The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-11-03
Fayors a Progressive Policy
for This Great Nation.
Give the Farmers and the Man
ufacturers a Chance.
Pays an Eloquent Tribute to the
Peerless President.


the Roosevelt club of st. Paul, on Fri
advocate of tariff revision and reciproe-
ity:
Looking at our people from the
standpoint of public affairs, see three
kinds of men. The first class is made
up of lawbreakers, conscience violators
and selfish hunters for unfair advantage.
These men are aggressive, keen and pow
erful, though relatively few in number.
To the credit of human nature be it said
that we never make pilgrimage to the
tomb of such a man if he be dead, nor
celebrate the anniversary of his birth if
he be living.
"The second class is composed of
host of good men who are either too
busy, too tired, or too timid to organize
warfare upon the wrongdoers. As cit
liens, they deplore the evil which they
see about them, but they do nothing to
| either check the invasion of the common
welfare or repair the inroads of injus-
tice. As officers elected to represent the
people, they are so much oppressed with
sense of the difficulties of reform that
they accept defeat without striking
blow for better things.
"The third class is made up of the
leaders in the worlds true progress.
They are also few in number, relatively.
but they are mighty in their influence,
and they open up the paths into the flu
ture with the fawless courage of the
pioneer.
"One of these men was born on the
9th day of October, 1858, and am deeply
grateful for the opportunity to signalize
/, in your company the great event. He
embodies in his character and has ex-
emplified in his life the superb quail
tiles have so inadequately portrayed
as the best characteristics of finite
thought and action. He is gentle when
gentleness is virtue; he is stern when
sternness is required. He sees no limit
| to the greatness of the country; but
halts when the next step infringes the
rights of the humblest citizen.
THE republican party has promoted
many noble men to the highest office in
the land, but we never conferred the
honor upon better son of the republic,
"A purer patriot, more courageous man,
! than he who now occupies the most ex-
allied station, not only in our own coun-
try, but in the world; the man of the
hour-the idol of the people-the COM
mander of armies-the prince of peace
Theodore Roosevelt.
''He is president now, not by success
sion, but in his own right. The people
of this country have bestowed upon him
| the most royal gift in their power, and
they bestowed it in fashion more
princely than ever before attended it. He
| is doing just what those who knew him
expected him to do. When he sees
wrong he denounces it. When he believes
change should be made in our laws he
advocates and recommends it. He is
man who understands that his work is
not done until everything is done that
his unparalleled activity and unsurpassed
genius can accomplish.
"He is doing all that mortal can do to
make his country strong, to keep its
honor unstained to administer justice to
the least as well as the greatest of our
citizens, to guard the rights of labor, to
defend the privileges of capital. and to
perpetuate the prosperity which now
crowns the industry of our people. He is
discharging with high credit to himself,
and with infinite advantage TO his people,
the duties of the most difficult station
held at this time by mortal man.
"There is benumbing spirit which
seems to be fascinating some of the men,
bers of our party, and that has found
expression in the phraseology of the
gambler-'stand pat | predict that If
the party meets disaster and downfall,
there will be floating over its retreating
columns this miserable maxim: stand
pat If it is victorious and triumphant,
as / believe it will be, the flag that viii
lend its gallant hosts into. the future will
bear another motto. There will be in
scribed upon it in living letters a more
inspiring phraseT'Move on
at is no reflection upon the wisdom
and patriotism of former days to insist
that conditions which have developed
within the last few years a change I'M
known to any former time, should be
met by changes in our statutes. To say
that the laws which successfully regu-
lated our common carriers years ago will
now restrict them within fair and proper
limits is TO ignore the revolution in
transportation which has occurred with
in dozen years.
"To say that tariff schedules which
embodied the policy of protection in 1897
still accurately express the fundamental
criterion of the policy, is to shut our
eyes to the mighty transportations
which have occurred in the intervening
years.
Il take one schedule for illustration.
Last year the iron and steel manufactur-
ers of the United States exported arti-
cles made of iron and steel to the value
of more than $l34,0O0,000. They sold
these articles in Mexico, Central Ameri-
ca, South America, Africa, Asia and Eu-
rope in open competition with their riy-
ais of other countries.
at may be assumed-indeed It is
r. r-s-