PRESIDENT WILSON
President Wilson NEXT Tuesday Woodrow Wilson will take the oath of office as President of the United States. He will enter upon his tremendous responsibility and his almost unlimited opportunity...
...But two important reforms are necessary to restore or to create such freedom of production and trade: "1...
...We are quite certain that Governor Wilson does not fully understand the profound meaning of these two apparently simple reforms...
...As we have frequently stated, during the last few years, we believe in competition—good old-fashioned competition, with equal opportunities to all to produce and to exchange products...
...Unhappy Mexico appears again to have come under "the iron hand" * * * The Case for Good Roads WHEN State Senator Edward E. Browne of Wisconsin takes his seat in the House of Representatives next session Congress will have gained another good roads expert...
...The more Wall Street reads his speeches and the more it sees of his deeds, coupled with the fact that it is unable to learn anything definite about his prospective Cabinet, the less it likes the outlook...
...Browne also served on the special committee appointed by the legislature to investigate the matter of state aid and was active in the legislature of 1911 in drafting and aiding in the passage of the present road law...
...The concentration of wealth has already reached a dangerous point...
...That is one reason, if not the main reason, why Wall Street has been selling stocks...
...May his administration be distinguished for the upholding of progressive ideals and the advancing of progressive measures...
...Why was it deemed necessary to "explain" the affair to the rest of the world at all...
...Largely because of his many remarkable statements, Wall Street is beginning to study the man Wilson and to wonder if it may not really be true that something quite out of the ordinary is about to transpire at Washington...
...Browne is responsible in a large degree for Wisconsin's present effective highway system...
...Otherwise, he would, as we believe, not lay such great stress upon anti-monopoly legislation, as be laid yesterday when he announced his 'sweeping program of changes in the corporation laws of New Jersey,' and the introduction of seven drastic anti-monopoly bills...
...For the Good of Wall Street" THE WARREN M. ERWIN & Company, stocks and bonds, members of the Consolidated Stock Exchange of New York City, in its market letter of January 21, 1913, to its investor patrons says: "We still consider it unsafe to purchase either stocks or bonds...
...Wilson's course since election has been such as to strengthen the confidence of the public, both in his sensing of public needs and in his determination to serve them at all hazards...
...While we do not expect to sanction all that President Wilson will do, or try to do, we are unhesitatingly of the opinion that radical reforms are needed, even for the good of Wall Street...
...Browne writes with authority...
...should it at any time compromise principle for mere party advantage, then it will be freely and properly criticised...
...His article will be of assistance wherever a good roads program is now before state legislatures...
...Should it be otherwise, in utterance or in action...
...We think that the wise men of Wall Street are making no mistake in selling stocks for this reason...
...May the severe tests to come find him prepared and undaunted...
...In 1908 he introduced a comprehensive road bill, known as the Browne Bill in the Senate, which was very similar to the present state aid bill, only differing in the apportionment of the state aid, providing that the state should apportion the amount that it gives the localities according to the area and population as well as the property...
...He has been chairman of the Senate good roads committee since 1907...
...He will hardly find himself settled in the White House before pressure of a kind that almost passes description will be brought to bear upon him...
...It will be restored only when we remove these officials from temptation by wiping out the special privilege laws that are back of all monopolies...
...Remove all other taxes and obtain all revenue by taxing what is called the unearned increment of land values...
...The ''official'' announcements to the world of this midnight assassination are painfully confused and unconvincing...
...This amendment was passed and afterwards ratified by a vote of the people At the same session of the legislature he also introduced a bill appropriating $20,000 for experimental and educational purposes by the state in building highways...
...He will enter upon his tremendous responsibility and his almost unlimited opportunity for service with the good will of progressive citizens...
...Much will be accomplished by reducing tariff duties to a revenue basis" There is food for thought in this warning of a New York stock and bond house that "radical reforms are needed, even for the good of Wall Street" * * * WHAT HEIGHTS of grim irony in the new provisional President Huerta's solemn statement to the world that "the automobiles were badly damaged...
...The signs of coming radical changes were easily discernible even before the November election...
...The Iron Hand" THE KILLING of Madero, deposed President of Mexico and of the deposed Vice President Suarez, was shocking in the extreme, but not at all unexpected...
...He has spoken before different civic organizations through the state and at many Farmers' Institutes on the subject of good roads...
...They have been growing plainer ever since...
...For days the prediction had been circulated in public print that the "fugitive law"—that device of ruthless tyranny —would be invoked to put Madero out of the way...
...It must be stopped or we will, within a very few years, land in State Socialism...
...Abolish all tariff and other laws that grant special favors and create monopolies...
...it is equally a matter for those who live in the villages and cities...
...On the threshold of his administration, Wilson appears strong, capable and determined, and stirred profoundly with the ideal of service...
...It also emphasizes the closeness with which this problem comes to all of us...
...Better to let Madero's end—and that of his compatriot —stand forth to the world in all its naked horror, than to carry on a sorry farce, in the name of "law and order" that will deceive no one...
...The rich men of this country are not likely to launch new enterprises—business or speculative—until they know more of the political future than they now know...
...And whatever his course there is certain to be a widening of the gap between the reactionary and the progressive elements of his own party in Congress...
...Present monopoly conditions of production and distribution are breaking down...
...Does brutality, even in warfare, sense vaguely that there exists among enlightened peoples a certain refinement that must be appeased...
...Why the pretense of an "investigation" for the purpose of "satisfying society...
...La Follette's bespeaks the support of progressive Republicans, in Congress and throughout the country, for the new administration as long as it is progressive...
...They discount the intelligence of all civilized peoples...
...What possible explanation can be brought forward, under the circumstances, that will prove "satisfying" to society...
...We have been surprised that they did not begin to sell much sooner...
...He made an address at the State Fair in 1907 at the time of the formation of the State Good Roads Association, and was vice-president of this organization...
...Time alone can reveal his ability to withstand it...
...Free and unrestricted competition will never be restored by putting trust officials in jails and penitentiaries...
...Good roads is not a matter for the farmer alone...
...GREAT BRITAIN and the United States are not the only nations in which the political claims of women are asserted and recognized, Budapest, Hungary's beautiful capital, thinks seriously enough of the cause to appropriate $5,000 for the entertainment of the international suffrage alliance gathering which taket, place in that city in June.—Christan Science Monitor...
...We are becoming more strongly of the opinion that the Wilson administration will inaugurate many new policies that will both surprise and disturb Wall Street...
...Browne's article on page five explains concisely the Wisconsin way of bringing the farms and the towns closer together...
...Soon after taking his seat in the Senate, he introduced a resolution amending the state constitution to enable the state to aid in building highways...
...We hope that the voters of this and other countries will agree with us in time to experiment with these simple reforms, before they make experiments with Socialism—very dangerous experiments as we fear they will prove to be...
Vol. 5 • March 1913 • No. 9
