Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-08-23
WILL fight TO A Finish.
President viii Not Let Up on the
Trusts.
rich CRIMINALS SHOULD Be PUNISHED

rich CRIMINALS SHOULD Be PUNISHED
Country Needs National Incorpora
ton Law for Application In Cases Of
Interstate Business-The Govern.
nnent Must Not Submit to the Con-
! troll Of Corporate Wealth.
| The laying Of the cornerstone Of the
Cape Cod Pilgrims memorial monu-
ment at Provincetown, Mass, last
Tuesday, gave President Roosevelt his
first opportunity of the summer to
break silence upon public questions
and the forty minute speech which he
delivered from a platform on top OF
Town Hill was most vigorous upon
matters Of national Importance.
The feature of the presidents ad-
dress was his advocacy Of a national
incorporation law and his stand In re-
la ton to violators Of the law, especial
| " corporations. With emphasis he de-
clared that the administration would
not waver in its determination ito
punish certain malefactors Of great
wealth."
Continuing he said: "There will be
no change in the policy we have stead
lily pursued; no let UP in the effort to
secure the honest observance OF the
| law; for 1 regard this contest as one
to determine who shall rule this gov
ernment-the people, through their
governmental representatives, or few
ruthless and determined men whose
wealth makes them particularly for
midable because they hide behind the
breastworks Of corporate organiza-
tions"
The president declared that the gov
ernment would undertake no acting OF
a vindictive type, and above all, no ac-
ton which would infiict great or un-
merited suffering upon innocent stock
holders and upon the public as
whole. He said that the governments
policy in its ultimate analysis meant
"a healthy and prosperous expansion OF
the business activities of honest busi-
ness men and honest corporations"
A Hit at Hartman.
At one point President Roosevelt de-
parted for a moment from his address
as originally prepared to remark: All
that l have said as to desirable and
undesirable citizens remains true"
Ten thousand persons were crowded
into the little town, and at least one
third Of them heard the presidents re-
marks. At the conclusion of the pro-
gramme President Roosevelt was driv-
en- to the wharf where he boarded the
Mayfiower, which sailed at 4 o'clock
on the return to Oyster Bay.
1t Is not too much to say that the
event commemorated by the monument
which we have come to dedicate was
one of those rare events which can In
good faith be called of world import
ance. The coming hither Of the Puri-
tan three centuries ago shaped the
destinies of this continent, and there
fore profoundly affected the destiny OF
the whole world. Men Of other races
the Frenchman and the Spaniard, the
Dutchman, the German, the Scotchman
and the Swede, made settlements with
in what is now the United States dur
ing the colonial period Of our history
and before the Declaration OF lnde-
pendence; and since then there has
been an ever-swelling immigration
from Ireland and from the mainland OF
Europe; but it was the Englishman
who settled in Virginia and the Eng
lishman who settled in Massachusetts
who did most in shaping the lines OF
our national development.
A Beneficial Influence.
We can not as a nation be too pro-
foundly grateful for the fact that the
Puritan has stamped his influence so
deeply on our national life. We need
have but scant patience with the men
who now rail at the Puritan's faults
They were evident, Of course, for it is
quality of strong natures that their
failings, like their virtues. should
stand out in bold relief; but there Is
nothing easier than to belittle the
great men of the past by dwelling only
on the points where they come short
of the universally recognized standards
Of the present. Men must be judged
with reference to the age In which
they dwell, and the work they have to
do. The Puritan's task was to con-
quer q continent; not merely to over
run It, but to settle 1t, to till 1t, 10
build upon it a high industrial and
social life: and, while engaged In the
rough work of tanning the shaggy WILL
derness, at that very time also to lay
deep the immovable foundations Of our
whole American system Of civil. politi-
cal, and religious liberty achieved
through the orderly process of law
This was the work allotted him to do;
this Is the work he did; and only
master spirit among men could have
done 1t.
We have travelled far since his day.
That liberty of conscience which ne
demanded for himself we now realize
must be as freely accorded to others
as it is resolutely insisted upon for
ourselves The splendid qualities
which he left to his children, We other
Americans who are not of Puritan
blood also claim as our heritage. YOU
sons of the Puritans, and we, who are
descended from races whom the Puri-
tans would have deemed alien-we are
all Americans together. We all feel
the same pride in the genesis. In the
history. of our people; and therefore
this shrine of Puritanism is one at
which we all gather to pay homage, no
matter from what country our ances-
tors sprang.
Things We Have Gained.
We have gained some things that the
Puritan had Motive of this genera
ton, we Of the twentieth century, here
in this great republic; but we are also
in danger of losing certain things
which the Puritan had and which we
can nv M manner of means afford to