The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-08-22
WISE WORDS FROM ROOSEVELT.

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the country and adds:
1.-THE pity of all this is, our govern.
ment, which we are taxed to keep
going, is promoting this condition in
every possible way. Shame upon our
members Of Congress-every one Of
them"
True, many of our Congressmen have
good reason to be ashamed OF their
acts. But let US not forget the fact
that the average citizen Of the coun
try has as much or greater cause to be
ashamed of his record. If u Con
gressmen and legislators have sold out,
it is because our plain people have
elected corrupt men to these positions.
II our Congressman have been too ig
norant to pess just laws it is because
the plain people have elected ignorant
Congressman. II they have passed
laws which enable trusts and monopo
lists to oppres s labor, is is because the
masses Of the people have followed
party rather than principle and have
elected Congressman who were not
true to the interests Of the people. II
law makers have been corrupt 1t is
because we have permitted them
to 30. If our people are not prepared
to select proper Congressman, it is be
cause they have refused to read un
prejudiced papers and to rec IN for
themselves, but have allowed party
bosses to do their thinking for them.
Gov. Roosevelt, of New York, told
some very wholesome truths Of this
kind in his speech on practical Poll.
tics and Decent Politics" which he de.
Iivered before the largest audience that
ever gathered in the Auditorium at
Ocean Grove, N. j., last week, and
which was reported in the last issue Of
the New York Outlook.
It is idle, Col. Roosevelt ehrmed,
for the mass of good people to set
themselves apart as not responsible for
our political shortcomings. In the
end, the politicians must be exactly
what the people alloW them to be.
They must represent the ~people-per,
haps the vice, perhaps the virtue, per
haps the indifference of the people.
This does not in the least excuse poll
ticians who are bad, as Mr.. r ]osevelt
made haste to say but we must keep
in mind the fact that every vicious,
or every successful vicious politician,
tends to debauch public conscience, to
render bad men holder, and decent
men, who are not far sighted, more
cynicaIly Indifferent than ever. If, in
blaming the politician, we forget that
we are ourselves to blame for permit
ting his existence, we should not fall
into the mistake Of thinking that we
shall ever make politics better by hys
terics. wild denunciation of all pol
iticians, good or bad, is the very thing
most advantageous to the bad politi-
clan, because such denunciation, be
ing one half false, Loses all practical
effect, as it is impossible to separate
the true from the false" "Remem-
Der that your highest duty to the State
is to see that you do all that within
you lies to elevate the standard Of pub
cheney in your public men, and to
frown on the system of lying Islander
which would teach you that there is
no good and no bad, no black and no
white, that everything is gray, and
every man q time server who will do
as much i'll as he dares." Another
form Of Mysteries, against which the
hearers were cautioned, is that of sud.
den uprightnees, of sudden insurrec
lions of virtue"
do not get into the habit of per.
hitting things to drift from bad TO
worse, with the belief that you can al
ways apply a revolutionary remedy.
You might just as we'll expect to con.
duct a private business safely on such
principles as to get a satisfactory gov
eminent by their application in public
life. Revolutions are sometimes neces
sary, but goverpm mt By revolution is
not q success.
You have also got to possess cour
age, and, finally, you have got to pos,
sess common sense Courage, because,
il there ia one individual who is not en-.
titled to exist in a community like
ours, it is the timid coed man. You,
all of you remember how Wesley.
when demonstrated with becasue his
hymn tunes were considered too joy |
Gus, too full of fire for religious music.
answered that he did not intend to
allow the devil to monopolize the good
times. Just so we should be ceraf,1