The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-31
Cooper Union Filled With PeO- pie at Big RePubII-
 can Rally
SPEAKER SAYS NATIONAL
 ISSUES ARE VITAL ONES
Sees No Necessity for Electing Demo cratic House and Mar the Admin istration, Which, He Says.
 Has Been a Success.

New York October sO.-Cooper Union
 hall was filled tonight with people who
 had come to attend republican meeting,
 the principal speakers being Mayor Low,
 Governor odell and Secretary of War
 Root. MT. Low eulogized Governor odell
 and his administration of state affairs.
 Governor odel followed in an address
 in which he cast aside as absurd the prediction that his majority would be as small as some had propheslzed Secretary of War Root spoke after the governor had finished. and said: l Fellow citizens and fellow townsmen: 1t is a pleasure to come home and to meet you here in this familiar and his- toric place and to say that as a citizen of New York have been proud of Gov ernor odells administration during the past two years. Standing little aside from the daily events and specific dis- cussions of state administrations and looking from outside upon the general course of affairs, it has seemed to me that the people of the state owe their governor a debt of gratitude for what he has done in their interest He has had the courage to do disagreeable things in the public interest and has made some enemies by it. He ought to be reelected for the good work he has done.
 National Issue Most important.
 "The national issue of this political cam paign, in its most important and practi- l cal aspect, is whether President Roose- welt shall be sustained in his administra- l ton of the national oOVerprnanf will the people of the United States l elect house of representatives with a l republican majority to work in harmony 1 with the President and with the repuhli- | can majority of the senate, so that he may go on, as he has begun with an ef- fective government, working out practi- cally the plans for improving admins tration and for the remedy of evils along 1 the lines upon which the legislature and executive branches agree? Or will the 1 people elect house with a democratic majority which will be hostile to the 1 President, will not agree with him upon l any course of conduct and will hinder and embarrass him in all his efforts l for the public good during the remainder 1 of his present term of office?
 There ought to be no indifference upon this question among the people of l the state of New York. If the people of the state feel towards the President as
  1 governor in 1898 and as they did when 1 they gave the electoral vote of the state l to him for vice-presidenr In 1900. they 1 will answer.
 Has Been Honest.
 l .I am not going to talk about what l the republican administration at Wash 1 ington has done further than to say that believe 1t has been honest and efficient and that 1t has accomplished successful ly many difficult tasks, avoided many dangers and attained many results bene- fcial and credtable to the country. I think its policies have been justified and it's conduct of affairs approved by their fruits and that 1t is entitled to con- tinuance of public confidence.
 Tt will be difficult to find better re- cord of painstalxing legislative perform ance than that furnished by the republi- can majority in the present congress- Besides dealing with all of the great ap- propriation bills with their multitude of difficult questions affecting the public welfare, in their first session. they re- heved the industry and property of the country from the burden of the war rev enue taxes, they settled by an admirable statute the long vexed question of the lsthmian canal. They inaugurated a new system for the irrigation of arid lands in the west; they worked out and adopted laws for safe government of tha | der of constructive ability. The one case of urgent necessity for action which faiI- ed of response was the bill for just measure of reciprocity with Cuba, and that was defeated by a combination be- tween the democrats in congress and A small minority of the republicans srefus- ing to go with the majority of their par- ty. There Is good reason to believe that the measure will succeed at the next ses- sion. No reason for changing the polit- ical complexion of the house of repre- sentatives can be found In the past act. ing of that body.
 The Trust Question.
 What is there to come which calls for such change? Is the reason to he fo,,nd in desire for the curbing of trusts for an enective treatment of labor trouhies or Tor revision of the tariff? Certainty not Our democratic friends talk as is some capitalists securing undue prof1ts ana some tariff provisions becoming out grown without changing conditions. ana some stubborn contests between er,,,,,ar CTS who wish to pay less and wage earn CTS who wish to be paid more for lahor were new and strange phenomena threat ening our social and political system and caiihg Tor desperate and revolutionary remedies. They are not new or stranga or threatening. They are but reapnear ances in slightly varied forms of some of the difficulties which have always ac- companied material prosperity since the beginning of the successful enterprise. Unfair and oppressive trusts so-called are weeds in the garden of prosperity. It is easy to kill them if you kill the flow CTS and the fruit also, but if you would keep the weeds down and have the gar den grow you must devote yourself not to desperate and destructive remedies. but to patient discriminating and un- ceasing process, pulling out the weeds and leaving the useful plants. So in curb- ing and regulating those combinations of capital, which are injurious to the public, either because they monopolIza the market or the sources of supply or the avenues of employment, or prevent competition unfairly and oppressivelv care must be taken not to stop great en-