Newspapers / Polk County News and … / Dec. 7, 1905, edition 1 / Page 4
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PAGES TWO AND THREE. THE FOLK COUNTY NEWS, COLUMBUS, N. 0. ' ' ' DECEMBER 7, 1905. A Strong Presentation of the Leading Questions Demanding iLegislation STRONG ON RATE REGULATION The Country is Enjoying a Season of Unprecedented ProsperitySub jects That Will Engage the Atten tion of the People's Representa tives A Thoughtful and Exhaus tive Document, " 'Following is in substance the an nual message of President Roosevelt, as read in both houses of Congress: Introduction. To the Senate and House of Repre sentatives: The people of this country. continue to enjoy great prosperity. Undoubt edly tbere will be ebb and flow in such prosperity, and this ebb and flow will be felt more or less by all mem bers of the community, both by the deserving and the undeserving. Against the wrath of the Lord the wis dom of man can not avail; in times of flood or drought human ingenuity can but partially repair the disaster A jreneral failure of crops would hurt us. Again, it tue lolly oi man mars the general well-being, then those who are innocent of the folly will have-to pay part of the penalty incurred by those who are guilty. of the folly. A panic brought on by the speculative folly of part of the business com munity Avould hurt the whole business community. But such stoppage of welfare, though it might be severe, would not , be lasting. In the long run the one vital factor in the , per manent prosperity of the country .is the high individual character of the average American , worker, the aver " age American citizen, no matter whether his work be mental or man ual, whether he be farmer or wage worker, business .man or professional man. In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so closely intertwined that in the immense ma jority of cases a straight-dealing man : who by his efficiency, by hisingenu ityand indusiry, benefits himself must also benefit others. Normally the man of great productive capacity .who be comes, rich by -guiding the labor of many other men does so by enabling it -v . - tnem to produce more than tney could produce without his guidance; and both he and they share in the benefit, which comes-also- to the public at large. ' The. superficial fact that the . sharing may be unequal must never blind, us to the underlying fact that there is this sharing, and that the ben efit comes in some degress to each man concerned. Normally the wage-worker, the man of small means, and the average consumer, as well as the av erage producer, are; all alike helped by making conditions such that the man of exceptional business ability ' receives an exceptional reward for his ability. Something can be done by leg islation to help the general prosper ity; but no such help of a perman ently beneficial character can be given to the less able and less fortunate, save as the results of a policy which shall inure to the advantage of allin - dustrious and efficient people who act decently; and this is only another way of saying that any benefit which comes to the less able and less for tunate must of necessity corned even more to the more able and more .for tunate. If, v therefore, the less for .tunate man is moved by envy of his more fortunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they .have both, though unequally, prospered the result will assuredly be that" while damage may come to the one struck at 1 it. will visit with even heavier load '. the one who strikes the blow. Taken , as a whole we must all go up or go down together. Corporations. , Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this7.it is" also true that where there is no governmental re straint or supervision some of the ex ceptional men use their energies not in ways that are -for the common good, but in. ways which tell against this common good. The fortunes amassed through corporate organiza tion are now so large, and -vest such power in those that wield them, as to make it . a matter of necessity to give to the sovereign that is, to the Government, which ; represents i the people as whole some effective power of supervision over their cpr f porate use. In order to insure a heal thy; social and industrial life, every big corporation should be held respon sible by and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to control its conduct. -1 am in no sense hostile to corporations Th;a ; . I-,. . -J OgG UL CU1U" oination, and any effort to prevent all combination will be not only useless, put in the end vicious, because of the DS contempt for law which the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, moreoter, recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected by corporate agencies in a country such as .ours, and the wealth of intellect, energy, and fidelity devot ed to their service, and therefore nor mally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. The cor poration