The Elbert County tribune., 1907-06-13
ROOSEVELT PAT
STANDS BY HIS POLICY ON PUB
Lie LANDS AND RANGE.
EFFECT DENVER CONVENTION
Says Everything Else Secondary to
the Primal Problem of Con-
serving the country's Nat
uraI Resources

tion that there would be no halt in the
administration plans regarding its
forest reserve policy were the features
OF President Roosevelt's speech to the
National Editorial Association. In
view OF the coming land convention in
Denver, when 1t is said the enemies
OF President Roosevelt will vigorously
attack his method of handling the pub
lie land question, the Presidents
speech is taken as a challenge of de-
hance to those who disagree with him.
There will be no halt in tho work
OF preserving the waters which head
In the Rocky Mountain region SO as to
make them of the most use to the peo-
pie as n whole" he said, for the pol
Icy is essential TO our national well
fare"
AS indicating future action, he an
nounced: The only practical remedy
is to give control of the range to the
federal government. Such control
would not only stop all conflict, but
would conserve the forage without
stopping its use, as our experience
with the national forests has already
proved"
In anticipation of a probable attack
on Clifford Pinchot, the President took
pains to announce that Mr. Pinchot
was his principal adviser as to the
public land policy of the administra-
tion and expressed his confidence in
Pinchots ability The Presidents
speech in full follows:
1T Is, of course, mere truism to
say that no ther body of our country
men WELD as extensive an influence
as those who write for the daily press
and for the periodicals. II is also
truism to say that such power implies
the gravest responsibility. and the
man exercising 1t should hold himself
accountable, and should be held by
others accountable, precisely as If he
occupied any other position of public
trust. | do not intend to dwell upon
your duties today, however. save that
l shall permit myself to point out one
motter where 1t seems to me that the
need of our people is vital.
ut is essential that the man in pub
lie life and the man who writes in the
public press shall both of them If
they are really good servants of the
people, be prompt to assail wrongdo-
ing and wickedness. But in thus as
sailing wrongdoing and wickedness,
there are two conditions to be full
filled because if unfulflled, harm and
not good will result In the first place,
be sure of your facts and avoid every
thing like hysteria of exaggeration;
iOT 10 dSSdli a decent man 1Or some
thing of which he is innocent is to
give aid and comfort to every scoun-
drel, while indulgence in hysterical ex-
aggeration serves to weaken. not
strengthen, the statement of truth. In
the second place, be sure that you base
your judgment on conduct and not on
the social of economic position of the
individual with whom your are deal
ing.
Good and Bad Men.
There are good and bad men in ev-
cry walk of life, and their being good
or bad does not depend upon whether
they have or do not have large bank
account. Yet this elemental fact, this
fact which we all accept as self-evident,
when we think of each of us of the
people whom he himself knows in his
business and social relations. is often
completely ignored by certain public
men and certain public writer's. The
men who thus ignore it and who at
tack wickedness only when found in
particular class are always unsafe.
and are sometimes very dangerous,
leaders. Distrust equally the man who
is never able to discover any vice of
rich men to attack and the man who
confines himself to attacking the sins
and shortcomings of rich men.
1T is a sure sign of moral and
mental dishonesty in any man If in
his public assaults upon iniquity he is
never able to see any iniquity save
that of particular class; and this |
whether he is able only to see the |
crimes or arrogance and oppression in
the rich or the crimes of envy and vio- |
lence in the poor. He is no true
American if he is a respecter of per-
sons where right and wrong are con-
cerned and II he fails to denounce the |
demagogue no less than the corrup-
zionist, to denounce alike the crimes of |
organized greed and crimes of brutal |
violence.
There is equal need to denounce
the wealthy man who swindles inves-
tors or buys Legislatures or oppresses
wage workers, and the needy man who |
inflames class hatred or incites mob |
violence. We need to hold the scales |
of justice even, and to weigh them |
down on one side is as bad as to weigh |
them down on the other.
so much for what l have to say to |
you in your capacity of molders and |
guides of public thought. In addition |
l want to speak to you on two great |
movements in our public life which | |
feel must necessarily occupy no incon- |
siderable part of the time of our pub |
lie men in the near future. One of |
these is the question of. in certain |
ways, reshaping our system of taxa
tion so as to make it bear most heav-
fly on those most capable of support
ing the strain. The other is the ques-
,tion of utilizing the natural resources
of the Nation in the way that will be
of most benefit to the Nation as a
whole.
, isIn utilizinp and conserving the nat
hirel resources of the Nation the one
characteristic more essential than any
other in foresight Unfortunately, fore
..l. !