Semi-weekly herald., 1907-10-03

HH"S auu' eleTnal common sense. Fac
man here knows that he himself ha
been able to use his freedom to az
vantage only provided that he coul
master himself. that he could contrc
his own passions and direct his owl
faculties. Each of you fathers an
mothers here knows that II your son
are to do well in the world the
must know how to master themselves
Every man must have a master: |
he is not his own master, then some
BODY else will be. This is just as tru,
o. public life as of private life. |
we can not master ourselves. coutro
ourselves, then sooner or later we shal
have to submit to outside control
for there must be control somewhere
One way of exercising such contro
is through the laws of the land. Ours
Is government Of liberty. but 1t /,
i government of that orderly libert,
which comes by and through the hon
( est enforcement of and obedience t.
/ the law. At intervals during the last
Few months the appeal has been made
to me not to enforce the law against
certain wrongdoers of great wealth be
cause TO do SO would interfere with
the business prosperity of the coun.
try. Under the effects of that kind
oi fright which when sufficiently acute
we call panic, this appeal has been
made to me even by men who ordi-
narily behave as decent citizens. One
newspaper which has itself stronghly
advanced this view gave prominenc.
to the statement of a certain man OF
great wealth to the effect that the so
called financial weakness was due
entirely to the admitted intention OF
President Roosevelt to punish the
large moneyed interests which had
lransgressed the laws" | do not ad.
init that this has been the main cause
o: any business troubles we have had
Dut II is possible that it has been
4 contributory cause. If so. friends.
as far as ! am concerned it must be
accepted as disagreeable but un.
aroidable feature in course of mol.
icy which as long as | am president
VIII not be changed In any great
movement for righteousness. where
the forces of evil are strongly in.
trenched, it is unfortunately inevitable
that some unoffending people should
suffer in company with the real of.
lenders. This is not our fault. II
s the fault of those to whose decep.
ave action these innocent people owe
their false position. 4 year or two
lso certain representatives of labor
ianed upon me and in the course of
I very pleasant conversation told me
that they regarded me as the friend
Of labor" | answered that | certainly
vas. and that | would do everything
IN my power for the laboring man
except anything that was wrong.
nave the same answer to make to
the business man. | will do every
thinS | can do to help business con.
iitions, except anything that is wrong.
Ana 1t would be not merely wrong
out Infamous to fail to do all that can
De done to secure the punishment oil
those Wrongdoers whose deeds are pc
culiarly reprehensible because they
are not committed under the stress
Jf want. Whenever a serious effort
is made to cut out what is evil in our
political life. whether the effort takes
the shape OF warning against the gross
md sordid forms OF evil in some mu.
nicipality, or whether it takes the
shape of trying to secure the honest
enforcement of the law as against
very powerful and wealthy people.
there are sure to be certain individuals
who demand that the movement stop
because it may hurt business. In
each case the answer must be that
we earnestly hope and believe that
there will be no permanent damage
10 business from the movement. but
that if righteousness conflicts with the
fancied needs of business, then the
latter must go to the wall. We can
not afford TO substitute any other test
for that of guilt or innocence. of
wrongdoing or welldoing, in judging
any man. If man does well. II he
acts honestly he has nothing to fear
from this administration. But so far
as in me lies the corrupt politician,
great or small the private citizen
who transgresses the law-be he rich
Or poor-shall be brouhgt before the
impartial justice OF a court. Perhaps
| am most anxious to get at the
politician who is corrupt. because he
betrays great trust; but assuredly |
shall not spare his brother corrup-
Zionist who shows himself swindler
in business life; and, according to our
power, crimes of fraud and cunning
shall be prosecuted as relentlessly as
crimes of brutality and physical VIC.
lence.
We need good laws and we need