has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to stay. Each can do and has done great good. - Each should be favored, so long as it does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts against law and justice. So long as the finances of the Nation are kept upon an honest basis no other question of internal economy with which the Congress has the pow er to deal begins to approach in im portance the matter of endeavoring to secure proper industrial conditions under which the individuals and es pecially the great corporations doing an interstate business are to act. The makers of our National Constitution provided especially that the regulation of interstate commerce should come within the sphere of the General Gov ernment. The arguments in favor of their taking this stand were even then overwhelming. But they are far stronger to-day, in view of the enor mous development of great business agencies, usually corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively that.it is useless to try to get any adequate regulation and-supervision of these great corporations by State action. Such regulation and supervis ion can only be effectively exercised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the field of work of the corporations that is, by the Nat ional Government. I am well aware of the difficulties of the legislation that I am suggest ing, and of the need of temperate and cautious action in securing it. I should emphatically protest against improp erly radical or hasty action. The first thing to do is to deal with the great corporations engaged in the business of interstate transportation. As' I said in my Message of December last, the immediate and most pressing need, so far as legislation is concern ed, is the enactment into law of some scheme to secure to the agents of the Government such supervision and reg ulation of the rates charged by the railroads of the country engaged in interstate traffic as shall summarily and effectively prevent the imposition of unjust or unreasonable rates. It must include putting a complete stop to rebates in every shape and form. This power to regulate rates, like all similar powers over the business world, should be exercised with modi fication, caution and self-restraint ; but it should exist, so that it can be effectively execised when the need t rises. The first consideration to be kept in mind is that the power should be affir mative and should be given to some administrative body created by the Congress. - Illegal transactions often occur un der the forms of law; It has often oc curred that a shipper has been told by a traffic officer to buy a large quantity of some commodity and then after it has been bought an open re duction is made in rate take effect immediately, the arangement result ing to the damage of all their com petitors; for it must not be forgotten that the big shippers are at least as much to blame as any railroad in the matter of rebates. The law should make it clear so that nobody can fail to understand that any kind of com mission paid on freight shipments, whether in this form orHn the form of fictitious damages, or of a concession a fress pass, reduced passenger rate, or payment of brokerage, is illegal. All private-car lines, industrial roads, refrigerator charges, and the like, should be expressly put under the supervision of thelnterstate Com merce Commission or some similar body so far as rates, and-agreements practically affecting rates, are con cerned. The private-car owners and the owners of industrial railroads are entitled to a fair and reasonable com pensation on their investment, but neither private cars nor industrial railroads nor spur tracks should be utilized as devices for' securing prefer ential rates. A rebate in icingcharges, or in mileage, or in a division of the rate, for refrigerating 'charges is just as pernicious as a rebate in any other way. No lower rate should apply on goods imported than actually obtains on domestic goods from the Ameri can seaboard to destination 'except in cities where water competition is the controlling influence. There ' should be publicity of the accounts of com mon carriers; no common carrier en gaged in interstate business should keep any books or memoranda other than those, reported pursuant to law or regulation, and these books or memoranda should be open to the in spection of the Government. Only in this way can violations or evasions of the law be surely detected. A'sys tem of examination of railroad ac counts should be provided similar to that now conducted into the national banks bjf the bank examiners ; a few first-class railroad . accountants, if they had proper direction and proper authority to inspect books and papers, could accomplish much in preventing willful violations! of the law."; I I urge upon the Congress the need of providing for expeditious action by the Interstate Commerce Commis sion in all these matters, whether in regulating rates for transportation or