Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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PREISIDENTSESG The president in his message to con gress says: No nation has greater resources than ours. and I think it can be truthfully said that the citizens of no nation pos sess greater energy and industrial abil ity. In no nation are the fundamental business conditions soun<er than in ours at this very moment, and it is foolish when such is the case for peo ple to hoard money instead of .keeping it in sound banks, for it is suc*loard ing that is the immediate occasion of money stringency. Moreover, as a rule, the business of our people is con ducted with honesty and probity. and this applies alike to farms and fac tories, to railroads and banks, to all our legitimate commercial enterprises. In any large body of men, however, there are certain to be some who are dishonest, and If the. conditions are such that these men prosper or commit their misdeeds with impunity their example is a rery evil thing for the community. Where these men are business 'nen of grea' sagacity and- o? temperament both unscrupulous and reckless, an-! wher - the conditions are such that they act without supervision or control and at first without effective check from public opinion, they delude many innocent people into making in vestments or embarkin? in kinds of business that are really .ound. When the misdeeds of these successfully dis honest men are discovered, suffering comes not only upon them, but upon the innocent whom they have misled. It is a painful awakening, whenever it occurs, and naturally when it does oc cur those who suffer are apt to forget that the longer it was deferred the more painful it would be. In the effort to punish the guilty it is both wise and proper to endeavor so far as possible to minimize the distress of those who have been misled by the guilty. Yet it is not possible to refrain because of such distress from striving to put an end to the misdeeds that are the ulti mate causes of the suffering and, as a means to this end, where possible to punish those responsible for them. There may be honest differences of opinion as to many governmental poli cies, but surely there can be no such differences as to the need of unflinch ing perseverance in the war against successful dishonesty. Interstate Commerce. No small part of .the trouble that we have comes from carrying to an ex treme the national virtue of self reli ance, of independence in initiative and action. It is wise to conserv~ this virtue and to provide for Its t'llest ~exercise compatible with seeing that libertyi does not become a liberty to -wrong -others. Unfortunately this is the' kind of liberty that the lack'.of all effective regulation inevitably breeds. * The founders of the constitution pro vided that the national government should have complete and sole control of- interstate commerce. There was then practically no Interstate business save such as was conducted by water, and this the national government at once proceeded to regulate in thorough ~going and effective fashion. Conditions have now so wholly changed that the interstate commerce by water is insig nificant -compared with the amount . that goes by land, and almost all big . business concerns are now engaged in Interstate commerce. As a result It can be but -partially and imperfectly coo trolled or regulated by. the action of any one of the several states, such ac tion inevitably tending to be either too drastic or else too lax and in either case ineffective for purposes of justice. * Only the nation'al government can in thoroughgoing fashion exercise the needed control. This does not mean that there should be any extension of federal authority, for such authority already exists under the constitution In amplest and most far reaching form, but it does mean that there should be an extension of federal activity. This Is not advocating centralization. It Is merely looking facts in the face and realizing that centralization in business has already come and cannot be avoid:] ed or undone and that the public at large can only protect itself from cera: tain evil effects of this business eene fralization by providing better methods for the exereise of control through the authority already centralized in the national government by the constitu tion itself. There must be no halt in the healthy constructive course of ac tion which this nation has elected to pursue and has steadily pursued dur ing the last six years, as shown both In the legislation of the congress and the administration of the law by the department of justice. National License For Railroads. .The most vital need is in connection with the railroads. As to these, in my fu^gment, there should now be either a niational incorporation act or a law * licensing railway companies to engage in interstate commerce upon certain conditions. The law should be so framed as to give to the interstate commerce commission power to pass upon the future issue of securities, while ample means should be provided to enable the commission whenever in its judgment It is necessary to make a physical valuation of any railroad. As I stated in my message to the congress a year ago, railroads should be given power to enter into agreements sub ject to these agreements being made public in minute