Youngstown News, 1902-12-05

              THE YOUNGSTOWN NEWS. VOL. XXII. YOUNGSTOWN, N. Y., FRIDAY. DECEMBER 5. 1902. NO. 44. THE PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL MESSAGE Mr. Roosevelt Makes Recommendations to Congress SAYS' COUNTRY IS PROSPEROUS He Touches Upon the Trusts, Tariff, Our Foreign Relations and Other flatters of Public Policy. ■ o  Introduction. To the Senate and House of Representatives:We still continue in a period of unbounded prosperity. This prosperity is not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the lav/s under which we work have been instrumental in creating the conditions which made it possible, and by unwise legislation it would be easy enough to destroy it. There will undoubtedly be periods of depression. The wave will recede; but the tide will advance. This Nation is seated on a continent flanked by two great oceans. It is composed of men the descendants of pioneers, or, in a sense, pioneers themselves; of men winnowed out from among the nations of the Old World by the energy, boldness, and love of adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such a nation, so placed, will surely wrest success :rom fortune. As a peopie we have played a large part in the world, and we are bent upon making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the eveats of the last four years have delnitelv decided that, for woe or for weal, our place must be great among the nations. We may either fail greatly or succeed greatly; but we can not avoid the endeavor from which either great failure or great success must come. Even if we would, we can not play a small part. If we should try, all that would follow would be that we should play a large part ignobly and shamefully.But our people, the sons of the men of the Civil War, the sons of the men who had iron in their blood, rejoice in the present and face the future high of heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed of the weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and of triumphant endeavor. We ao not shrink from the struggle before us. There are many problems for us to face at the outset of the twentieth century—grave problems abroad and still graver at home; but we know that we can solve them and solve them well, provided only that we bring to the solution the qualities of head and heart which were shown by the men who, in the days of Washington, founded this Government, and, in the days of Lincoln, preserved it. No country has ever occupied a higher plane of material well-being than ours at the present moment. This well-being is due to no sudden or accidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces in this country for over a century; to our.laws, our sustained and continuous policies; above all, to the high individual average oC our citizenship. Great fortunes have been won by those who have taken the lead in this phenomenal industrial development, and most of these fortunes have been won not by doing evil, but as an incident to action which has benefited the community as a whole. Never before has material well-being been so widely diffused among our people. Great fortunes have been accumulated, and yet in the aggregate these fortunes are smalJ indeed when compared to the wealth of the people as a whole. The plain people are better off than they have ever been before. The insurance companies, which are practically mutual benefit societies—especially helpful to men of moderate means—represent accumulations of capital which are among the largest in this country. There are more deposits in the savings banks, more owners of farms, more well-paid wage-workers in this country now than ever before in our history. Of course, when the conditions have favored the growth of so much that was good, they have also favored somewhat the growth of what was evil. It is eminently necessary that we should endeavor to cut out this evil, but let us keep a due sense of proportion; let us not in fixing our gaze upon the lesser evil forget the greater good. The evils are real and some of them are menacing, but they are the outgrowth, not of misery or decadence, but of prosperity—of the progress of our gigantic industrial development. This industrial development must not be checked, but side by side with it should go such progressive regulation as will diminish the evils. We should fail in our duty if we did not try to remedy the evils, but we shall succeed only if we proceed patiently, with practical common sense as well as resolution, separating the good from the bad and holding on to the former while endeavoring to get rid of the latter. TRUSTS. In my Message to the present Congress at its first session I discussed at length the question of the regulation of those big corporations commonly doing an interstate business, often with some tendency to monopoly, which are popularly known as trusts. The experience of the past year has emphasized, in my opinion, the desirability of the steps I then proposed. A fundamental requisite of social em ciency is a high standard of individual eneigy and excellence; but this is in no wise inconsistent with power to act in combination ior aims which can not so well be achieved by the individual acting alone. A fundamental base of civilization is the inviolability of property; but this is in no wiso inconsistent with the right of society to regulate the exercise of the artificial powers which it confers upon the owners of property, under the name of corporate franchises, in such a way as to prevent the misuse of these powers. Corporations, and especially combinations of corporations, should be managed under public regulation. Experience has shown that under our system of government the necessary supervision can not be obtained by State action. It must therefore be achieved by national action. Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effect to destroy them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would vork the utmost mischief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds that we are not attacking the corporations, bat endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth. The capitalist who, alone or in conjunction with the fellows, performs some great industrial feat by which he wins money is a welldoer, not a wrongdoer, provided only he works in proper and legitimate lines. We wish to favor such a man when he does well. We wish to supervise and control his actions only to prevent him from doing 111. Publicity can do no harm to the honest corporation; and we need not be overtender about sparing the dishonest corporation. In curbing and regulating the combinations of capital which are or may become injurious to the public we must be careful not to stop the great enterprises which have legitimately reduced the cost of production, net to abandon the place which our coontry has won in the leadership of the international industrial world, not to strike down wealth with the result of closing factories and mines, of turning the wage-worker idle in the streets and leaving the farmer without a market for what he grows. Insistence upon the impossible means delay in achieving the possible, exactly as, on the other hand, the stubborn defense alike of what is good and what is bad in the existing system, the resolute effort to obstruct any attempt at betterment, betrays blindness to the his toric truth that wise evolution is the sure safeguard against revolution. No more important subject can come before the Congress than this of the regulation of interstate business. This country can not afford to sit supine on'the plea that under our peculiar system of government we are helpless in the presence of the new conditions, and unable to grapple with them or to cut out whatever of evil has arisen in connection wiln them. The powtjr of the Congress to regulate interstate commerce is an absolute and unqualified grant, and without limitations other than those prescribed by the Constitution. The Congress has constitutional authority to make all laws necessary and proper for executing this power, and I am satisfied that this power has not been exhausted by any legislation now on the statute books. It is evideul, therefore, that evils restrictive of commercial freedom and entailing re straint upon national commerce fall within the regulative power of tha Congress, and that a wise and reasonable law would be a necessary and proper exercise of Congressional authority to the end that such evils should be eradicated. I believe that monopolies, unjust discriminations, which prevent or cripple competition, fraudulent overcapitalization, and other evils in trust organizations and practices which injuriously affect interstate trade can be prevented under the power of the Congress to "regulate commerce wiui foreign nations and among the several States" through regulations and requirements operating directly upon such commerce, the instrumentalities thereof, and those engaged therein. I earnestly recommend this subject to the consideration of the Congress with a view to the passage of a law reasonable in its provisions and effective in its operations, upon which the questions can be finally adjudicated that now raise doubts as to the necessity of constitutional amendment. If it prove impossible to accomplish the purposes above set forth by such a law, then, assuredly, we should not shrink from amending the Constitution so as to secure beyond peradventure the power sought. The Congress has not heretofore made any appropriation for the better enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands. Very much has been done by the Department of Justice in securing the enforcement of this law, but much more could be done if Cou gress would make a special appropriation for this purpose, to be expended under the direction of the Attorney General. One proposition advocated has been the reduction of the tariff as a means of reaching the evils of the trusts wh;ch fall within the category I have described. Not merely would this be wholly ineffective, but the diversion of our efforts in such a direction would mean the abandonment of all intelligent attempt to do away with these evils. Many of the which should certainly be included in any proper scheme of regulation, would not be affected in the slightest degree by a change in the tariff, save as such change interfered with the general prosperity of the country. The only relation of the tariff to big corporations as a whole is that the tariff makes manufactures profitable, and the tariff remedy proposed w;ould be in effect simply to make manufactures unprofitable. To remove the tariff as a punitive measure directed against trusts would inevitably result in ruin to the weaker competitors who are struggling against them. Our