Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-02
PRESIDENT AGAIN DENouNcEs
EVIL CORPORATIONS
BEGINS HIS JOURNEY DOWN THE
MISSISSIPPI.
Crowd Of 10000 Persons Hears Adj
dress at Keokuk, Iowa, on Resu-
Iatlon Of Capital and
Railroads
BY Associated Press.

dressing an audience OF 2O,oVV persohs
here today. speaking principally OF MS
attitude toward political corruptionlsts
and law-breaking corporations, Fiesi-
5a,t roosevelt started on his trip down
the Mississippi river, accompanied ny
the inland waterways commission.
1t was a memorable day FOR the ittle
Iowa town. Visitors came from 10,
ANA near. and included the governors OF
several states and prominent poii'iei"'A
OF the middle west.
In his address the president relter-
atad his statemention to continue tne
prosecution of all corporations that are
violating the laws. He again advanced
his views on federal supervision OF IN
terstate carriers, declared himseii LOT .
fair deal for rich and poor, talked Oh
the education of the farmers, olscusse y
irrigation and announced his support OF
the movement for developing the great
inland waterways.
Hts address follows:
Presidents Speech
"Men and Women of Iowa: 1 am giad
indeed to see you and to speak to you
in this thriving city OF your great anu
nroxperous state. / believe with all my
heart in the people of Iowa, for 1 think
that YOU are good, typical Americans,
and that among you there has been de-
yeloped to a very high degree that BODY
of characteristics which we like to re-
gard as distintively American,
.During the last few years we OF the
United States have been forced to con-
slider very seriously certain economic
problems. We have made a beginning In
the attempt to deal with the relations OF
the national government-that Is, with
the relations of the people of the coun-
try-to the huge and wealthy corpora
tions controlled for the most part by a
few very rich men, which are engaged IN
interstate business-especially the great
railway corporations.
you know my views on this matter
You know that believe that the national
government in the interests of the peo-
pie should assume much the same SUI
pervision and control over the manage
ment Of the interstate common carriers
that It now exercises over the national
banks. You know furthermore that l be-
lieve this supervision and control should
be exercised in spirit of rigid fairness
toward the corporations, exacting justice
from them on behalf of the people, but
giving them justice in return.
Asks for Fair Deal
ST believe so implicitly in the future
Of our people, because l believe that the
crate government by mob than he will
tolerate government by a plutocra,y;
that he desires to see justice done to
and Justice exacted from rich mar and
poor man alike.
1--WE are not trying to favor any man
at the expense of his fellows. We are
trying to shape things so that as far as
possible each man shall have fair
chance in life; so that he shall have, so
hv, Ia ha e od
the chance to show the stuff that there Is
in him.
1--WE have no intention of trying to
work for the impossible and undesirable
end of giving to the lazy, the thriftless,
the weak and the vicious the reward that
belongs to- and in the long run can only
come to, the hard working, the thrifty,
the resolute and the honest.
.'But we do wish to see that the neces-
sary struggle in life shall be carried on
under genuinely democratic conditions,
that, go far as human action can safely
provide it, there shall be an approximately
fair start; that there shall be no oppree-
sion of the weak, and that no man shall
be permitted to acquire or to use vast
fortune by methods or in ways that are
tortuous and dishonest.
Therefore we need wise laws, and we
need to have them resolutely admins
tered. We can get such laws and such
administration only If the people are
alive to their interests. At intervals dur
ing the last few months the appeal has
been made to me not to to enforce the
law against certain wrongdoers of great
wealth because to do so would interfere
with the business prosperity of the
country.
Fear of Panic
Under the effects of that kind of
fright which. when sufficiently acute we
call panic, this appeal has been made to
me even by men who ordinarily behave
as decent citizens. One newspaper which
has itself strongly advanced this view
gave prominence to the statement of
certain man of great wealth to the eff
feet that the so-called financial weakness
was due entirely to the admitted intention
of President Roosevelt to punish the large
moneyed interests which had trans
crossed the laws
IT do not admit that this has been the
main cause of any business troubles we
have had; but it is possible that it has
been contributory cause. If so, friends,
as far as I am concerned 1t must be ac-
copied as a disagreeable but unavoidable
feature in a course Of policy which as
long as I am president will not be
changed
In any great movement righteous
ness, where the forces of evil are strongly
intrenched. it is unfortunately inevitable
that some unoffending people should suf-
fer in company with the real offenders
This is not our fault. 1t is the fault of
those to whose deceptive action these in
nocent people owe their false position.
"a year or two ago certain representa-
tives of labor called upon me and in the
course OF very pleasant conversation
told me they regarded me as the friend
of labor I answered that I certainly
was. and that / would do everything in
my power for the laboring man except
anything that was wrong.
Wrongdoers Must Suffe.
1T have the same answer to make to
the business man. I will do everything
/ can do to help business conditions, ex-
cept anything that is wrong. And it
would be not merely wrong but Infamous
to fail to do all that can be done to
secure the punishment of those wrong
doors whose deeds are peculiarly repre-
hensible because they are not committed
under the stress OF want.
whenever serious effort is made to