The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-10-20
President Roosevelt Delivers
Notable Address
AT ATLANTA, GEORGIA.
Says Coolies Must Not Be Allowed to
Enter Country to Compete With
American workingmen--
Other Points.

Atlanta, Ca, Oct 20.-President
Roosevelt arrived here at eleven this
morning. Early in the day he visited
the home OF his mother, at Roswell and
shook hands with many who knew her
when she was Miss Martha Bulloch, OF
Bulloch Hall.
The Presidents address dealt l1rgely
with regulation Of corporations and with
the cotton industry Of the South. He
gave it as his opinion that there must
be some sort of regulation OF the cor
porations, basing his claim on the ground
that the corporation ii creature q
the state and that it therefore must
be accountable to the state. This ac-
countability" declared the speaker,
should be real and not sham. Corpora
tions doing an interstate business, and
this means the great majority OF the
largest corporations should be held ac-
countable to the Federal government, |
because their accountability should be
coextensive with their field Of action.
But he thought VIC aght not to prevent |
or limit corporate activity. There ought, |
however. to be such effective supervi |
sion over it, such power of regulation
over it as to enable us to guarantee that
its activity will be exercised only in
ways beneficial to the public.
Tile President then referred to the
unwise limiting OF corporate activity
in the Philippines, whereby the islands
had become stunted and great amount
Of american capital had been shunted
Of into Mexico.
The President mentioned the growth
Of great fortunes in this country, by its
said that the ill-gotten gains, by its
manner Of being secured, become great
source OF danger to the whole body polit-
ic. Coming down to recent developments
he said:
saThe conscience OF our people has been
deeply shocked by the revelations made
OF recent years as to the way in which
some Of the great fortunes have been
obtained and used, and there Is, think,
in the minds of the people at large a
strong feeling that serious effort must
be made to put a stop to the cynical
dishonesty and contempt for right which
have thus been revealed / believe that
something, and hope that q good deal,
can be done BY law to remedy the state
of things complained Of. But when all
that can be, Has thus been done, there
will yet remain much which the law
eann0t touch, and which must be reached
BY the force Of public opinion. There
are men who do not divide actions mere
III into those that are honest and those
that are not. but create a third snbdivi-
sion that 81 law honesty; Of that kind
of honesty which consists in keeping
clear of the penitentiary. It Is hard
to reach astute men OF this type save
by making them feel the weight OF an
honest public indignation. But this in
dignation, if it is to be effective, must
be intelligent II is, OF course, to the
great advantage of dishonest men OF
wealth II they are denounced, not for
being dishonest, but for being wealthy,
and if they are denounced in terms so
over strained and hysterical a. to invite
a reaction in their favor. We cannot
afford in this country to draw the dis
tinction between rich man and poor man.
The distinction upon which We must in
sist Is the vital, deep-lying, unchange-
able distinction between the honest man
and the dishonest man, between the man
who acts decently and fairly by his
neighbor and with quick sense of his
obligations, and the man who acknow-
lodges no internal law save that of his
own will and appetite. Above all we
should treat with a peculiarly contempt
nous ahhorrence the man who IN spirit
of sheer cynicism debauehes either our
business life or our political life
Opposed to Coolie Labor.
Having spoken OF the great cotton in
dustrv of the South the President made
reference to the Chinese boycott. He
declared that while China must be treat
ed fairly, we must in justice to our
own workingmen, refuse to allow the
inamigration of coolies. Iie said:
AAt present our market for cotton i
largely in China. The boycott Of oui
hoods III China during the past year was
especially injurious TO the cotton manu-
facturers. This government is doing
and will continue to do, all it can tc
nut stop to the boycott. But there
q one measure to be taken toward this
end in which ! shall need the assistance
If Congress. We must insist firmly or
our rights; and China must beware oi
persisting ia course of conduct x
which Ne cannot honorablv submit. But
we in our turn must recognize our du
fies exactly as we insist upon our rights
We cannot 90 into the internationa
court Of equity unless we go in will
clean hands We cannot expect Chini
ia do us Justice unless we do Chini
instfee The chief cause in bringing
about the boycott Of our goods in Chins
was undoubtedly our attitude towart
IRE Chinese who come to this country
This attitude of ours does not iustif.
the action Of the Chinese in the boy
,itt. and especially some of the form
which that action has taken. But tn
fact remains that in the past we hay
come short Of our duty toward the peo
ple Of China. IT is our clear duty, i
the interest Of our wage-workers, Z
forbid all Chinese Of the coolie class