aim should be not by unwise tariff changes to give foreign products the advantage over domestic products, but by proper regulation to give domestic competition a fair chance; and this end can not be reached by any tariff changes which would affect unfavorably all domestic competitors, good and bad alike. The question of regulation of the trusts stands apart from the question of tariff revision. Stability of economic policy must, always be the prime economic need of this country. This stability should not be fossilization. Tne country has acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective-tariff principle. It is exceedingly undesirable that this system should be destroyed or that there should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past experience shows that great prosperity in this countryhas always come under a protective tariff, and that the country can not prosper under fitful tariff changes al intervals. Moreover, if the tariff laws as a whole work well, and if business has prospered under them and is prospering, it is better to endure ior a time slight inconveniences and inequalities in some schedules than to upset business by too quick and too radical changes. It is most earnestly to be wished that we could treat the tariff from the standpoint solely of our business needs. It is, perhaps, too much to hope that partisanship may be entirely excluded froui consideration of the subject, but at least it can be made secondary to the business interests of the country— that is, to the interests of our people as a whole. Unquestionably these business interests will best be served if together with fixity of principle as regards the tariff we combine a system which will permit us from time to time to make the necessary reapplication of the principle to the shifting national needs. We must take scrupulous care that the reapplication shall be made in such a way that it will not amount to a dislocation of our system, the mere threat of which (not to speak of the performance) would produce paralysis in the business energies of the community. The first consideration in making these changes would, of course, be to preserve the principle which underlies our whole tariff syste—that is, the principle of putting American business interests at least on a full equality with interests abroad, and of always allowing a sufficient rate of duty to more than cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-being of the wage-worker, like the well-being of the tiller of the soil, should be treated as an essential in shaping our whole economic policy. There must never be any change which will jeopardize the standard of comfort, the standard of wages of the American wage-worker. One way in which the readjustment sought can be reached is by reciprocity treaties. It is greatly to be desirea that such, treaties may be adopted. They can be used to widen our markets and to give a greater field for the activities of our producers on the one hand, and on the other hand to secure in practical shape the lowering of duties when they are no longer needed for protection among our own people, or when the minimum of damage done may be disregarded for the sake of the maximum of good accomplished. If it prove impossible to ratify the pending treaties, and if there seem to be no warrant for the endeavor to execute others, or to amend the pending treaties so that they can be ratified, then the same end—to secure reciprocity—should be met by direct legislation. Wherever the tariff conditions are such that a needed change can not with advantage be made by the application of , the reciprocity idea, then it can be made outright by a lowering of duties on a given product. If possible, such change should be made only after the fullest consideration by practical experts, who should approach the subject from a business standpoint, having in view both the particular interests affected and the commercial well-being of the people as a whole. The machinery for providing such careful investigation can readily be supplied. The executive department has already at its disposal methods of collecting facts and figures; and if the Congress desires additional consideration to that which will be given the subject by its own committees, then a commission of business experts can be appointed whose duty it should be to recommend action by the Congress after a deliberate and scientific examination of the various schedules as they are affected by the changed and changing conditions. The unhurried and unbiased report of this commission would show what changes should be made in the various schedules, and how far these changes could go without also changing the great prosperity which this country is nowenjoying, or upsetting its fixed economic policy. PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. On July 4 last, on the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of the declaration of our independence, peace and amnesty were promulgated in the Philippine Islands. Some trouble has since from time to time threatened with the Mohammedan Moros, but with the late insurrectionary Filipinos the war has entirely ceased. Civil government has now be?n intro duced. Not only does each Filipino enjoy such rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as he has never before known during the recorded history of the islands, but the people