New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-16
THE GOVERNOR AT BUFFALO.
SPEAKS on THE USE AND ABUSE OF
PROPERTY"
TAXATION OF FRANCHISES DISCUSSED
ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION AT THE

ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION AT THE
INDEPENDENT CLUBS DINNER.
Buffalo. May l5-Governor Roosevelt was the
principal guest and speaker at the dinner given
by the Independent Club in the banquet nan VI
the Ellicott Square Club tonight The nan was
crowded and the Governor was given most en-
The guests at President Clinton 3 GiObss table
in addition to the Goye edSs Fred Kruse clean
Judge Jerome B. Fisher Jamestown. oi yionv,
secretary; Representative James NJ r.; 0,Grady'
Eugene Cary Niagara Falls; Judge W; ~ n William;
II. Hotchkss. The Governors address was upon IN
the important subject THE Use and Abuse Oh
The Governor spoke in part as follows:
Although myself suggested the title for the re-
marks that was make tonight dld non ,r ex
press and could not in four or five words pre-
Want 10 speak 10 you more Of the attitude held by
SGsa pube mem a must and do to
erty and OF the attitude that the men Of means means
themselves take the civic and social ana polt-
cal problems Of the day. | do not mean to talk
merely of the or abuse OF private properly 81. so
to you Of what concerns all OF US what particular
y concerns those of US who for the atit,de that
should properly be observed by legislators oy ex.
esuve Officers toward wealth rs ar1 ' ss mn of
means and especially by the organizations OF t men
to- the bOSS polite ana toward their fellow
citizens ,.....u. 49, ,., ., ,vbor, Il is con-
tlnu aI;'i said d' oh be-. good enough fellow
but. of course. in politics-he plays politics.
| he does that you can't afford to trust MN g.,
| It is about as bad for man TO profess and Tor
those that listen TO him by their piaudlts TO h l,
sist upon his protesting something 10 which they
know he cannot live up TO- as It Is for nm 10 . go
below what he ought to do because ms sg and
| to his audience to what he intends to 90 IL Is
absolutely certain to eat away ms mara he knows
ought T to be done The temptation Of the average
politician ia to promise everything to the reformers
and hon n
think can say that, whatever nave PrUn,mised
on the stump or off the stump, either PROMISED
expressly or mpliedly, to either organization or
reformers. have kept the promise; AMI disap5royed
as Il the organization dsapproved, and vice-versa
I wish I could all my countrymen againss
dei6cation of any man for what we are pleased to
term smartness the dedication OF mere intellectual
sibty wholly without reference to whether !.
exercised in accordance or not IN 6s W n
thing which should like TO eradicate from tne
character of any American Is the ratton and
homage TO the who. whether In business VI ~
TPadDs iheye prHsps for the lack Of
in the eye Of any righteous man no p0ss1Det TSat
anplies lust as much to the smart politician as II
applies to the Inscriptions man OIL at n,iuste
w. in some form of gambling, when Is NOT iieaJ h9
gambling but gambling with loaded dlce, a any, n .o
lion Of the people the same admring homage tnss
would be gained by the most respected ou s,ys1
ms
to the community than to himself; ~ legislative
Any man who has had to DO Win our a S,ooneress-
6 msn Specially il he Speaker Of the
lower house glaneng at the hon have = seen again
and again during the three years shat ser as
r,th The Assembly that when you ma that a. a
yne NV want to state all these general propositions
with the proper reservations Tor Ihe bn ia the
as a r cofpo snG %
corporate with large CO. and weal,h W IN hIs
large WSnd 1n ThS Is th Sat he viii not the
| liberties Of the country TO De supser ,vbon, Won
men Oh 10 n look ont for most sharply when there
comes up something which some b tbare - not
any great popular excitement at the moment
TAKES UP FRANCHISES.
,,,,,c man here is bound to represent his
| constituents but he IS less bound to cease 10
represent them wheii II on great moral az a tak
ton Of right or wFons ne i sm go out Of politics
sr6s rSsF IN hin Theory TO q0 do not
uphold ii in practce19 Now, thing ina, ah onn
the different = 5 ans fprobem that is 50 difficult
to deal with as the problem OF nov .0 10 r or
to "s onnraon on the one hand the other
how to see that that wealth in return y useu END
e enc a is natural to range them
selves in two extreme camps sa S eeGmnsf equally
fatal to the community am going to speak, o as
you would have the right to expect me 10 hege in
OF we s,a,s Of one of those problems with which
We who are, for the time oens' s spe irving to
S Snd PeS take the very that you have
advocated and which ye en DAYS the question
of the taxation OF franchises . on 'ne eva T.e
n nhn believes that you should tax franchises
TO the extent Of confscating tnem, anu rrv every
tho duty of all railroad corporations 10 carry 49,
hody WI free and give him chrome On the other
we have the scarcely less primitive mort t WY
believes that there is something sacred III llan
| cbise and that there is no reason why II should
raw its share Of the burdens at all Now geht tho
men, remember that the man who occupies PIE man ,an
last position inevitably tends to produce tne MAJ,
occupies the rst an aho Whether from
unscrupuousness or from mere heedlessness L ara
shoiI be something sacred about all property that
the owners of it are to occupy dlnerendd pc pc
sti9 hay u, their burdens not increased but dmln-
| ished because OF their wealth on, II coull oi,S S
impress Upon ye nforcnS S" Conviction upon YOU
| make YOU understand the two SIDES OF the quSs-
ton not yd realize ia the ne S~o sides
the rich man who buys privilege from Board S oil
1ich man who gets privilege through the Legs-
I Iature by bribery and corruption for any cor,
pPSnnst the s community which il IS possible may
day have to be 10 l bs sons S by
'Iiq In " other words. il could only make our PEG
In dealing with this problem is to send into our
PPealIze their Obligations their obligauons to rich
and Door alike and who shall draw the line: not
| ha,ween the rich man and the poor man, out be-
| tweeL the honest and the dishonest man.
The use and abuse OF property The use OF IT is to
! use II ss any honest man would use his property
in reference to his brother. It's abuse Is to use u
as any honest man would not use his properly in
reference TO his brother: and all that the Legs at
ure all that public bodies have 10 90 Is 20 see
| that our policy State. that the policy or the
Legislature and the policy OF the Nation Is SNAPPED
| along those lines: and. when measure comes up
| in our State Legislature. II shall be treated. not
| from the standpoint OF WEALTH. am against cor
porations amt going to give them any powers. or
on the other hand "the corporations-they want
| this? What will they pay for it?'
Now. send men into public life who, on the one
| hand will be incapable OF yielding to any dema-
gogic attack upon men OF means merely because
| they are men OF means: men who Will realize how
| much this country to the architects of its
material prosperity. who will realize that every
! man in legitimate business benefits not only him
self but benefits the whole community In which h.