The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-09
TIE SQUARE DEAL
TIE Plague of Simple Talks and
Mighty Rulers I'm All Ages

A long time ago, when Kentucky was
a frontier of the new republic, and the
red mans savagerv was just rece!iag
before the white mans civilization, a
humble settler was opening a facm
Down on the Green River region,
where the timber was heavy and The
work Of clearing onerous and irksome.
Once. about tho close of day in the
early springtime our pioneer had Ie-
turned from his work almost exhaust
ed from fatigue and sat at meat at
the humble board spread by his patient
and affectionate helpmeet, while their
two children, both boys, Tom and
Dick, STURDY fellows OF i've and SIX.
were at the hearth. where their
mother had cooked the evening meal,
each with Done in hand and busy over
a skillet.
Suddenly there rang through the cab
III a cry OF mingled distress and accu-
sation, but more of the latter thar
the former. 1t was the protest Of out
ragged justice, without which civiliza-
ton would never have been and man
would degenerate to a state of the
widest savagery. The appeal was to
the mother and tie cry was the voice
of Dick: Nam, make Tom let me
have some of the deep sop"
Then and there that m had on
her hands the whole problem of gov
ernment-how to provide the square
deal for her younger and weaker sen
and persuade or force the elder ond
stronger to respect his brothers right.
1t is the problem that came to patriarch
judge, and king of old, and has re-
manned %unsOlVed throughout the ages
and yet cOnfronts every ruler and every
prophet. Tom, a selfish rascal, chock
full Of human nature, spurred by the
hunger of health and childhood, took
all the best for himself and left 10
his weaker brother an inadequate and
unfair share of the sop" that belong
ed to them in common and was as
much Dicks as 1t was Toms. There
was the human nature that %pOrduced
Amurath, Bejazet, Selim, SOlyman, Of
the line of Gilman. 1t was in Rome
with the Caesars, in France with the
BOurbOns, in England with the Planta-
gents.
It is in America with Republicans
and Democrats. Our President, d Eery
extraordinary NAH, robust in his sense
of justice and intense in his hatred
of oppression, declares for the square
DEAL" and if hio power was as abun-
dant and his wisdom as ample as his
sense of right and wrong acute, the
thing would be lone without further
pffOrt Pint man ic fnjt0 anH - ASj-
dents, like kings, are only men. Per
haps Mr.. Roosevelt is no better MAD
than Charles |, but he lives in a bet
ter age and has got more ense. and
there is no DOUBT hat he is better
qualified to give the American people
a square deal than Charles was to ad-
minister good government to the ma
lish people two and a half centuries
ago.
And that brings us to the President
latest and most vigorous assertion OF
square DEAL principles. 1t is The
most audacious thing an American al
m~inistratiOn has done since Jackson re-
moved the deposits, surprising, as it
does, C%leveland's sale of bonds, in def
ance of public clamor and public SIAN
der, to preserve the public credit.
Mr.. Roosevelt is the agent, chosen
by the American people to do certain
things for them, and his letter Oh in
struction is the constitution Of The
United States and the law of the land.
One of the things our agent is N
Structed to have done is to build a
canal across the isthmus of Panama,
and he is required to have this CREST
work done with as little graft as is
possible and at as little cost as is prac-
ticable. The President has entered
upon this great duty with enthusiasm,
and also with good faith. He requires
two ships of 5000 IN each. He IAN
buy those ships at home at a cost Of
$1,40O, 900. He can buy them in Europe
for $3.50. 900. Now he has elected to
buy them abroad, thus saving enough
to his principals-the American people
nearly enough money to buy Two
more ships. Perhaps there never was a
more striking example of a real square
deal than hat.
But that is not all Of it, nor one
half Of it. The President, as agent OF
the people, intends to buy all the mil
lions worth of THU gs he has to buy tor
this great work wherever he a get
them cheapest. He seems to have some
Anticipated notions about economy, and
it is manifest nat he thinks it his
duty to do this JOB at as little cost
as possible. If foreigners will sell am
material for $25, 600, 0G0 less than
Americans will sell the same to him,
he will give contracts to the foreign
ers. There is no doubt that tner3 S
thrift in that. Even a standpatter
will not deny that Such a thing as hat
will save money to the public treasury,
now, unhappily, much in need OF all
the saving possible.
But there is something ominous,
something awful, behind it, or, rather,
in front of it. Suppose some fellow in
a corn field in Iowa should put this
question TO the Hon. Dolliver Or the
Hon. Hepburn: IF it is good for all
the people to buy in the cheaper mar
kets, why isn't 1t good for n of them
tn hTV in ST1ch q rnorEot ~ Nnu hpro