for storing or handling property or commodities in transit. The history of the cases litigated Under the pres ent commerce act shows that its, effi cacay has been to. a grfcat degree des troyed by .the weapon of delay, al most the most formidable weapon in the hands of those whose purpose it is to violate the law. V Safety Appliances. In my annual Message to the Fifty eighth Congress, at, its third session I called attention to the necessity for legislation requiring the use of block signals ' upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce. The number of serious collisions upon unblocked roads that have occurred within the past year adds force j to the- recom mendation then, made, j The Congress should provide, by appropriate legis lation, for the introduction 'of block signals upon all railroads engaged in interstate commerce at the earliest practicable date, as a measure of in creased safety to the traveling pub lic... ' I- Hours of Labor of Railroad Em ployees. The excessive hours of labor to which railroad employees in train ser vice are in many cases subjected is also a matter which may well engage the serious attention of the Con gress. The strain, both, mental and physical, upon those who are engaged in the movement and operation of railroad trains under modern condi tions is perhaps greater than that which exists in any other ind ustry, and if there are any reasons for limit ing by law the hours of labor in any employment, they certainly apply with peculiar force to the employment of those upon whose vigilance and alert ness in the performance of their du ties the safety of all ! who travel by rail depends. Labor. " The National Government has as a rule but little occasion to deal with the formidable group of problems connected more or less directly with what is known as the: labor question, for in the great majority of cases these problems must bo dealt with by the State and municipal authorities and not bv the National Government. The National Government has con trol of the District of Columbia, how ever, and it should see to it that the City of Washington is made a model city infell respects, both as regards parks, public grounds, proper regula tion of the system of housing so as to do away with the evils of alley tenements, a proper system of educa tion, a proper system of dealing with truancy and juvenile offenders, a pro per handling of the charitable work of the District. Moreover, there should be proper factory laws to pre vent all abuses in the employment of women and children i in thfi District These will be useful chiefly as ob- jeci lessons, out even this limited amount of usefulness would be nf vpaI national value. j There has been demand for depriv ing courts of the power to issn in- junctions . in labor disputes. Such special limitation, ot ithe equity pow ers of ourfcourts would be most un wise. It is true that some judges have misused this power; but this does not justify a denial of the power any more than an imoroner erem'sp of the power to call a strike bv a 11 1 1 ... . - iaoor leader would justify the denial of-the right to strike. ,.. The Department of Commerce and Labor should also make, a thorough in vestigation of the condition of women in industry. Over, five million American women are now engaged in gainful occupations; yet there is an almost complete dearth of data upon which to base any trust worthy conclusions as regards a sub ject as important as it is vast and complicated. There is need of full knowledge on which to base action looking toward: State and municipal legislation for the protectioiTor work ing women. ' The introduction of wo men into industry is working change and disturbance in the domestic and social life of the Nation. : - Insurance. The great insurance companies af ford ; striking examples of corpora tions whose business has extended so far hovnnd a -, j i, - . junouicuun 01 me State which created them as to pre clude strict" enforcement of supervi sion and regulation '' by the' parent btates. In my last annual Message, 1 recommended "that the- Congress carefully consider whether the pow er of the Bureau of Corporations can not constitutionally , be . extended to cover interstate transactions in in surance." Recent i events have- em phasized the importance of aniearly and exhaustive consideration of this question, to see whether it is not pos- ... w Uiunu. ueuer saieguards than tne several Stnfp h e 1 . tc ucca aoie 10 turmsh. against corruption ... of ' the flagrant kind which : has been exposed. It has been only too clearly shown that certain of the men at the head ot these large corporations take but small note of the ethical distinction between honesty and dishonesty; thev draw the line only this side of what may be called law-honesty, the kind of nonesty necessary, irx order to avoid falling into the clutches of the law Of course the' only complete remedy for this condition must be found in an aroused public conscience, a higher