Rocky Ford enterprise., 1906-04-20
need E::.!:.D MUCK RAKE.
BUT REFoRMERs MUST ALWAYS
BE TRUTHFUL.
THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS

IuE Tn6SuU6NJ y AUUueSS
Deals With Greed. Dishonesty and Cor
ruptlon-would. Curb, Exeessive For.
tunes by Progressive Taxation. / .
'washington.-The laying of tho cor.
erstone Of the office. building for tho
house Of Representatives with 's6ieInn
Masonic ceremonies Saturday after
noon was made. notable by the pres
ence Of the President! OF the United
States and many OF the Cabinet. By
the Supreme Court. by the representa-
tves Of fokeiyn. governments. by Con.
Eress and Z, large proportion OF Wash
a number OF ladies were on tho
Presidents stand. amdng them being
Mrs.' Roosevelt. Mrs. Nicholas Long-
worth. Mrs. 'cowaes. sister Of the
President. and Mrs. Fairbanks. Upon
the arrival Of the. grand lodge of
Masons OF the District of Columbia.
with Walter A. Brown. grand master.
! rat their head. the ceremony Of laying
4 Theoretically sSaled''box con-
tanning and inside copper box with
glass top vas then placed In position
SO that the .stonc would completely
enyclop II. The box contained numer-
GUS articiesi.' books. pictures. AUTO
,gSaphs. eta.. .. .,
III sAner music and an address by
Grand Master Brown. the President
was Introduced by Speaker Cannon
and delivered an address on THE
Muck Rake Brisadc." saying:
I'm Pilgrims Progress the man
with .ihc muck rake il set forth Az Ihc
example Of him whose vision Is. nsed
on .earnai instead OF on spiritual
things. Yc, he also typlfies the man
who In this life constantly refuses to
See augh, that Is lofty. and fixes his
eyes with solemn intratneRs only GU
tha, which ID vile and d.basing.
Now IL Is very necessary that ve
should not fiIneh from seeing what Is
Vile md d.basins. There is NTH on the
floor. and II must be ssraped up with
the muck rake: and there arc times
and places where this service IL the
most needed of all services that can
b. performed.
but tn. man who never does any
thing else. who never thinks or
speaks or writes. say. OF his fcaiz
with the muck rake. speedily becomes
not help to society. no, an ineii~mcn,
To good. but one OF tho mos; potent
forces for evil.
There arc in the body polite. eco
nomie and social. many and grave
evils. and there lz ursrnt necessity for
the si-rnes, var upon them.
There should BE- fcirn,iess exposure
Of. and attack upon every OWL man.
whether political or business man.
every evil practice. whether in politics.
| In business or in social life. I hail as
y beasfae,oF every writer or speaker.
every man. eho on the platform. or IN
book. Magazine OF newspaper. who
| with mctciirsa severity makes such at.
tack. provided always that he in his
turn remembers that tho attack Ia OF
use oniy II IL Ia absolutely truthful.
Tho liar ID no whit better than the
thief. and II his ncnaarity takes the
form Of slanssf. he may bo worse than
most thieves
1T puts q premium uraa tnavcry
un,ruihfuiiy 10 attack an honest man.
or even with hystcfieai esaEErra;ioa 10
assaii a bad man with untruih. An
epidemic Of iadiscsimiaasc assault
upon character docs no good. but very
great harm. The soul OF every seoun.
drci Ia siaaaencd whenever an honest
man IL sssaiiei. OF even when a seoun-
drei IL un,su;hfuliy assaiied.
al this moment ~c arc passing
through a period Of great unrest-so-
cial. political. and Industrial unrest
II IL Of the utmost Importance for our
future that this should prove TO be
no, tho unrtss Of mere rebelliousness
against life. Of mere dissatisfaction
with the inevitable inequality of coudi-
tons. but the unrest Of a rssoiutr and
eager ambitioS TO secure the better
mcut Of the individual and the nation.
so far as this movement Of asita-
ton throughout the country takes the
form Of fierce discomfort with evil.
whether In industry or politics. the
feeling Ia to be heartily welcomed as
a sisn Of healthy life.
1T IL important TO this people TO
srappie with the problems connected
with the amassins of enormous for
tunes. and the use of these fortunes.
both corporate aad individual. in busi-
ness. We should discriminate In the
sharpest way between fortunes well
won and fortunes III won: between
those gained a. an incident TO perform
Ing a great service TO the community
as whole. and those gained In evil
fashion by keeping just within the linz
its Of mere lav-honesty.
"Of course no amount of charity In
spending such fortunes in any way
compensa;es for misconduct in max
ing them.
AS a matter Of personal conviction
and without pretending TO discuss the
details. or formulate the system. I feel
that We shall ultimately have TO
consider the adoption of some such
scheme as that of a progressive
tax on ali fortunes beyond a certain
amount. either given in life or devised
or beuueathed upon death. to any In
dividual-a taN so framed as to put II
ont Of the power of the owner OF one
of these enormous fortunes TO hand
on more than certain amount TO any
one individual: the tax- of course. TO
be imposed By the national. and not