The Portland daily press., 1900-09-04
Roosovelt's Speech Pure.
ly Non-Partisan.
Bryan Cannot Resist Advocating
His Well known Ideas.

labor OF Chicago today passed in review
before Colonel VIM. j. Bryan and Col.
Theodore Roosevelt. Hour after hour
the labor unions marched down Micht-
gan avenue past the Auditorium Hotel,
on the Loggia OF which stood the Demo-
cratic nominee for president the Repub-
lican vice presidential candidate, together
with Charles A. Towne, Senator w. e.
Mason and a dozen other political leaders.
Both Bryan and Roosevelt were heartily
greeted by the men as they marched by
the hotel.
When the last man of the long line of
marchers had swung round Michigan
avenue into jackson Boulevard, Colonel
Bryan and Colonel Roosevelt went in
side the hotel where soon after they sat
down to a luncheon given by labor rep
resentatives. 1t was a flag Of truce
luncheon for the trades union men had
declared that in the celebration of Labor
day there was to lie no politics. While
the parade was moving a host OF people
mostly the families of workingmen,
gathered in Electric Park, where the
speeches of the day were delivered.
Governor Roosevelt was the first speak
or. lie said in part:
The fundamental law OF healthy politI-
cal life in this great republic is that each
man shall in deed and not merely in
word, be treated strictly on his worth
as a man; that each shall do full Justice
to his fellows, and in return shall exact
full justice from him. Each group of
men has It's special interests; and yet the
higher, the broader and deeper interests
are those which apply to all men alike
for the spirit Of brotherhood in American
citizenship, when rightly understood and
rightly applied, is more important than
aught else Let us scrupulOusly guard
the special interests Of the wage worker,
the farmer, the manufacturer and the
merchant, giving to each man his due and
also seeing that he does not wrong his
fellows; but let US keep ever clearly be-
fore our minds the great fast that, where
the deepest chords are touched, the IN
terests OF all are alike and must be guarded
alike.
We must beware Of any attempt to
make hatred in any form the basis OF &C
ton. Most emphaticalIy each of us needs
to stand up for his own rights; all men
and all groups OF men are bound to retain
theirsself respect, land demanding = the
same respect from others to see that they
are not injured and that they have Sc
cured to them the fullest liberty of
thought and action. But to feed rat a
grudge against others, while it may or
may not harm them is sure in the long
run to do infinite harm to the man nim-
self.
The more a healthy American sees of
Ons's fellow Americans, the greater grows
his conviction that our chief troubles
come from mutual misunderstanding
from failure to appreciate one anOther's
point Of view In other words, the great
need is fellow feeling, sympathy broth
erhOod; and ali this naturally comes by
association, 1t is therefore, of Wit al i'm
portance that there should be such assO-
citation. The most serious DISADVANTAGE
to city life Is the tendency of each man
to keep isolated in his own little set, and
to look upon the vast majority of hi
fellow oitizens ind1fferently so that he
soon becomes to forget that they have
the same blood, the same love and
hate, the same likes and disllkes the
same desire for good, and the same perpet-
ual tendency, ever needing to be checked
and corrected, to lapse from good into
evil. If only our people can be thrown
together where they act on a common
ground With the same motives and have
the same objects, we need not have much
fear OF their falling to acquire a general
respect for one another and with such re-
spect there must finally come fair play for
all.
OF course, different sections of the COM
mun1ty have different needs The gray
est questions that are before us, the ques-
lions that are for all time, affect us all
alike. But there are separate ends which
Affect separate groups of men Just as
there are separate ends which affect each
individual man. 1t is just as unwise to
forget the one fact as it is to forget the
other.
1t is not possible to lay down hard
and fast rule, logically perfect, as to when
the state shall, and when the individual
shall be left unhampered and unhelped
We have exactly the same right to reg
ulate the conditions of life and work in
factories and tenement houses that we
have to regulate Microscopes and the like
in other houses. In certain communities
the existence OF q thoroughly efficient de-
partment Of factory inspection is Just as
essential as the establishment Of a fire de-
partment, How far VS. shall go in regu-
lating the hours of labor, or the liabilities
OF employers, is a matter Of expedIency,
and each case must be de termined On It's
own merits, exactly as it is matter of
expediency to determine what so-caled
public utilities the community shall
Itself own, and what ones it shall leave to
private or corporate ownership, securing |
to itself merely the right to regulate. |
Sometimes one course is expedient, some
times tine other.
In my own state during the last half
dozen years we have made number of
notable strides Ia labor legislation and. |
with very few exceptions, the laws have /
worked we'll. This is OF course, partly |
because we have not tried to do too much |
and have proceeded cautiously, feeling
our way, and, while always Advancing, /
yet taking each step in advance only |
when we were satisfied that the step al /
ready taken was in the right direction. |
10 invite reaction by unreguIated zeal is
never wise, and is sometimes fatal.
A word on the general question. In the !
first place, in addressing an audience like
this, do not have to say that the law
OF life is work, and that work In itself 50
far from being any hardship is a great
blessing, provided always it is carried
on under conditions which preserve q
mans self respect and which allow him
to dAYalnn his own nharachar md roar. lie