sense of ethical conduct in the com munity at large and especially among business men and in the great pro fession of the law, and in the growth of a spirit which condemns all d is honesty, whether in rich ' man or in poor man, whether it takes the'shape of bribery or pif blackmail. But much can be done, by legislation which is not only drastic but practical. The Bevenues. . There is .more need of r stability than of the atempt to attain an ideal perfection ; inf the methods of raising revenue ; and the shock and strain to the business jworld certain to attend any serious change in these methods render such change inadvisable unless for grave reason. It is not possible to lay down ;any general " rule by which to determine the moment w-hen the reasons tor will outweigh those against such f a change. Much must depend,- not merely on the needs, but on the desires, of the people as a whole ; for nf eds and desires are not necessarily identical. Of course no change can Ije made on lines benefi cial to, or pesired by, one section or one Stated only. There must be something like a general agreement among the fcitizens of the several States, as represented in the Con gress, that the change is needed and desired in the; interest of the people as a whole; ant there should then be a sincere, intelligent, and disinter ested effort to make it in such shape as will combine, so far as possible, the maximum of good to the people at large witHl the minimum of neces sary diregafd: for the special interests of localities or classes. But in time of peace the revenue must on the av erage, taking a series 01 years to gether, equa the expenditures or else tne revenues? must be increased. Last year there as a deficit. Unless our expenditures! can be kept within the revenues thn our revenue laws must be readjusted. Economy in Exepnditures. I earnestly recommend to the Con gress the need of economy and to this end of a rh?id scrutiny of appro priations, .s examples merely, I call your attention to one of two specific matters. Air unnecessary offices should,; be abolished. The Commis sioner of tte General Land Office recommends the abolishment of the, of fice of receiver of public moneys for United Stains land offices. Yet. in finfifllnnw nf ewnnrnv T mnef in no wise be -understood as advo cating the fklse economy which is in the end thef worst extravagance. To cut down 6 the Navy, for instance, would be a t?rime arainst thp "Nntinn To fail to Jush forward all work on fU T i r. 1 1 1 1.. . vic 1 aiiauus uauat nuuiu up as great a folly. I J- At vanoife times I have instituted investiaratioks into the organization and conduct of the business of the Executive ifepartments. While none of these inojuiries have yet progressed iar enouglii to warrant final conclu sions, they have already confirmed and emphasized the ereneral imres- sion that tBe organization of the De partments .s.jpj often faulty in princi- 1" wsiej-iu in results, wnue many of their business methods are . 1 artiquidatef and mefficient. There is every rfason why our executive governmentM machinery should bo at least as weH planned, economical, and eincient asjthe best machinery of the great busiaess orffanizations. whiVh at presentlis not the. case. Monroe Doctrine. One of the most pflWti mefm. ments for;jeace is the Monroe Doc trine as it' fas been and is being grad ually deveped by this Natioiv and policy coujd have been as efficient 111 peaco in tne VV estern Hemisphere! and in giving to each na tion therejn the chance to develop along its OAfn lines. If we had refused to apply Ihe Doctrine to changing conditions t would now be complete ly outwornf would not meet any of the needs of te present day, and indeed would probably by this time have sunk into complete oblivion. It is useful at fome, and is meeting with recognition ' abroad because - we have adapted oiflr application of it to meet thp growig and changing needs of our Hemisphere. When we announce a policy, uch as the Monroe Doc trine, we thereby commit ourselves to the conequences of the policy, and those consequences from time to time alter. It s out of the question to claim a nsht and veif slivlr ha sponsibili- for its exercise. Not on- who are benefitted by the existence of 'the Dctrine, must l-ecognize the uiK;ouui.,eacu nation is under as regards f f reign peoples (no less than its duty tf insist upon its own rights. Y That or rights and interests are deeply co&cerned in the maintenance of the Dojtrine is as clear as hardly to need argument. This is especially true in vew of the construction of the Panama Canal. As a mere mater of self-dense we must , exercise a close watlh: over the approaches to this cana; and this- means that 'we must be thoroughly alive to our inter ests in tKf Caribbean Sea. afi js wor rsea iMd ?es Ezrh hrdluu l . Santo' Domingo. Santo Domingo, in her turn, has now mad an appeal to us to help her and.jiot only every principle of wisdom ljut every generous instinct within usp bids