The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 14. 1913. THE HUSTLERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 201, 14 January 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 14. 1913. THE HUSTLERS.

Dr. Woodrow Wilson is certainly not complimentary to American business men and American business methods. Frankly, he characterises both as dishonest. According to a cablegram published to-day he attributes the distrust !of American business people to a general belief that they are not "on "the I- square." Things done under the whip | of the law, he says, are done sullenly I and never successfully, Then, he conI tinues, "perfectly honest men were at a 1 disadvantage because business methods I generally were not trusted by the people. The poor man's chance of justice was generally believed to be much less than that of the rich man." Singularly enough, at the same moment we get ' si cable with reference to the. operations of .the Steel Trust, showing that this giant -monopoly only allows others to operate at its own particular: wili. and within such limitations as it cares to I admit. Coming f ron , a mnn Qf Dr , Woodrow Wilsons standing, the indictment i. s a singularly serious one. There must alway,s be a certain amount of suspicion attaching to the, business method* of a country which produces millionaires by the hundred, and it is one of r ;U r proud, boasts tlwt in a country of democratic method's we have' Hot so far produce] a single member of the community whose fortune has run into seven figures, The picturesque fiction of modern A mer ie a has gimj tj . an insight into American method?, kit we have been disposed to accept them rather as the products of a fertile imagination than as being "counterfeit presentments" of real life. Apparently, however, they are founded on something more than mere imagination,-and the I" 7""° nt is ,osi »S '.Si lerme of re- , sponsibihty in it" ■ . , . . . This partial - Msto t0 - s**• ■-<*•■ cf con- ■" ,r I ),I£ISR of fore *P industry, -»«e, has no particular interest for -urst'lves, except ill so far as it points: * moral or adorns a tale. Our governments from time to time have made attempts to legislate with a view to the prevention of monopolies, but without any materia! success, and the lesson we are learning from America should induce our'legislators to turn serious attention to this question. Our commerfiia'l methods generally are not such as ['to'call for any reproach, for if they are ; loss strenuous than those of-our cousins '■ overseas, they are certainly a good deal more circumspect and responsible. As a matter of fact. American methods, like American manufactures, seem to be open to a good deal of question. They are both shoddy, and we have no desire to sec either the one or the other introduced to New Zealand. Tt is better to get rich slowly, by legitimate means, than to fly lo richness by the specious and devious methods of our flash Yankee kinsmen.

NW ZEALAND'S EXAMPLE. New Zealand was the first dominion of the Kmpirc to appoint a Public Trustee, the step having been taken about forty ytars ago. The conspicuous success of Hi; new department caused a demand to arise m the Mother Country for a similar ollicial guardian of private interest*, and m lOOli a Public Trustee Act was passed by the Imperial Parliament. The necessary organisation was created without delay, and last year, according to a cablegram published last week, the Urilish Public Trustee handled business to the amount of £84,000,000. The holder of the office is Mr. Charles John Stewart, who has come to be known familiarly in official and legal circles as "Uncle Charlie," owing t 0 his earnest ef.orls to play the part of friend to his hundreds of wards and clients. -Tie carries on business/* writes a contributor if the Loudon Magazine, ''arranges train journeys for old ladies, and ha s a separate department (o deal with the large number of children under his care Many of these visit him at his olliee from tunc to limp. In several cases he has piovided, nonies and outfits for them, in owners sent them to suitable schools. 11l one case a scheme of education for a large family was prepared. Season tickets have been taken for sons entering business, and pocket-money (ixed. ||" endeavors to arrange for' funds to be available for such things as Christmas presents for his 'children,' and he employs lady visitors to look after the wet fare of bi s wards." Mr. Stewart, like his colleague in \~ew Zealand, regards no trust as too large for him to undertake, and the law expressly provides that none shall be too small. Dtirino the year ended on March 31 last lie de° patched 121.1-20 letters on departmental business arid found investments for £21,050,340 on behalf of clients, many of them being widows and children, 'who might otherwise have fallen into the hands of dishonest or incompetent advisers. The Public Tnmtee's office is an instalment of (Socialism which the British people have accepted with warm approval.