The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1907-04-26
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT OPENS
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equity, viii not reform at all. ssSe
(There Isl state to preserve as
well as state to reform. +"
Reform of Abuses.
! This Is the exact spirit In which.
this country should move to the re-
form Of abuses of corporate wealth.
The wrongdoer, the man who swind-
| les and cheats, whether on big scale
or a little one, shall receive at our
hands mercy as scant as IL he com
mitied crimes Of violence or brutal
lity. We are nnalterably determined
10 prevent wrongdoing in the future;
we have no Intention of trying to
wreak such an indiscrIminate ven,
geanee for wrongs done In the past
as would confound the innocent with
the guilty. Our purpose is to build
up rather than to tear down. We
show ourselves the tTuest friends or
property when we make 1t evident
that we Will not tolerate the abuses
OF property. We are steadily bent
on preserving the institution Of pri-
vate property; we combat every ten
dency toward reducing the people to
economic servitude; and we care not
whether the tendency Is due to a
sinister agitation directed against all
property, or whether 1t is due to the
actions of those members of the
predatory classes whose anti-social
power is UNNECESSARILY increased be-
cause Of the very fact that they
possess wealth
Mob Shall Not Rule.
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 cornerstone of
the Republic lies in our treating each
man on his worth as a man, paying
no heed to his creed, his birthplace,
or his occupation, asking not wheth-
er he is rich or poor, whether he
iabors with head or hand; asking
only whether he acts decently and
honorably in the various relations of
his life. whether he behaves well to
his family, to his neighbors. to the
State. We base our regard for each
man on the essentials and not the
accidents. We Judge him not by his
profession, but by his deeds; by his
conduct, notify what he has acquired
OF this worlds goods. Other repuh-
lies have fallen, because the citi-
zens gradually grew to consider the
interests of class before the inter-
ests of the whole; for when such was
the case 1t mattered little whether 1t
was the poor who plundered the rich
or the rich who exploited the poor;
in either event the end Of the Re-
public was at hand. We are reso-
lutte in our purpose not to fall into
such a pit This great Republic of
ours shall never become the govern
ment of a plutocracy, and it shall
never become the government OF a.
mob. God willing, 1t shall rmain
what our fathers who founded Ill
meant 1t to be-a government I'M
which each man stands on his worth
as a man, where each is given the
largest personal liberty consistent
with securing the well-being of the
whole, and where, so far as in us
lies, we strive continually to secure
for each man such equality of oppor-
tunity 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 in
telligence they give our children the
opportunity to acquire. But what
We care for most is the character OF
the average man; for we believe that
If the average of character in the in
dividual citizen is sufficiently high
If he possesses those qualities which
make him worthy of respect in his
family life and in his work outside
as we'll as the qualities which fit him
for success in the hard struggle of
actual existence-that If such is the
character of our individual citizen
ship, there is literally no height Of
triumph unattainable in this vast ex-
pertinent of government by, Of, and
for free people.