The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1906-04-19
PRESIDENT HITS
mud SINGERS
Flags WRITERS WHO AssAIL
PUBLIC MEN WITHOUT CAUSE.
WEALTHY FACING DANGER
Effort to Prevent Regulation and Con-
troll of Business in Interest Of Pub
lie May Garry Worse Evils
if Successful.

" A5SOAD APA4A hAQC4y
heralded and sensational "muck-rake"
speech OF President Roosevelt was de-
livered at the laying of the corner
stone OF the office building for the
house of Representatives Saturday
afternoon.
Recognizing the existence of evils.
social and economic, the president
urges warfare, but deplores the ac-
tons Of those who make indiscrim-
mate attacks on men OF business or
public life, declaring such course
would only react in favor Of the I'M
serapulous.
ne huge fortunes being amassed in
this country are regarded as a mem.
ace to public welfare and a progress
i've tax is urged whereby these for
tunes should be curtailed and limited
to a certain amount.
Rich men are also warned of the
danger in attempting to prevent the
regulation and control OF their busi-
ness in the interest of the public.
The actual ceremonies in connection
with the laying Of the cornerstone
were most impressive. A distinguished
assemblage, embracing the supreme
court, members of the senate and the
house Of representatives and the dip
ic-aatso corps, Witnessed the proceed
ings. Walter A. Brown, grand master
OF the Masons of the District of Co
lubmia, laid the cornerstone, assisted
by the grand lodge.
Present Problems Are New.
The president spoke in part as fol-
lows:
The material problems that face us
to-day are not such as they were in
Washington's time, but the underlying
facts of human nature are the same
now as they were then. un4er altered
tendencies toward evil that were evil
dent in Washington's time, and are
helped by the same tendencies for
good. 1t is about some Of these that
wish to say word to-day.
In Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress you
may recall the description of the Man
with the Muek-rake, the man who
could look NO way but down
ward, with the muck-rake in his hand;
who was offered celestial crown for
his muek-rake, but who would neither
look up nor regard the crown he was
offered. but continued to rake to him
/. self the filth of the floor.
Man with the Mnck-Rake.
"In Pilgrims Progress the Man with
the Muck-rake is set forth as the ex-
ample of him whose vision is fixed on
carnal instead of on spiritual things.
Yet he also typifies the man who in
this life consistently refuses to see
aught that is lofty. and fixes his eyes
with solemn intentness only on that
which is vile and debasing.
Now, it is very necessary that we
should not finch from seeing what is
vile and debasing. There is filth on
the floor, and it must be scraped up
with the muck-rake; and there are
times and places where this service is
the most needed of all the services
that can be performed. But the man
who never does. anything else, who
never thinks or speaks or writes, save
Of his feats with the muck-rake, speed
lly becomes, not help to society, not
an Indictment to good, but one of the
most potent TO cces for evil.
War on Evil Necessary.
There are, in the body polite, eco
nomic and social, many and grave
evils, and there is urgent necessity for
the sternest war upon them. There
should be relentless exposure of and
attack upon every evil man, whether
politician or business man, every evil
practice, whether in politics, in BUSH
ness or In social life.
II hail as benefactor every writer
Or speaker, every man who, on the
platform or in book, magazine or
newspaper, with merciless severity
makes such attack, provided always
that he in his turn remembers that the
attack is of use only If it is absolute
ly truthful.
1.-THE liar is no whit better than the
thief, and II his mendacity takes the
: form of Islander, he may be worse than
most thieves. 1t puts premium upon
knayery untruthfully to attack an hon.
est man, or even with hysterical exag-
geration to assail bad man with un-
truth. An epidemic Of indiscriminate
assault upon character does not good,
but very great harm. The soul of
every scoundrel is gladdened when an
honest man is assailed, or even when a
scoundrel is untruthfully assailed.
Easy to Twist Things.
Now, it g easy to twist out Of
shape what have just said, easy to
affect to misunderstood it, and, il it
Is slurred over in repetition, not diff
cult really to misunderstood it. Some
persons are sincerely incapable of un-
derstanding that to denounce mud
singing does not mean the indorse-
ment of withdrawing; and both the
interested individuals who need white
washing and those others who practice
mud singing like to encourage such
confusion of ideas. One Of the chief
counts against those who make indis-
rriminate assault upon men in busi-
ness or men in public life. is that they
invite reaction which is sure to tell
powerfully In favor Of the unscrupu-