The Springfield herald., 1906-04-20
NEED MUCK RAKE
BUT REFoRMERs MUST ALWAYS
BE TRUTHFUL.
The PRESIDENTS ADDRESS
Deals With Greed, Dishonesty and Cor
ruption-Would Curb Excessive For
tunes by Progressive Taxation.

mouse OF representatives WIN spieiHh
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-
tives OF foreign governments, by Con
gress and a large proportion OF Wash
ington's population.
A number of ladies were on the
Presidents stand. among them being
Mrs. Roosevelt. Mrs. Nicholas Long
worth, Mrs. Cowles, sister OF the
President, and Mrs. Fairbanks. Upon
the arrival of the grand lodge oil
Masons of the District of Columbia,
with Walter A. Brown, grand master,
at their head, the ceremony of laying
the cornerstone began.
A Theoretically sealed box CON
tanning and inside copper box with
glass top was then placed in position
so that the stone would completely
envelop it. The box contained numer-
Gus articles, books, pictures, auto
graphs, etc.
After music and an address by
Grand Master Brown, the President
was Introduced by Speaker Cannon
and delivered an address on THE
Muck Rake Brigade" saying:
- .
with the muck rake is set forth as the
example of him whoss vision is fixed
on carnal instead OF on spiritual
things. Yet he also typiles the man
who in this life constantly 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 ii must be scraped up with
the muck rake; and there are times
and places where this service is the
most needed of all services that can
be performed.
But the man who never does any
thing else, who never thinks or
speaks or writes, save of his feats
with the muck rake. speedily becomes
not a help to society. not an incitement
to good, but one of the most potent
forces for evil.
"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 political or business man,
every evil practice. whether in politics,
in business or in social life. | hail as
q benefactor every writer or speaker.
every man. who on the platform, or in
book, Magazine or newspaper, who
with merciless severity makes such at
tack, provided always that he in his
turn remembers that the attack is of
use only if it is absolutely truthful
THE liar is no whit better than the
thief, and ii his meGdacity takes the
form of slander, he may be worse than
most thieves.
1T puts a premium upon knavery
untruthfully TO attack an honest man,
or even with hysterical exagSeration TO
assail bad man with untruth. An
epidemic of indiscriminate assault
upon character does no good. but very
great harm. The soul of every scoun-
drcl is gladdened whenever an honest
man is assailed, or even when scoun-
drel is untruthfully assailed.
"At this moment we are passing
through a period of great unrest-so-
cial, political, and industrial unrest.
1t is of the utmost importance for our
future that this should prove to be
not the unresl of mere Righteousness
against life, of mere dissatisfaction
with the inevitable inequality of condi-
tions, but the unrest of resolute and
eager ambition to secure the better
ment of the individual and the nation.
so far as this movement of agita-
ton throughout the country takes the
form of fierce discomfort with evil.
whether in industry or politics, the
feeling is to be heartily welcomed as
sign of healthy life.
'It is important to this people to
grapple with the problems connected
with the amassing of enormous for
tunes, and the use of these fortunes.
both corporate and, individual, in busi-
ness. We should discriminate in the
sharpest way between fortunes well
won and fortunes i'll won; between
those gained as an incident to perform
ing a great service to the community
as whole, and those gained in evil
fashion by keeping Just within the lin
it's of mere law-honesty
"Of course no amount of charity in
spending such fortunes in any way
compensates Tor misconduct in max
ing them.
"As matter of personal conviction
and without pretending to discuss the
details, or formulate the system, ! feel
that we shall ultimately have to
consider the adoption of some such
scheme as that of progressive
tax on all fortunes beyond a certain
amount, either given in life or devised
or bequeathed upon death, to any in
dividual-a tax so framed as to put it
out 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
the state government.
such taxation should. of course, be
aimed merely at the inheritance or
transmission in their entirety of those
fortunes swollen beyond all healthy
limits.
THE men of wealth who to-day are
trying to prevent the regulation and
control of their business in the inter-
est of the public by the proper govern
ment authorities, will not succeed, in
my judgment in checking the progress
of the movement. But If they did sue
ceed. they would find that they had
sown the wind and would surely reap
the whirlwind, for they would ulti-
mately provoke the violent excesses
which accompany a reform coming by
convusion, instead of by steady and
natural growth.
"On the other hand. the wild preach