Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-01-31
GUEST OF HONOR.
President Roosevelt Speaks at Union
Club Banquet, Philadelphia.

Philauelpnt. Jan. 30.-PreSldent
Roosevelt was the guest of honor and
principal speaker. tonight, 1T the I'D
| anniversary banquet of the Union
League. At the club house he passed
| through two lines of cheer ing members
to the reception room. where from els
To O'Clock he stood and shoot, hands
! with several hundred prominent citi
ZenS.
| President Roosevelt occupied n seat
| in the center of the guests table with
| President f. I. Stotesbury OF the Onion
League. ON his right and United States
| Senator Ptnrose on his left.
Former Postmaster General Smith
| was also one of the sneakers of the
evening. His address was devoted 10 a
history of the Union League.
In introducing President Roosevelt.
| Mir Stotesbury referred TO MIN as the
only President who. having succeeded
to the Office OF President upon the death
| of his predecessor. retained that ONCE
Ey the votes of the people.
President Roosevelt i'll his address.
said:
| This club was founded t. uphold the
hands OF Abraham Lincoln when he STOOD
as the slra leader in the struggle loi
| therefore. to appeal to this club for aid IN
every governmental or social effort made
along III" lines marked out by Lincoln
The great PI@!iden, taught many lessons
! which We VIII" come AFTER linn should
learn. Among the most important of
theS,. was the lesson that tol Wra. or for
woe we are indissolubly bound together
in whatever part of the coun;ry We live
| whatever our social standing. whatever
our wealth on our poverty, whatever form
OF mental OF physical activity our lie
| work may assume. Lincoln who was
rlor>. emf ha tically than any other Presi-
dent We have ever had. the President OF
las " aShin2tun himself from the slightest
faint OF demaSosy. With his usual far
in Il republic such as Ours permanent
prosperity of amy part of our Ee"ple WAS
conditioned upon the prosperity Of all;
| and that en- the other hand any effort to
| raise the general level OF happiness by
| striking ut HE well-bens of a portion Of
the people could not hut he III the end
disastrous to all.
The principles which Lincoln applied TO
the solution Of the problems of MS : :
are those which We must aiply if We e"
are 50 largely Industrial Exactly a. it is
| imnossiblt to develop Il high morality I'M
less WAS have as a founda ion those quail
tiles which give at lcas; a certain mini
mum of material prosperity. 50 it is i'm
possible permanently to Keep material
prosperity unless there is back Of it Il
basis of right living and right thinking
In the last ANALYSIS. of course. the donii-
rant factor in obtaining this good conduct
must he the individual character of the
average citizen. If there is not this cOndi-
ton of individual character in the average
citizenship of the country all effort TO sup
ply its place 10y the wiseSt lesiSl;i ton and
| administration will in the end prove futile.
I'u, given this average OF individual char
acter then wise laws can do much 10 sup
me. did II If 1 hor IN, ,ne h Void
| II has lost something which can not he
made good by any governmental effort.
firm. because we believe that on the
whole and i'll the long run our people
think clearly ard act rightly.
| Cnqu| Stordbly. however the great de-
vtiorment of industrialsm mears that
there must be an increase in the super
vision exercised by the government over
should nor take the form of violent ana
| ill-advised interfer, nee: and assuredly
| there is danger ieSl ii take such form if
| the business leaders of the business com
munity cunfne themselves to trying to
| th@alt the effort AZ regulation Instead of
guiding il Alright. Such men as The mem
beers of this club should lead in The effort
| IL secure proper supervision ana regula-
| tion of corporate activity 10y the govern
m"nt not only because ii is for the inter
| est Of the community as a whole that
| there should ne this supervision and reetI-
he in the interest above all of the Very
renri" who often hetray alarm and anger
| Neifh"r this people nor any other free
| people will perna rcntly tolerate The use.
| OF The vast power conferred by vas.
| wealth. ana especially by wealth in it,
| corporate form. without lodging SOM
| where in the government the still higher
power of seeing that this power in adj
ditinn to feii z Used III the interest of the
| individual or individuals possessing il. Is
| also used for and not against the inter
rSJS OF the people as a whole Our p"cu-
liar form Of government. government in
|
The union in certain respects. while each
| Ct nearly half a hundred states is su-
| rr";n" in its part Of the union in certain
| respects. renders the task of dealing with
| these conditions especially difficult. No
finally satisfactory result can be expected
| from merely state action. The action
| must come through the federal govern
mrnt. The business OF the country is now
carried ON in Il way OF which the fcunde'
of our constitution could hV no poSSibil-
| ity have had any idea.
| All great business concerns arc engaged
III interstate commerce. and it was beyond
question the intention OF the t,iir'dor> of
our government that interstate commerce
| in all it's branches and aspects should he
under national and nor state control. If
the courts dccid" that this infection was
rot chrried out and made effective IN the
constitution as it now stands then in the
end the constitution if not construed diff
| ferrntly, will have to he amended 50 that
| the original tndoubtcd intention may lie
made cfIective But. of course a consti-
! tutional amendment is only tn lie used as
|
and administration shall have been proved
Inadequate
| Meanwhile the men in public life and the
| men who direct tn" great business irter-
| cStS of the country should work not in
antaSonism bur in harmony toward this
given end. In entering = field where the
progress must of necessity he 50 largely
experimental it is essential that the effort
| tn make progress should he tentative and
cautious. We must grow by evolution.
| not by revolution. There must he no
hurry. but there must also he no halt;
| and those who ar" anxious that there
| should be no sudden and violent changes
| must remember that precisely these sud
| den and violent changes will he rendered
| likely il we refuse to make the needed
changes in cautious and moderate man
neI.
AT the present moment the grea test
need is for an increase in the power of IT,
national government to keep the erc;
| highways of commerce open alike to ali
on reasonable and equitable terms Less.
than century ago these highways were
still as they had been since the da VII ~
history or else ordinary roads for wheel
vehicles drawn by animal power. The |
railroad. which was utterly unknown |
when our government was formed and
when the great principles of our juris- |
prudence We're laid down. has now become |
almost everywhere the most Important |
and. in many large regions. the only form