taken as a whole now enjoy a measure of self-government greater than that granted to any other Orientals by any foreign power and greater than that enjoyed by any other Orientals under their own governments, save the Japanese alone. We have not gone too far in granting these rights of liberty and self-government; but we have certainly gone to the limit that in the interests of the Philippine people themselves it was wise or just to go. To hurry matters, to go faster than we are now going, would entail calamity on the people of the islands. No policy ever entered into by the American people has vindicated itself in more signal manner than the policy of holding the Philippines. The triumph of our arms, above all the triumph of our laws and principles, has come sooner than we had any right to expect. Too much praise can not be given to the Army for what it has done in the Philippines both in warfare and from an administrative standpoint in preparing the way for civil government; and similar credit belongs to the civil authorities for the way in which they have planted the seeds of selfgovernment in the ground thus made ready for them. The courage, the unflinching endurance, the high soldierly efficiency, and the general kind-heartedness and humanity of our troops have been strikingly manifested. There now remain only some fifteen thousand troops in the islands. All told, over one hundred thousand have been sent there. Of course, there have been individual instances of wrongdoing among them. They warred under fearful difficulties of climate and surroundings; and under the strain of the terrible provocations which they continually received from their foes, occassional instances of cruel retaliation occurred. Every effort has been made to prevent such cruelties, and finally these efforts have been completely successful. Every effort has also been made to detest and punish the wrongdoers. After making all allowance for these misdeeds, it remains true that few indeed have been the instances in which war has been waged by a civilized power against semicivilized or barbarous forces where there has been so little wrongdoing by the victors as in the Philippine Islands. On the other hand the amount of difficult, important, and beneficent work which has been done is well-nigh incalculable. Taking the work of the Army and the civil authorities together, it may be questioned whether anywhere else in modern times the world has seen a better example of real constructive statesmanship than our people have given in the Philippine Islands. High praise should also be given those Filipinos, in the aggregate very numerous, who have accepted the new conditions and joined with our representatives to work with hearty good will for the well-fare of the islands. , The question of Alaska occupies a well written paragraph of the message, in which are a number of good suggestions. LABOR AND CAPITAL. The relations of labor and capital are discussed in the message in a lucid mariner. It is a delicate question. Neither party should have its legitimate rights invaded. It is suggested that whatever legislation is needed to adjust any present or prospective differences should be in the interest of harmony between the parties without discriminating against either. NEW CABINET OFFICER. It is earnestly hoped that a secretary of commerce may be created, with a seat in the Cabinet. The rapid multiplication of questions affecting labor and capital, the growth and complexity of the organizations through which both labor and capital now find expression, the steady tendency toward the employment of capital in huge corporations, and the wonderful strides of this country toward leadership in the international business world justify an urgent demand for the creation of such a position. Substantially all the leading commercial bodies in this country have united in requesting its creation. It is desirable that some such measure as that which has already passed the Senate be enacted into law. The creation of such a department would in itself be an advance toward dealing with and exercising supervision over the whola subject of the great corporations doing an interstate business; and with this end in view, the Congress should endow the department with large powers, which could be increased as experience might show the need. RECIPROCITY WITH CUBA. I hope soon to submit to the Senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba. On May 20 last the United States kept its promise to the island by formally vacating son and turning Cuba over to those whom her own people had chosen as the first officials of the new Republic. Cuba lies at our doors, and what ever affects her for good or for ill affects us also. So much have our people felt this that in the Piatt amendment we definitely took the ground that Cuba must hereafter have closer political relations with us than with any other power. Thus in a sense Cuba has become a part of our international political system. This makes it necessary that in return sheshould be given some of the benefits of becoming part cf our economic system. It is, from our own standpoint, a short-sighted and mischievous. policy to fail to recognize this need. Moreover, it is unworthy of a mighty and generous nation, itself the greatest and most successful republic in history, to refuse to stretch out a helping hand to a and weak sister republic just entering upon its career of independence. We should always fearlessly insist upon our rights in the face of the strong, and we should with ungrudging hand do our generous duty by the weak, urge the adoption of reciprocity wit) Cuba not only because it is eminent!