detail and to the con sent of the interstate commerce com mi.sin being firt onained. Until the national government assumes prop er control of interstate commerce in the exercise of the authority it already possesses it will be impossible either to give to or to get from the railroads full justice. The railroads and all oth er great corporations will do well to recognize that this control must come. The only question is as to what gov ernmental body can most wisely exer cise it. The courts will determine the limits within which the federal author ity can exercise it, and there will still remain ample work within each state for the railway commission of that state, and the national interstate com merce commission will work in har mony with the several state commis sions, each within its own province, to achieve the desired end. The Antitrust Law. Moreover, in my judgment, there should be additional legislation looking to the proper control of-the great busi ness concerns engaged in interstate business, this control to be exercised for their own benefit and prosperity no less than for the protection of in vestors and of the general public. As I have repeatedly said in messages to congress and elsewhere, experience has definitely shown not merely the unwis dom, but the futility, of endeavoring to put a stop to all business combinations. Modern industrial conditions are such that combination is not only necessary, but inevitable. It is so in the world of business just as it is so in the world of labor, and it is as idle to desire to put an end to all corporations, to all big combinations of capital, as to desire to put an end to combinations of labor. Corporation and labor union alike have come to stay. Each if properly man aged is a source of good and not evil. Whenever in either there is evil it should be promptly held to account, but it- should receive hearty encourage ment so long as it is properly managed. It is profoundly immoral > put or keep on the statute books a law nomi nally in the interest of public morality that really puts a premium upon pub lic immorality by undertaking to for bid honest men from doing what must be done under modern business condi tions so that the law itself provides that its own infraction must be the condition precedent upon business suc cess. To aim at ,the accomplishinent of too much usually means the accom plishment of too little and often the do ing of positive damage. Not Repeal, but Amendment. The antitrust law should not be re pealed, but it should be made both more efficient and more in harmony with actual conditions. It should be so amended as to forbid only the kind of combination which does harm to the general public, such emendmient to be accompanied by or to be an incident of a grant of supervisory ,power to the government over theses big concerns engaged in interstate business. This should be accompanied by provision for the compulsory publication of ac counts and the subjection of books and papers to the inspection of the gov ernment officials. A beginning has al ready been made for such supervision by the establishment of the bureau of corporations. The antitrust law should not prohibit combinations that do no injustice to the public, still less those the existence of which is on the whole of benefit to the public. But even If this feature of the law were abolished there would remain as an equally objectionable fea ture the difficulty and delay now inci dent to its enforcement. The govern ment must now submit to irksome and repeated delay before obtaining a final :ecision of the courts upon proceedings instituted, "and even a favorable de cree may mean an empty victory. Moreover, to attempt to control these corporations by lawsuits- means to im pose upon both the department of justice and the courts an impossible burden. It is not feasible to carry on more than a limited number of such suits. Such a law to be really effec tive must of course be administered by an executive body and not merely by means of lawsuits. The design should be to prevent the abuses inci dent to the creation of unhealthy and improper combinations instead of wait ing until they are in existence and then attempting to destroy them by civil or criminal proceedings. Law Should Be Explicit. A ( >:mbination should not be tolerat-I ed if it abuse the power acquired by combination to the public detriment No corporation or association of. any kind should be permitted to engage in foreign or Interstate commerce that Is! formed for the purpose of or whose operations create a monopoly or gen eral control of the production, sale or distribution of any one or more of the prime necessities of life or articles of general use and necessity. Such com binations are against public policy. They violate the common law. The doors of the courts are closed to those who are parties to them, and I believe the congress can close the channels of interstate commerce against them for its protection. The law should make its prohibitions and permissions as clear and definite as possible, leaving the least possIble room for arbitrary action or allegation of such action on the part of the executive or of diver gent interpretations by the courts. Among the points to be aimed at should be the prohibition of unhealthy competition, such as by rendering serv ice at an actual