the action of the nation, tho result can only bo disappointment, nnd In the end tho lnw will probably ho declared unconstitutional. uncon-stitutional. Ho likewise In tho national arena, we who bellovo In -tho measurcH heroin advocated nro hampered nnd not nldeel by tho extremists who ndvo-cato ndvo-cato notion ho violent that It would either bo useless or elso would cause moro mischief thnn It would remedy. Points to the Future. "Tho laws must In tho futuro be administered ad-ministered ns they are now being administered, ad-ministered, so that tho department of Justice mny continue to be whnt It ncr Is. In very fact the department of Justice, Jus-tice, where so far r.H our ability pet-mits pet-mits Justice Is mttcd out with nn even band to great nnd small, rich nnd pool, wenk nnil strong. Moreover, there should be no delay In supplementing the lawn now on tho Htntute books by the ennctment of further legislation ns outlined In tho message I sent to the congress on Its assembling, t'ndcr the existing lnws much, very much, has been nctually accomplished during the PiiBt six years, nnd It has been Hhoivn by nctunl experlenco thnt they cun bo enforced ngnlnst tho wealthiest corporation cor-poration nnd the richest nnd most powerful pow-erful manager or manipulator of thnt corporation, ns rigorously nnd fearlessly fearless-ly as ngatnst the humblest offender. Abovo nil, they havo been enforced ngalnst tho very wrongdoers nnd ngents of wrongdoers who hnvo for ho many yearn gono Bcot-frco nnd Mooted tho laws with Impunity, ngatnst great law-defying corporations corpora-tions of Immense wenlth, which, until within the Inst half dozen years huv treated themselves nnd havo expected others to treat them nB being beyond nnd abovo nil possible check from law. It Ih cspeclnlly necessary to securo to the representatives of the national government gov-ernment full power to dent with tho great corporations engaged In Interstate Inter-state comcrce, nnd nbovo nil, with tho great Interstate common carriers. Our peoplo nhould cleurly rrcognlzo thnt whllo there nro dlfllcultles In any course of conduct to bo followed In dealing with thcHo great corporntlonH, these dlfllcultles must bo faced, and one of three courses followed. Tho first courso Ih to abandon nil effort to over-seo over-seo nnd control their actions In the Interest In-terest of the general public nnd to permit per-mit a return to thu utt"r Inck of control con-trol which would obtain If they were left to the common law. I do not for one moment believe thnt our peoplo would tolerate this position. The extraordinary ex-traordinary growth of modern Industrialism Indus-trialism has rendered the common law, which grew up under nnd was adapted adapt-ed to deal with totally different conditions. condi-tions. In mnny respects Inadequate to denl with the new conditions. These now conditions make It necessary to shackle cunning ns In tho past wo hnvo shackled force. The vast Individual nnil corpornto fortunes, tho vnRt combinations com-binations of capital, which havo marked tho development of our Industrial system, sys-tem, create new conditions, nnd neces-nltntc neces-nltntc a change from tho old attitude of tho state nnd tlm nntlon toward the rules regulating tho acquisition nnd untrammeled business use of property. prop-erty. In order both that property may bo ndequately protected, and thnt at tho same tlmo those who hold It may bo prevented from wrongdoing. Talks of Financial Stress. "We have Just nascd through two months of ncuto financial BtresH. At any Mich tlmo It Is n nnd fact that entirely en-tirely Innocent people suffer from no fnult of their own; nnd every ono munt foel tlio keenest sympathy for the largo body of honest business men, of honest Inventors, of honest wngework-erB, wngework-erB, who Buffer because Involved In n crnsh for which they are In no way responsible. At such a tlmo there Is n natural tendency on the part of many men to feel gloomy nnd frightened nt tho outlook; hut there In no Justlllca-tlon Justlllca-tlon for this feeling. Thero Ih no nation na-tion ho absolutely sure of ultlmnto success suc-cess ub ourfl. Of courso we Bhnlt sue-coed. sue-coed. Ours Ih n nation of masterful energy, with a continent for Its domain, nnd It feels within Its veins tho thrill which comes to those who know thnt they possess tho future. Wo aro not cast down by tho fenr of failure. Wo nro upheld by tho confident hope of ultlmnto ul-tlmnto triumph. Tho wrongs that exist ex-ist nro to bo corrected; but they In no way Justify doubt as to tho final outcome, out-come, doubt ns to tho grent material prosperity of tho future, or of tho lofty spiritual life which Ih to be built upon that prosperity an n foundation. No misdeeds done In the present must bo permitted to shroud from our eyes tho glorious futuro of the nntlon: but bo-cause bo-cause of this very fact It behooves us never to nwervo from our rcsoluto purpose pur-pose to cut out wrongdoing und uphold what Is right. I do not for a moment belle-vo that the nctlnns of thin administration admin-istration bnvo brought on business distress: dis-tress: so fur nn this Ih duo to locnl nnd not world-wide onuses, and to tho actions ac-tions of nny particular Individuals. It Ih duo to tho Hpeculntlvo folly und flagrant fla-grant dishonesty of u few men of grent wealth, who neck to shield themselves from tho effects of their own wrongdoing wrong-doing by nscrlblng Its results to tho nctlnns of thoso who havo sought to put n stop to tho wrongdoing. Hut If It wore truo thnt to cut out rottennes from tho body politic meant a mo-montnry mo-montnry check to nn unhealthy seeming prosperity, I should not for ono moment hesltnto to put tho knife to tho corruption. On behalf of nil our people, on behalf no less of tho honest man of means than of tho honest hon-est mini who enrns each day's livelihood liveli-hood by tho day's sweat of bis brow, It Is necessary to Insist upon honesty In business nnd In politics nllke. In all wnlks of life. In big things nnd In llttlo things; upon Just and fair denllng as between man nnd man, TIioho who demand this nro striving for tho rlRbt In the spirit of Abraham Lincoln," said tho president In conclusion.