The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-23
Honesty Defended.

disregards that temporary wish Of th' people 10 do evil. Great applause9
 Honesty Defended.
 "No man will stand more firmly than I will in the defense of property, SC long as it is honestly acquired and honest ly used (cheers). I will stand against the poor man if he does wrong just as I will stand against the rich man if he does wrong. l will stand against crimes of brutal violence, just as l stand against crimes of interruptions cunning. A crime is a crime and it makes no difference whether the wrong Is perpetuated by a plutocracy or by a mob, by a capitalist or by wageworker. There are cer- tain gentlemenswho have affected to mis- understand my position on that point and to say that I have talked against men of wealth as such, that I have melted attacks upon the class that owns great wealth. Those gentlemen are blind fl they see the facts in that light I will protect In every way In my power honest property; l will protect the honest man of wealth to the extent of my ability And in no way can I ultimately protect the honest man of wealth so effectively as by doing everything in my power to bring to justice his dishonest brother of wealth (great applause). It is difficult matter to punish the crimes of unserupu- lous cunning committed by men of great wealth. It is a difficult matter to punish as he should be punished the man who al the head of great business concern or at the head of a great railroad who does wrong to the whole body polite by his msmanagement oftthat policy II sfdifficult because as yet we hardly have the proper laws and still more because the people themselves through their rep resentatives and personally, do not yet realize how serious the crimes are which are committed in this fashion. The man who builds a railroad where it is needed and runs it honestly Is a benefactor- He is entitled to an ample reward for what he has done. We should back him up and protect him against unjust attacks. The man who manipulates the securities of that railroad so as to swndle the out side public or the stockholders or the investors of any kind; shippers, to swindle the people at large. that man is doing all that he can to bring down in ruin the fabric of our institutions, and it is our business to set our faces like flint against his wrongdoing, to war to undo that wrongdoing, in the interest of the peo- pie as a whole, and primarily in the interest of the honest man of means. (Applause)
 NlCdftOuS AIonemcnI,
 Remember this, that atonement in this world is largely vicarlous, that if we sit supine and let men of great wealth set before the country as a whole the stand ard of successful dishonesty, so that young men are taught to think of busi- ness trckery, of evasion and violation of the law, of stock gambling, and swind- ling as the chief roads to financial sue cess. that if we should let such a state of affairs exist not only do we bring about a determination of the public con science as whole but as sure as fate we ultimately invite an ignorant and vile reaction, which in trampling out the wrong will trample out much right at the same time, which in punishing the wealthy wrongdoer will inflict the pun ishment so brutally and so unskilfully as to confound in it many men who have done honestly and we'll l want to see the process, the process of gaining wealth by successful dishonesty-stopped before it goes so far as to invite the very reaction of which I speak. Applause And the man of property. the man of great means will do well to turn and in the loftiest way back up a rational move ment for reform, a rational movement for such supervision and control over the use, over the accumulation and business use of these great fortunes as will, If not eliminate. at least minimize, the evils of which l complain.
 Cure of Evils.
 Such a movement as that in which we are now engaged is not in the least undertaken with any vindictive purpose. It is undertaken to cure evils and to pre- vent their recurrence If the benefciaries Of those evils succeed. which they will not do, they will not succeed. but if .1.xI -tAt vA{t,rr ment it will merely mean that in very few years it would break forth again and that it would be in the control of men who would legislate with a vindic- tive purpose. who would legislate and act as executives with the desire to hurt and damage the men at whom the movement was not aimed. There is no movement in its proper sense that can more properly be described as conserva- tive, using the word with its real signif- cance than the movement which We have seen develop during the past four or five years. the movement for the proper su- pervsion and control in the interest of the general public of those collosal for tunes which singly or in combination are of such tremendous importance in the modern industrial world, to so con trol and supervise them that in their ac- emulation and their business use there shall be as Tar as we cdil prevent It, ho wrongdoing to the small man. whether that small man is a competitor and wage worker or an investor. In other words, gentlemen, our whole movement Is sim ply and solely to make the decalogue and the golden rule of some practical movement in the business life of the com munity" (Great applause and cheers)
 Greeted By School Children.
 When the President reached Broadway and Eighth avenue he was greeted by thousands of public school, university and college pupils, who sang patriotic songs as the chief executive passed by. Immense stands had been erected for the children and these were handsomely dec orated Each pupil waved tiny flag and the sight was one of the most inspir- ing along the line of march. President Roosevelt was deeply affected, and bowed his acknowledgment time and again.
 At Walnut street 300 Vanderbilt univer. sty students were lined up, who gave the college yell as the President passed.
 On the way to the Hermitage the Pres ident and party passed through the cam pus of Peabody college for teachers, of which MT. Roosevelt is a member of the board of trust. A short stop was made when the President was greeted by ex- Gov. yames D. Porter, chancellor, to which a brief response was made by MT. Roosevelt.
 At 9:50 clock President Roosevelt left the auditorium in an automobile for the Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson 12 miles from this city. follow