us' respond to the ap peal. It not of the slightest con sequence whether we grant the aid needed: bfp Santo Domingo as an in- cident to the wise development of the Monroe Doctrine, or because we re gai d the ,case t of Santo Domingo as standing wholly, by itself, and to be treated as such, and not on general principles or with any reference to the Monroe Doctrine. . Army and Navy. We cannot consider the question of our foreign policy without at ' the same time treating of the Army and the Navy. We now have a very small army indeed, one well-nigh infinitesimal' when compared with the army of any other large nation. Of course the Army we do have should be as nearly perfect of its kind and for its size as possible. I do not be lieve that any army in the world has a better average of enlisted man vr a better type of junior officer; but the Army should be trained to act effectively in a mass. Provision snould be made by sufficient appro priations foi maneuvers of a practi cal kind so that the troops may learn how to tako care of themselves under actual service conditions; every march for instance, being made with the soldier loaded exactly, as he would be in active campaign. The generals and colonels would thereby have otv portunity J of handling regiments, brigades, and divisions, and the com misary and medical departments would be tested in the field. - Provis ion should be made for the exercise at leet of a brigade and by preefr ence of a division in marching and embarking at some point and continu ing its march. The number of posts in which the Army is kept in time of peace snould be matnajly, dimmshed and the posts that areleft madeucor. respondingly larger. No, loeal Winter; est should be allowed to stand in the way of assembling the greater part of the troops which would at need form our field armies in stations of such size as will permit the best training to be eriven to the personnel of all grades, including the high offi cers and staff officers. To accom plish this end we must have not com pany or regimental garrifeonsv btu brigade and division garrisons. ; Federal Elections. " - The President touches' upon -the question "of Federal elections, quot ing the well known constitutional provision that Congress shall be the final judge of the qualification of its own, members. He also declares st rongly agains t all : forms of corrup tion and expresses regret at the grow- icuucucjr iu increase expenses m connection ? with the conduct of po litical campaigns. Briefly, he ad vocates the greatest possible purity oi tno ballot and the f ulest - free dom of the exercise of the elective tranchise consistent with crood erov- ernment. Immigraition. , Thes ubject of immisration is treat ed by Mr. Roosevelt in a particular ly able and thoughtful manner. The tendency of , foreigners to congregate in sections of the country - already congested with people is derdored. High-class foreigners are desirable and are welcomed, but onlv thos with tendencies towards good citizen ship and of industrious and law-ab iding habits will add to the general welfare of the nation. It is pointed out that our farming, sections need labor, and that all who come with a will to work will find a ready welcome. Criminal Laws. In my last Message T nsl-Pl the attention of the Congress to" the ur gent need, of action to make our criminal law more effective : and T most earnestly request that you pay heed to the report of the Aattorney General on this subject. Centuries ago it was especially needful fn thix)w every safeguard round the ac cused. Such danger then wn 1pf he should be wronged by the state. ine danger is noAv exactly the reverse. Breaches .of Trust in Public Service. There seems , to be no statute of the United States which nrovidfs for the punishment of "a United States attorney or. other officer of the Government who corruptly agrees to wrongfully- do or wrongfully re frain from doing any act when the consideration for suchw corrupt agree ment "is other than one possessing money value. This ought to be reme died : by , appropriate legislation. " Public Land Laws. Once asrain I call vonr atttntnn the condition of the nublift-Tfl Kecent developments have giyen new urgency to tne need tor such changes as will fit these laws to aetiii' rec ent conditions. The - honest disposal jui uoc uj. tuts lmaining puo iic lands is of fundamental imnort. ance.r The. iniquitous : ' methods by which the monopolizing of the public lands is .being brought about under the present laws are becoming more generally known, but the existing laws do not furnish effective remedies. The recommendations of the Public Land? Commission upon this subject are wise and should be given effect! The Jamestown Tercentennial. , This enterprise is highly commend ed by the President, who- heartily sets the seal of his , approval upon every thing Congress may see fit: to do to assist in making it a success. Our Island Possessions. Good- work has been done by 'our government in