loss for the purpose of crushing out competition, the preven tion of inflation of capital and the pro hibition of a corporation's making ex clusive trade with Itself a condition of having any trade with itself. Reason able agreements between or combina tions of corporations should be per mitted provide theyarer first submit ted to and approved by some appro priate government body. Congress' Power. The congress has the power to char ter corporations to engage in interstate and foreign commerce, and a v vral law can be enacted under the lrrvi sions of which existing cor"orations emld take out federal charters and no-: federal corporations could he cre ated. An essential provision of such a law should be a method of predeter mining by some federal board or com mission whether the applicant for a federal charter was an association or combination within the restrictions of the federal law. Provision should also be made for complete publicity in all matters affecting the public and com plete protection to the investing public and the shareholders in the matter of issuing corporate securities. If an in corporation' law Is not deemed advisa ble, a license act for big interstate cor porations might be enacted or a coni bination of the two might be tried. The supervision established might be analogous to that now exercised over national banks. At least the auti trust act should be supplemented by specific prohibitions of the methods which experience has shown have been of most service in enabling monopolis tic combinations to crush out competi tion. The real' owners of a corporation should be compelled to do business in their own name. The right to hold stock in other corporations should here after be denied to interstate corpora tions, unless on approval by the proper government officials, and a prerequisite to such, approval should be the listing with the government of all owners and stockholders, both by the corporation owning such stock and by the corpora tion in which such stock is owned. Lessons of Recent Crisis. To confer upon the national govern ment in connection with the amend ment I advocate in the antitrust law power of supervision over big business concerns engaged in interstate com merce would benefit them as it has benefited the national banks. In the recent business .crisis it is noteworthy that the Institutions which failed were Institutions which were not under the supervision and control of the national government. Those which were under national control stood the test. National control of the kind above advocated would be to the benefit of every well managed railway. From the standpoint of the public there is Why We Your -Cc The Rezailformulas have always known ti given them to thousar here is where Rexall R, more to protect you th; . by the Pure Food an You only know the remedies-the rest of secret. You have -ahv every Rexall Remedy. No Rexall Remedyi 300 different ~re'medies -the most reliable a. that ill proven by years sold these Rexall Ren plan on which merchan have guaranteed to ret purchaset' who came ba or package and said tha - fled-and we've never Sguarantee. The Pure Food Law~ change in Rexall Rem< has set the stamp of ap] of all, you can actually dies .are unchanged. four years ago, and yc today! - Don't the Rexall Ren *fidence,? Wouldn't y< man whom you had pro est, than one who was h be ? You know that Re . voluntarily manufacture< in the very way that the the only right way. FOR NERVES-AE Rexall Americanitis E!ixir is It is a tonic nerve food compo: Glycophosphates, Iron Pyrophc The wonderful results of thiisr supplies Phosphorus to the nervt can be immediately and easily ta The Glycophosphates, actual the most recent and valuable ad< and unquestionably a more efiic; HIypophosphites. The Iron Pyrophosphates are of iron which'give tone and colot Ca!!-sava Bark have a tonic efft t!; bo~dy. 73c. and $1.50 a bottle CILDER & WE um need for additi :al tracks. additional terminals and imt pvem :ientS in the ac tual handling of the railroads. and all this as rapidly as possible. Ample, safe and speedy transportation facili ties are even more necessary than cheap transportation. Therefore there is need for the investment of money which will provide for all these things while at the same time secu"ring as far as is [assil !e better wages and shorter hours for their e:Ilployes. Therefore, whiie there must be just and reasona ble r:lati:, of rates, we should be the first to p:-{ :est against any arbitra ry and um.h inkiing :ovement to cut them down without the fullest and most careful consideration of all inter ests concerned and of the actual needs of the situation. Only a special body of men acting for the national govern ment under authority conferred upon it by the cougre s is competent to pass judgment on such a matter. Those who fear from any reason the extension of federal activity will do well to study the history not only of the national banking act, but of the pure food law, and notably the meat inspection law recently enacted. The pure food law was opposed so violent ly that its passage was delayed for a decade, yet it has worked unmixed and immediate good. The meat inspection law was even more violently assailed. and the samnl mnca who now denounce the atticude of the national govern; ment in seeking to oversee and controi the work!m:s of interstate coIfmon car riors and hiness concerns then as sertel that v. v: e:e "discrediting and ruinil:g :1 g-:::t A:nerivan industry." T:o : en::. .:1vye not elalsed. and al : il::-: i:eco:ne evident that the t:e Ia:' confers upon the -n:,1;: e , . e tv ::.:i:d by ian equal ben O mhi to :-:-~::nble p::ei::.:: establish n.