The Washington herald., 1907-04-27


sure its not being used against the inter-
est of the public, while yet permitting
such annie legitimate profits as viii en-
courage individual initiative It Is our
business 10 put a stop TO abuses and TO
prevent their recurrence. without show
ing a spirit of mere Vindictiveness for
what has been done Ia the past. Ia John
Morlev's brilliant sketch Of Burke he
laws especial stress upon the fact that
Burke more than almost any other think
er or politician of his time realized the
profound lesson that in politics We are
concerned not with barren rights but with
duties; not with abstract truth. but with
practical morality. He especially eule-
gizes the way in which in his efforts for
| economic reform. Burke combined un-
shakable resolution in pressing the re-
form with profound temperatures of
spirit which made him, while bent on the
extirpation Of the evil system. refuse to
cherish an unreasoning and vindictive Ill
will toward the men who had benefited
by t. Said Burke, If I cannot reform
with equity. I will not reform at all
(There Isl a state to preserve as
well as n state to reform.
Reform Corporate wealth.
This Is the exact spirit in which this
I
| abuses Of corporate wealth. The wrong
doer. the man who swindles and cheats.
whether on a big scale or a little one.
shall receive at our hands mercy as scant
as IL he committed crimes Of violence or
/ brutality. We are unalteTably determined
/ to prevent wr0ngdOing In the future we
I have no intention OF trying 10 wreak
such an indiscriminate vengeance for
{
found the innocent with the guilty Our
/ purpose Is TO build "p rather than to
/ tear down. We show ourselves the truest
/ friends Of property when we make il evi-
/ dent that We viii not tolerate the abuses
of property We are steadily bent on
! preserving the institution OF private prop
/ erty; we combat every tendency toward
reducing the people to economic servitude.
and we care not whether the tendency is
/ due 10 a sinister agitation directed against
/ all property. or whether It is due to the
actions of those members Of the preda-
! tory classes whose anti-social power Is
/ UNNECESSARILY increased because Of the
/ very fact that they possess wealth.
Cornerstone of Republic.
Above all, We insist that while facing
changed conditions and new problems. We
must face them In the spirit which our
/ forefathers showed when they founded
and preserved this republic. The corner
stone Of the republic lies in our treating
each man on his worth as a man. pay
! ing no heed to his creed, his birthplace,
or his occupation, asking not whether he
Is rich or poor whether he labors with
head or hand, asking only whether he
acts decently and honorably in the vari-
Gus relations Of hi. life, whether he be,
! haves well 10 his family, 10 his neigh
! hers. % the state We base our regard
fog each man ON the essentials and not
/ the accidents. We judge him not by his
/ profession. but by his deeds, by his con
/ duct, not by what he has acquired Of
this worlds goods Other republics have
I fallen, because the citizens gradually
] grew 10 consider the interests of a class
before the interests of the whole: for
when such was the case it mattered
/ little whether il was the poor who plum
/ dered the rich or the rich who exploited
l the poor. in either event the end OF the
republic was at hand We are resolute
in our purpose not to IAN into such a
/ pit. This great republic Of ours shall
{ never become the government Of "A plutOc-
[ racy, and IL shall never become the gov
/ eminent Of "a mob. God willing IL shall
remain what our fathers who founded il
meant il 10 be-a government IN which
each man stands on his worth as "a man.
! where each Is given the largest personal
liberty consistent with securing the we'll
being Of the whole and where. so far
/ as in las lies, we strive continually to
secure for each man such equality of
/ opportunity that IN the strife Of life he
/ may have a fair chance TO show the stuff
that IS in him we are proud OF our
schools and of the trained intelligence
/ they give our children the opportunity %
/ acquire But what we care for most IS
the character of the average man: for
We believe that If the average OF char
acter In the individual citizen Is sufii-
GENTLY high. If he possesses those quail
ties which make him worthy of respect
IN his family life and in his work out
. side. as well as the qualities which tit him
/ for success in the hard struggle OF actual
/ eNistence-that II such Is the character
Of our individual citizenship, there is
literally no height of triumph unattain-
able In this vast experiment of govern
Of