And State Papers in 



according to our several temperaments, regret that 

 the old days with the old life have vanished, or not, 

 just as we choose; but we are here to-night only be 

 cause of the play of those great forces. There is but 

 little use in regretting that things have been shaping 

 themselves differently from what we might have 

 preferred. The practical thing to do is to face the 

 conditions as they are and see if we can not get the 

 best there is in them out of them. Now we shall not 

 get a complete or perfect solution for all of the evils 

 attendant upon the development of the trusts by any 

 single action on our part. A good many actions in 

 a good many different ways will be required before 

 we get many of those evils even partially remedied. 

 We must first of all think clearly ; we must probably 

 experiment somewhat; we must above all show by 

 our actions that our interest is permanent and not 

 spasmodic ; and we must see that all proper steps are 

 taken toward the solution. Now of course all this 

 is perfectly trite. Every one who thinks knows that 

 the only way in which any problem of great impor 

 tance was ever successfully solved was by consistent 

 and persistent effort toward a given end effort that 

 did not cease with any one election or with any one 

 year, but was continued steadily, temperately, but 

 resolutely, toward a given end. It is a little diffi 

 cult to set clearly before us all of the evils attendant 

 upon the working of some of our great corporations, 

 but I think that those gentlemen, and especially those 

 gentlemen of large means, who deny that the evils 

 exist are acting with great folly. So far from being 