all the territorial ac quired by our recent war with Spain. Order is rapidly being brough about and , the ' people are becoming con tented and prosperous. The . Hague Conference. - This tribunal, established for the purpose of arbitrating , matters of in- v4iwnvaai uun-iwiWj X10.0 till tSiXiiy flC' complished much good. Matters of armament and defense and also the duties of neutral powers in time of war have been brought up and dis cussed before this high tribunal, and a. better understanding between the grown out of the meetings. ' nations of the earth has already National Park Reservations. The President recommends to the Congress the enlargement of the bounds of; the Yellowstone National Park, the protection of the Niagara Falls and the establishment of such other park reservations as congress may see fit to set apart. The great benefits of these national parks to science as well as to the health and happiness of the people is pointed out. ,. i-: . Merchant . Marine. To the spread of our traJe in peace and the defense of our flag in war a f-reat and prosperous merchant ma rine is indispensible. We shold have shins' of our own and seamen of our own to convey our goods' to neutral ntapets, and in case of need to re-e-;iforce our battle line. It ean not but be a source of regret and un easiness to us that the lines of com municaticn with out sister, republics of South America should be chicly under foreign control. Pensions. . The soldier who did his duty in the time of war should receive the benefits of a grateful country, but here, as elsewhere, r strict cafK should be kept to prevent fraud. ' - Mississippi Levees. The National Government already does something in connection with the construction and maintenance of the great system of levees 'along, the lower course of the Mississippi ; in my judgment it should do much more. The Civil Service. The , civil service law has been on the statute books for twentv-two j"-"-'. -wcij t icsiueut aim a vast majority of heads of departments who have been in office during that period have favored a gradual ex tension of . the merit system: Tha more thoroughly its principles have been understood, the ereater has been the favor with which the law hns been regarded bv administrative of- omcers. Any attempt to carry on the great executive departments of the Government without this law would inevitably result in chaos. The Civil ticrvice Commissioners are doing ex cellent work : and their comoensa- tion is inadequate consideriuar the service tney perxorm. Admission1 to Statehood. I recommend that Indian Territory and.. Oklahoma be adimtted as one State and that Mexico and Arizona be admitted as one State. There is no obligation upon us to treat terri- x - I i 1 " - l " T ; i lunai suDaivisions, wnicn are mat ters of convenience only, as bind ing us on the question of admission to statehood. Panama flanal. The treatment between the United States and the Republic of Panama, under which the construction of the Panama Canal was . made possible, went into effect -with its ratification by the United States on April 23, 1904, on payment of $40,000,000 to that company. On April 1, 1905, the Commission was reorganized . and it now consists of Theodore P. Shonts, chairman, Charles E. Ma- Admiral Mordeeai T. Endicott, Brig. Gen. Peter C. Hains, and Col. Oswald H. Ernst. The Department of State. I recommend more adequate pro vision than has been made hereto fore for the work of the Depart ment of State. Within a few years here has been a very great increase in the amount and importance of the work to be done by that Department, both in Washington and abroad. This has been caused by ;the . great in crease, of our foreign trade, the in crease., of ..wealth among our people, which enables them to travel more generally than heretofore, the in crease of American capital which is seeking investmentVin- foreign coun tries, and the growth of our power -and weight in the councils of the civilized world. Conclusion. , . Suitable provision should be made for the expense of keepiug our dip lomatic officers more fully informed of what is being done from day to day in progress of our diplomatic affairs with other .countries. The lack of such information, caused by insuff icient appropriations available for cable tolls and for clerical and mesenger service, frequently puts our officers at a great disadvantage and detracts from their usefulness. The salary .list should be readjusted. It does not no w correspond either to , the importance' of the- service to be rendered and ' the degrees of ability and experience required in the dif ferent positions, or to the differences in the cost of living. In many cases the salaries are quite inadequate. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The White House, . , December 5. 1905.
Polk County News and The Tryon Bee (Tryon, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 7, 1905, edition 1
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