784 Gubernatorial Messages 



this is just what has been done in reference to 

 trusts. 



Much of the legislation not only proposed but 

 enacted against trusts is not one whit more intelli- 

 gent than the mediaeval bull against the comet, and 

 has not been one particle more effective. Yet there 

 can and must be courageous and effective remedial 

 legislation. 



To say that the present system of hap-hazard 

 license and lack of supervision and regulation, is the 

 best possible, is absurd. The men who endeavor to 

 prevent the remedying of real abuses, not only show 

 callous disregard for the suffering of others, but 

 also weaken those who are anxious to prevent the 

 adoption of indiscriminate would-be remedies which 

 would subvert our whole industrial fabric. The 

 chicanery and the dishonest, even though not tech- 

 nically illegal, methods through which some great 

 fortunes have been made, are scandals to our civil- 

 ization. The man who by swindling or wrong- 

 doing acquires great wealth for himself at the ex- 

 pense of his fellow, stands as low morally as any 

 predatory mediaeval nobleman and is a more dan- 

 gerous member of society. Any law, and any 

 method of construing the law which will enable the 

 community to punish him, either by taking away his 

 wealth or by imprisonment, should be welcomed. 

 Of course, such laws are even more needed in deal- 

 ing with great corporations or trusts than with in- 

 dividuals. They are needed quite as much for the 

 sake of honest corporations as for the sake of the 



