The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-12-26

and zeal every such infamous Of
fender. Moreover, in my Judgment,
the crime of rape should always be
punished with death, as is the case
with murder; assault with intent to
commit rape should be made a CAPT
tai crime, at least in the discretion
of the court, and provision should be
made by which the punishment may
follow Immediately upon the heels OF
the offense; while the trial should be
so conducted that the victim need not
be wantonly shamed while giving tes-
timony, and that the least possible
publicity shall be given to the de-
tails. I'll.
Next, President Roosevelt discusses
capital and labor. On this subject
he writes:
I'm dealing with both labor and
capital, with the questions affecting
both corporations and trades unions,
there is one matter more important
to remember than aught else, and
that is The infinite harm done By
preachers of mere discomfort. These
are men who seek to excite a violent
class hatred against all men. of
wealth. They seek to turn wise and
proper movements.for the better con-
troll of corporations and for doing
away with the abuses connected with
wealth, into a campaign of hysteri-
cal excitement and falsehood in which
the aim is to infame to madness the
brutal passions of mankind. The sim
lister demagogs and foolish vision
aries who are always eager to under
take such a campaign Of destruction
sometimes seek to associate them
selves with those working for a gen.
uine reform in governmental and So
cial methods, and sometimes masque-
rade as the reformers. In reality
they are the worst enemies of the
cause they profess to advocate, just
as the purveyors of sensational SLAM
der in newspapers OF magazine are
the worst enemies of all men who
are engaged in an honest effort to
better what is bad in u social and
governmental conditions"
To preach hatred Of the rich man,
as such, to carry on a campaign of
SANDER and invective against him,
to seek to mislead and infame to
madness honest men whose lives are
hard and who have not the kind of
mental training which will permit
them to appreciate the danger in the
doctrines preached-all this Is to
commit a crime against the body pol
itic and to be false to every worthy
principle and tradition Of American
national life. Moreover, while such
preaching and such agitation may
give a livelihood and a certain noto-
riety to some of those who take part
in it, and may result in the temper
airy political success Of others, in the
long run every such movement will
either fail or else will provoke a vio-
lent reaction, which will itself result
not merely in undoing the mischief
wrought by the demagog and the agi-
tator, but also in undoing the good
that the honest reformer, the true
upholder of popular rights, has pain
fully and laboriously achieved. Cor
ruption is never SO rife as in COM
munities where the demagog and the
agitator bear full sway, because in
such communities all moral bands
become %loosened, and hysteria and
sensationalism replace the spirit OF
sound judgment and fair dealing as
between man and man. In sheer re-
volt against the squalid anarchy
thus produced men are sure in the
end to run toward any leader VINO
can restore order, and then their. re-
lief at being free from the intoler-
able burdens Of class hatred, violence
and demagogy is such that they can
not for some time be aroused to in
dignation against misdeeds by men
of wealth; so that they permit a new
growth of the very abuses which
were in part responsible for the or
iginal outbreak. The one hope for
success for our people lies in a reso-
lutte and fearless, but sane and cool
headed, advance along the path
marked out last year by this Con-
gress. There must be a stern refusal
to be misled into following either
that base creature who appears and
panders to the lowest instincts and
passions in order to arouse n set
Of Americans against their fellows,
that other creature, equally base
but no baser, who, in a spirit OF
greed, or to accumulate or add to
an already huge fortune, seeks to ex-
plot his fellow-Americans with cal
lous disregard to their welfare OF
soul and body. The man who de-
bauches others in order to obtain a
high Office stands On an evil equality
of corruption with the man who de-
bauches others for financial profit;
and when hatred Is sown the crop
which springs up can only be evil.
Continuing, the message says:
"I call your attention to the need
of passing a bill limiting the num-
Der Of hours of employment OF rail-
road employees. The measure is a
very moderate one and l can con-
ceive Of no serious objection to it."
The President, however, thinks there
are industries and districts in which,
it is not possible that the hours OF
labor should be reduced.
On the Isthmus of Panama, Tor
instance, the conditions are in every
so different from what they are
here that an eight-hour day would be
absurd; just as it absurd, so far as
the Isthmus is concerned, where
white labor car not be employed, to
bother as to whether the necessary
work is done by alien black men or
by alien yellow men. But the wage
workers of the United States are Of
Sc high a grade that alike from the
merely industrial standpoint and
from the civic standpoint it should
be our object to do what we can in
the direction of securing the general
observance of an eight-hour day.
Among the excellent laws which
the Congress past at the last session
was an employers liability law. 1t
was a marked step in advance to get