Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1901-10-03
OUR NATIONAL NEEDS
Vice President Roosevelt's Speech
at Minneapolis.
LeEiIlation which shall shield
Wage-worke rs---Justice in Our
Dealings with Foreign
Countries.


grounds, Minneapolis, Monday, Sep
TENDER 9, Vice President Roosevelt
made some notable declarations which,
now that he is president, will have
some special interest for the people.
In the course of his remarks he paid
high tribute to the character and
energy of his hearers, descended, he
said, from a race of pioneers which
had pushed westward into the wilder
ness and laid the foundations for new
commonwealth. The men with AK,
and pick, and pillow, who, he said, had
pushed to completion the dominion of
our people over the American wilder
ness had shown by their qualities of
daring, endurance and far-sightedness
that they recognized i'm practical form
the fundamental law of success in
American life-the law of worthy
work; the law OF resolute, high en-
deavor. Continuing, he said: 1T
seems TO me that the simple accept
ance of this fundamental fact of Amer
lean life will help us to start Alright
in facing not few of the problems
that confront us from without and
from within.
1--WE cannot possibly do our best
work as a nation unless all of us know
how TO act in combination as well as
TO act each individually for himself.
This acting in combination can take
many forms, but of course its most
effective form must be when il comes
in shape of law, that is, of action by
the community as a whole through the
law-making body.
mo hard and fast rule can be laid
down as TO where our legislation shall
stop in interfering between man and
man, between interest and interest.
All that can be said is that it is highly
undesirable on the one hand to weaken
individual initiative, and, on the other
hand, that in a constantly increasing
number of cases we shall find il neces-
sary in the future to shackle cunning
as in the past we have shackled force.
Legislation for wage-workers.
at is not highly desirable, but nee
essary. that there should be legisla-
ton which shall carefully shield the
interests of wageworkers and which
shall discriminate in favor of the hon.
est and humane employer by removing
the disadvantage under which he
stands when compared with unscrup-
ulous competitors who have no con-
science and will do right only under
fear of punishment.
Nor can legislation stop with what
are termed labor questions. The vast
individual and corporate fortunes, the
vast combinations of capital which
have marked the development of our
industrial system, create new conci-
tions and necessitate a change from
the old attitude of the state and ma
ton toward prosperity"
There was, he contended, but the
scantiest justification for most of the
cutlery against men of wealth, as such,
and il ought to be unnecessary, he
said, to state that any appeal which
finally entails the possibility OF law
lessness and violence is an attack upon
the fundamental properties of Amer
lean citizenship.
As to Foreign Relations.
AS to our relations with foreign pow
ers Vice President Roosevelt said that
our nation, while first of all seeing to
its own domestic well being, must not
shrink from playing its part among the
great nations without.
"Our duty" he said, may take many
forms in the future as it has taken
many forms in the past. Nor is it pos
sible to lay down hard and fast rule
for all cases. We must ever face the
fact of our shifting national needs, of
the always changing opportunities
that present themselves. But we may
be certain of one thing, whether we
wish il or not, we cannot avoid here
after having duties to do in the face OF
other nations. All that we can do is to
settle whether we shall perform those
duties well or ILL.,"
He counseled courtesy and respect
in all dealings with any foreign power
with whom the government might come
in contact. On this point he added;
LET MS make it evident that we in
tend 10 do justice. Then let us make il
equally evident that we will not toler-
ate injustice being done to us in re-
that we use no words which we are
not prepared to back up with deeds,
and that while our speech is always
moderate, we are ready and willing to
make it good. Such an attitude will be-
the surest possible guarantee OF that
self-respecting peace, the attainment
OF which is and must ever be the prime
aim OF self-goyerning people"
Must Enforce Monroe Doctrine. :
"This is the attitude we must take as
regards the Monroe doctrine.
1--WE do not by this policy intend to
sanction any policy of aggression by
one American commonwealth at the ex-
pense of any other, nor any policy OF
commercial discrimination against any
foreign power whatsoever. CONNER
cially, as far as this doctrine is con-
cerned, all we wish is a fair field and
no favor, but IL we are wise we shall
strenuously insist that, under no pre-
text whatsoever, shall there be any
territorial ACKNOWLEDGMENT on Ameri-
can soil by any European power, and