Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-15
VICE PRESIDENT TALKS
Progress Of the United States
and Its People.
why AMERICANS SUCCEED
Corruption in Public Life and Virtue
Of Character.
OPTIMISM AND COMMON SENSE
Changes Since His Father Cleared the
Forest in Ohio and Built
His Log Cabin.

This is a talk about everyday matters
with an everyday man. refer to the
Vice President of the United States,
Charles w. Fairbanks. The Vice President
Is man of the people and, like his good
and great friend, the late President Nc
Kinley, he keeps his ear close to the
ground. He believes In the people and In
the plain everyday things that the people
love. He has faith in men and things.
He spells nation with a big N and Chris
tianity with capital C. He Is not pyro-
technic in speech nor action, and his con-
versation is not filled with the fireworks
of rhetoric nor the gaseous bombast of that
of some of our so-called statesmen. Still,
it is interesting. and the reason 1t is inter-
esting, it seems to me, is largely because
of its blunt plainness and rugged sim
plicity.
If you want to know what the Vice Pres
ident thinks on public questions you must
look at his speeches. He makes many of
them and in some strikes out from the
shoulder. The talk 1 give you today is not
of that kind. 1t is a hit-and-miss chat
such as two friends might have when out
fishing and the bites are few, or like one
at a corner grocery at country cross
roads, yourself seated on an empty up
turned nail key and the Vice President on
another.
The Vice President an Early Riser.
To get the real picture of my talk with
the Vice President you must make the time
early morning. 1t is long before Uncle
Sans great army of government clerks
has started to Office, and we are sitting
together in the study Of the Fairbanks
home in Washington. The Vice President
has already breakfasted, and his sparkling
eyes show the effect of healthy but not
~, IL, f,r 1,,,f
have come by appointment, and I open the
conversation by a remark about the early
bird, asking the Vice President what he
thinks of him. He replies:
Il believe in early rising. The men who
are doing the work of the world are those
who get up early and work late. That
is the way our country was built. We
could not have chopped down the forests
and conquered the soil. we could not have
built these great cities and made ourselves
the richest nation of the world otherwise.
Our forefathers were early risers, and it is
largely from the work which they did In
the early morning that we are proflting
today. 1t was the same with our fathers.
Both you and can remember our boyhOOd
days in Ohio, and how the custom was to
rise with the dawn. I was brought up on
a farm. and my father cleared the land
and built the cabin in which we started
life. 1 remember we got up at daybreak
and had the chores done and were out in
the fields hard at work long before the
hour when the city clerk of today has
finished his breakfast"
But is not that still the case In many
parts of the United States?"
ITO a certain extent. yes,' replied the
Vice President, "but the custom of getting
up early is fast passing away. We have
still early risers, but they are chiefly on
the farms. Many of them are boys who are
fitting themselves to be the rulers of the
country for the future"
Young America in 1905.
But, Mr.. Vice President do you not
think the young Americans of today less
strong than those of generation ago?
Have not our conditions SO changed that
luxury is sapping their strength? Are they
not becoming effeminate, habby and
weak?'
mo" was the reply. 1.-The young
American is as strong today as ever.
and he will continue strong as long as
We have great country to develop
and great prizes to win. You must not
Judge our young men by the dilettante
youth of the cities. You must go out into
the country for the real Americans and real
Americanism. You will find our national
spirit strongest after you have crossed the
Alleghenies and entered the great states of
the Mississippi basin and beyond. The
young men there are as manly as anywhere
in the world. There are also strong young
men in the east and there are some even in
the cities. You must look for the best, how
ever outside the clubs and the golf grounds.
This country is all right and its people are
all right. Indeed. they were never stronger
nor better than now"
The Nation All Right.
How about our business and political
morality? Many think we are honeycombed
with corruption and that our whole body
polite is fast on its way to Gehenna?"
There is nothing in that idea.' said the
Vice President Of the United States. I'VE
have some dishonest men, but no more in
proportion than we had in the past. If you
will go back to the time when our fathers
fought the revolutionary war and will
use the proper diligence you will find that
there were dishonest men then. There were
grafters and boodlers in the days Of Wash
ington and jefferson, and the newspapers
of their times made no bones of saying so.
Every day has its scandals and those days
were no exception. Many men were SIAN
dered unjustly and doubt not some rascals
escaped without censure. AS to unjust crit
icisms, George Washington himself was de-
nounced again and again, and one paper
charged him with being dishonest and as an
enemy to his country. At the same time
were exposed That was the case when we
had less than three million people. Now we
have thirty times that many and the tele-
graph and the newspaper do not let the mis-
deeds of our public men lie Dormant"
"But are we growing better?'
~ think so." was the reply. ct believe
we are growing much better from year to
year. We are more patriotic and we take
optimist and I have little sympathy with
the pessmist. The trouble with many is
that they are looking at our country
through the wrong end of the opera glass.
One can get too close to a big thing to ex-