-:::: ': l::~em tIre better off under .: n:I: they were without It. ::! ':; :> i::erI:e comtmon car :ers a::j br i:: s cca::ernus from . the legis!:to: I advocate would be equal ly marked. Puro Food Law. Incidentally in the passage of the pure food law the action of the vari ous stte food and dairy commission ers showed in striking fashion how much good for the whole people results from the hearty co-operation of the federal and state officials in securing a given reform. It i? primarily to the action of these state commissioners that we owe the enactment of this (Continued on page six.) DeserveI infidence * have never been secret. W e em ourselves and have Ls of customers. Right :medies have always done n is even now required d Drug Law. :dangerous drugs in other their formulas are .still ays known everything in a "cure-all"-there are -one for each human ill rd successful remedy for of experience. We have edies upon the squarest ise was ever sold. We rn the money to every k with. the empty bottle the or she was not satis- * failed to live up to this did not necessitate any ~dies-on the contrary it roval upon~ them. Best prove that Rexall Reme ou /Ie their formulas a'll find them the same edies deserve your. con )U more readily trust at ed to be naturally hon oest because he had to call Remedies have been and sold for four years law now declares to be d ~RICANITIS ELIXIR - ne of the 300 Rexall Remedies. sed chiefly of free Phosphorus,r phates and Calisaya. medy are due to the fact that it cells in a condition in which it en up by them. 1erve-tissue builders, are one of itions to this branch of medicine nt remedy than the well-knownt he more easily assimilated formp and the combined alkaloids of ct on almost all the functions of I 0 ah f< EKS, Druggists i1 a tSTORE 1I Special Holiday Our enormous :urchasrs of Boo season are beginning to pour in on our friends-and their friends as v over the most interesting and varie been our good fortune to show. Especially do we call attention tc recent Copyright Fiction ;f the high at $1.50, that we are offering at 50 CENTS PEI These books are worthy of a pla so pretentious. They are printed ii paper of superior quality, and bou cloth, making thoroughly durable, I library size. We have offered you the past, but' never such an assortr we now place before you. There are many special bargains and early visitors will have a decide gard ones: Librarians-public and mediate advantage of this opportuni Who would not be a, book owner rower, on these terms. Muges' fbi Newberry CHANGE IN F JANUARY In oi der to reduc change, will close C lothing, Shoes,. He rockery at New Y Sale is on and las iry, 19083 C. 6. BARRIE Prosperity, Greet Departna MOSELEY 'WHA" IS EGO Economy is a frugal and judicious use< hich spends money to advantage. Econ reat bargain sales. We have just returned from the North e market and securing many excellent 1 r the public to inspect our immense si ore. We have the new things, the nis 'rints from Sc. up, White Homespun 5c. p, complete line of Dry Goods and notio1 :uble width, at Soc. is a great bargain. ouths' $2.50 to $1o.oo, Boys' from 75C. ings in Hats and Caps. Prettiest line ave ever had. Our experienced Northet om the North, and our immense stock o ~ady for inspection, embracing the new a nmense line of Furniture is now ready fc ~roceries, Hardware, Crockeryware, Tru now complete. We have added a new * ~rs, and the bargains contained on the'm le wonder how we can sell goods so cheaj lbs. best Granulated Sugar $1.oo. Ne achine $25.oo, new Defender Machine,< r 20 years. We have only two Organs ake special offer, $4.0 elegant tones, e old reliable Iron King and Elmo Cook est on the market. For every five dolla: loice on our bargain counter. MOSDamY; BROCS, Prosperitv. S. C. aIe of Books. ks for the Fall and Holiday us, and we wish to invite all rell-to come in and look d assortment it has ever our magnificent display of est class, formerly published a VOLUME. :e in any library, be it ever, i a first class manner on id in the best bookbinders landsome volumes of full good things at this, price in nent of the better kind as that cannot be duplicated d advantage over. the lag private-should take im ty. , rather than a book bor ii Store , S. C. IUSINESS 1,. 1908. e stocdk for the >ut Dry Good its, Caps and.> ork cost. ts to 1st Janu S. C. BROS. NOMY? >f money-that management omy is best exemplined in our ern .markets after searhn >argains. We are now rea ock in our great departm :e things, the cheap thin up, Checked Homespten is. Our Imperial Broadclo Men's Suits $3.50 to $15. to $6.oo. New and nob >f Ru'gs and Art Squares -n Milliner has just retur f fashionable Millinery is no nd up to date things. ir inspection. Our stock uiks,.Valises and Woodenw Eeature in roc. and 25C. Co is creating a sensation.P >. We mention a fewsec w drop head Domestic S irop head, $'7-93, guaran eft, and to close them ou >ak and walnut. We ing Stove, beyond doubt s you trade we give fre ,THEY SELT. FOR L