The Washington times., 1907-10-01

The President. in his address to-
day, said:
Men and Won en- OF Iowa:
! am glad. indeed. TO see you and to
speak to you IN this thriving city Of
your great and prosa-roLs State 1
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 developed to a very high
degree that body OF characteristics
which We like u regard as distinctively
American
During the last few years we OF the
United States have been sarced 10 con-
slider very seriously cert4ln economic
problems. We have made a beginning
IN the attempt 10 deal with the rela-
tons OF the National CiCvernment-that
s., with the relations Of the people Of
the country-tO the huge and wealthy
corporations, controlled for. the most
part by a few very raciI msnf which are
engaged in interstate business-especlal-
~ the great railway corporations You
know my views on this matter You
know that 1 believe fA&t the National
Government. IN The inter ssts Of tine peO-
PIE. silOU4d ASSUME much the same su-
pervisiOn and control over the manage
ment Of the Interstate common carriers
that az now exercises over the national
banks. You know. furi ihermOre, that L
believe that this Supervision and control
should be exercised In a spirit Of rigid
fairness tcwerd the corpors tons, exact
ing justice from theta 81 behslf Of the
people, but giving them justice in re-
turn.
Recently have been reading the work
OF the eminent Italian scholar FerrerO
on the history OF the Roman republic,
v hn the life OF the Roman state had
become that OF a complex and luxurious
industrial civilization ] am happy 20
say that the differences between that
civilization and our own are more strik-
ing than the resemhlances; and there Is
no warrant for our beng drawn into
any pessirnistic compa -fsOn between the
two civilizations But there is every
reason why We should study carefully
the past IN order TO draw from ii les
sens for use IN the present. One oF the
most striking features Of the years
which saw the downfall OF the Roman
republic was the fact that the political
life OF Rome became split between two
camps. one containing the rich who
wished TO exploit the poor, and the other
the poor who wished 10 plunder the
/ rich Naturally. under such circum-
stances. the public mn who was for the
moment successful ty1ded 10 be either
violent reactiouary or a violent dema-
gogJe- Any such condition Of political
| life is as hoPelessly unhealthy now as
II was then.
Believes in the Future.
believe so implicitly in the IN.
ture OF our people. because I be-
lieTe that the average American
citizen VIII no more tolerate gov
ernment by a mob than he will fol.
crate government by a pIutOcracy
that he desires TO see Justice done
to and justice exaeted from rich
man and poor man alike. 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 I'm life; so that he
shall have, so far as by law this
can be accomplished, the chance to
show the stuff that there Is in him.
We have no intention of trying To
work for the impossible and unde-
sirable 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 Woodworking, the thrifty,
the resolute, and the honest. But
we do wish to see that the neees.
sary struggle In life snail be ear
ried on under genuinely democratic
conditions; that. so iSr as human
action can safely provide II. there
shall be an approximately fair start: :
that there shall be no oppression
OF the weak. and that no man shall
be permitted to acquire or 10 use
vast fortune by methods or in
ways that are tOrtuOus aud dishOn-
est.
Therefore we need wise laws. and we
need TO have them resOlutely admins
tered. We can get such laws and such
administration only II the people are
alive TO their interests. The other day
7 listened TO an admirable sermon by
Bishop Johnston. OF western Texas
His theme was that the vital element
In judging any man should be his con-
duct. and neither his position nor his
prstensions; and, furthermore. that free
dom could only stay with a people
which has the habit OF self-masIery. As
he said, the price OF liberty is not only
eternal vigilance. hut eternal virtue,
and I may add. eternal common sense