} for our own interests to control the Cuban market and by every means to foster our supremacy in the tropical lands and waters south of us, but also because we, of the giant republic of the north, should make all our sister nations of the American Continent feel that whenever they will permit it we desire to show ourselves disinterestedly and effectively their friend. The message advocates reciprocal trade relations between Great Britain and the United States. ISTHMIAN CANAL. On the subject of an isthmian canal the President commends the action of the past session of Congress, and makes further recommendation that the great work be undertaken as early as practicable. Arbitration between the United States and the foreign powers is recommended where possible. The army has been reduced'to the minimum allowed by law. It is small for so large a nation. We can take pride in both our officers and enlisted men. It is urged that the necessary appropriations be made for the continuance of the naval manoeuvres. Also, that the necessary officers should be provided for the proper oversight of the enlisted men. CIVIL SERVICE. Gratifying progress has been made during the year in the extension of the merit system of making appointments in the Government service. It should be extended by law to the District of Columbia. It is much to be desired that our consular system be established by law on a basis providing for appointment and promotion only in consequence of proved fitness. IRRIGATION. The message suggests the reclamation of the arid lands by irrigation and also the protection of game. PORTO RICO. Of Porto Rico it is only necessary to say that the prosperity of the island and the wisdom with which it haa been governed have been such as to make it serve as an example of all that is best in insular administration. In dealing with the Indians our aim should be to absorb them into the body politic. A large amount of educational work must be done among them. Continuing the President argues that irrigated land should provide the former with a never failing source of revenue. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. The President recommends special care for the Smithsonian Institution, and commends its good work. DISTRICT OF COLOMBIA. A number of recommendations follow concerning the proper government of the district. RAILWAY EMPLOYES. The recommendation for the enactment of laws for the protection of railway employes is concise and pointed. THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT. The striking increase in the revenues of the Post-Office Department shows clearly the prosperity of our people and the increasing activity of the business of the country. The receipts of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30 last amounted to $121,848,047. 26, an increase of $10,216,853.87 over the preceding year, the largest increase known in the history of the postal service. The magnitude of this increase will best appear from the fact that the entire postal receipts for the year 1860 amounted to but $8,518,u17. Rural free-delivery service is no longer in the experimental stage; it has become a fixed poljjpy. The results following its introduction have fully justified the Congress in the large appropriations made for its establishment and extension. The average yearly increase in post-office receipts in the rural districts of the country Is about two per cent. We are now able, by actual results, to show that where rural free-delivery service has been established to such an extent as to enable us to make comparisons the yearly increase has been upward of ten per cent. On November 1, 1902, 11,650 rural free-delivery routes had been established and were in operation, covering about one-third of the territory or the United States available for rural freedelivery service. There are now awaiting the action of the Department petitions and applications for the establishment of 10,748 additional routes. This shows conclusively the want which the establishment of the service has met and the need of further extending it as rapidly as possible. It is justified both by the financial results and by the practical benefits to our rural population; it brings the men who live on the soil into close relations with the active business world; it keeps the farmer in daily touch with the markets; it is a potential educational force; it enhances the value of farm property, makes farm life far pleasanter and less isolated, and will do much to check the undesirable current from country to city. It is to be hoped that the Congress will make liberal appropriations for the continuance of the service already established and for its further extension.The President commends the action of the last Congress on the great improvement made in the White House. The message is urgent in encouraging scientific farming, and farmers given every advantage to improved methods of farming. CONCLUSION. The reports of the several Executive Departments are submitted to the Congress with this comm- ucation. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. White House, POSTAL SERVICE IN 1902 Receipts Amounted to $121,848,047 Expenses, $124,785,697. DEFICIT FOR YEAR, $2,937,649 The Annual Report of the Postmaster- General—The Estimated Deficit For the Tear Endin-June 30, 1904, 88,342,356 —Some Benefit* of Kural Free Delirery—Eicnt-Honr Day For Clerks. ■" Washington, D. C—The annual re* port of the Postmaster-General for the year ending June 30 last shows total receipts for the year of $121,848,047.26, as compared with the previous year's receipts of $111,631,193.39. The expenditures for the year were $124,785,- 697.07, as compared with $115,554,- 920.57 for the preceding year. The excess of expenditures, $2,937,- 649.51, was less than the previous year's deficit by $986,077.67. The estimated deficit for the year ending June 30, 1904, is $5,242,856. Efforts have been made in the past and are now being made to better, wherever possible, the condition of postal employes, the report says. This is especially so in the case of clerks in postoffices. There were upwards of 12,000 clerks promoted on July 1 last, the aggregate allowance for these promotions being about $1,200,000. Fully 11,000 of these promotions were of clerks who received less than $1000 per annum. The working hours of clerks in the larger postoffices were also reduced so as :.ot to average more than eight hours a day. The report continues:"Rural free delivery service has become an established fact. It is no longer in the experimental stage and undoubtedly Congress will continue to increase the appropriation for this service until all the people of the country are reached, where it is thickly enough settled to warrant it. The estimates of the department are to the effect that the available territory for this service embraces about 1,000,000 square miles, or one-third of the country's area exclusive of Alaska. The 11,650 routes now in operation cover about one-third of the available territory. The rapid extension of the service will, of course, increase the deficits during the next three years. After it is completed the revenues will quickly feel the effect of its establishment, aud whatever deficit may be occasioned will gradually disappear. It will also be interesting to note that rural free delivery carriers received applications during the past year for 625,946 money orders. "Specific instances have been brought to the attention of the Depai"tment where the prompt delivering of live stock quotations indicating a temporary glut in the market to farmers intending to ship to the stockyards, by enabling them to hold back their shipments till the markets resumed their normal conditions, has saved to individual cattle raisers more than the total cost of one year's rural delivery over the routes on which they lived. "The number of domestic money orders issued was 40,474,327. amounting to $313,551,279. The number of international money orders issued during the year was 1,311,111, amounting to $22,974,473. The number of international orders paid during the year was 307,079, amounting to $5,821,729. It will be interesting to note that the amount of the foreign orders issued was nearly four times as great as the amount paid. The fee at present for an order of $100 is thirty cents, and it is recommended that legislation be passed authorizing the Department to reduce this fee to twenty-five cents. "The star service discontinued during the year ended June 30, 1902, by reason of the establishment of rural free delivery service, amounted to $265,013.98. "Legislation is needed for the protection of railway postal clerks while in the discharge of their duties. This is a matter which has been fully presented in previous annual reports. "Last year the Department paid for the transportation of foreign mails the sum of $2,245,625.55." On the subject of the parcels post the report says: "From the statistics taken it appears that the average weight of parcels despatched from this country to all countries only sll.-htly exceeds three and one-half pounds. The average weight of parcels despatched from this country to Germany is two and two-thirds pounds. In view of the fact that four pounds as a limit of weight will fairly meet the requirements of this country, the Second Assistant Postmaster-General recommends the tender of parcels post conventions with England, France, Italy and other countries of Europe, similar to that now in force between this country and Germany, with the exception that the weight of parcels be limited to four pounds and that six month's notice be given to Germany of the desire of this country to modify the existing convention so as to reduce the weight of parcels from eleven to four pounds." Attention is invited to the remarks of the Second Assistant Postmaster- General concerning the need of a universal stamp, or some substitute for it, which will facilitate international correspondence.Would-Be Duelists Reconciled. Thomas Braniff, Jr., and Manuel Ri- Con Gallardo, the young society men, of Mexico City. Mexico, "who were arrested and held by the police to prevent them from fighting a duel, have secured their release by shaking hands in open court and promising the Judge that they -would abandon their dueling plans. Braniff was fined $180 and Gallardo $160, which they paid. JAn Independent Re-$ * pablican Paper, t J The Brightest and Best J a County Paper. f $1.00 Per Year in Advance, f \ Advertising Rates on Application. A