New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-05-31
THE PRESIDENT at INDIANAPOLIS.

President Roosevet's address yesterday at
indianapolis elaborated ideas which he has pre-
scented at length in speeches and messages TO
Congress. 1t contained no surprises. AS an ex-
position Of the policy Of federal regulation OF
railroads engaging In interstate commerce which
he has advocated and which the country has
enthusiastically accepted 1t was clear, logical
and impressive. Extraordinary efforts have
been made In the last twelve months TO misrep-
resent Mr.. Roosevelts purposes and 10 persuade
the public that he is headstrong radical in pol
tics. more eager TO destroy than to construct.
At the $40 Jefferson birthday celebration dinner
in this city last month an orator whose stock
in trade is vrulent and catchy epithet assured
his auditors that the President was "a construc-
tive statesman by profession, destructive pol
''itician by practice; in seeming a chiyalric Or
"lando, in fact a BOmbastes FuriOsO." On
Wednesday evening a retiring federal circuit
Judge. the guest OF honor at a dinner given by
distinguished members OF the bench and bar,
created little establishment by declaring that
the Republican party under its present leader
ship has entered into mad race with the lead
"ers of the Democratic party 10 capture the
votes of the disconnected the prejudlced, the
'unthinking and the fanatical believers In social
"istic theories" Such assaults on the President
direct or implied, have OF course. no rational
basis. But they betray the lively desire TO put
him In a false light which is cherished in
certain quarters and which now and then flames
out In charges that he is fathering and advocat-
Ing ideas which are revolutionary and social
Istlc
The fancifulness of such a contention becomes
apparent when the Presidents real ideas are
presented and studied. In his speech at Indian
apoliS yesterday, in his speech at the opening
OF the Jamestown exposition on April 20. not a
scrap OF evidence can be found to support the
views Of his distempered critics Mr. Roose-
velt's policy Of railroad regulation has been too
long known and too widely discussed to be sue
cessfully misrepresented and distorted He
stands for the exertion of all the powers pos
sessed by the federal government to compel fair
dealing on the part of the managers of the great
railroad corporations-fair dealing toward
stockholders and toward the public. He would
invoke national aid to stop rate Determinations
overcharges, overcapitalization, dishonest stock
manipulations and combinations in restraint of
competition. But he would make no war on
worthy and efficient railroad management, I'm
pose no injurious restraints on operation and
seek no curtatlment Of honest valuations or req
sonsbIe dividends. Railroad expansion should
not be impeded, because the country is fast out
growing Its present transportation facilities
Investment should be encouraged for vast funds
must be raised for the construction of new lines
and the extension Of old ones The investor
must nave his assurance OF profit and no better
means OF guaranteeing II can be found than that
Of extending federal supervision, enforcing inst
rates and protecting the purchaser of shares
from the iniquities Of stock watering stock
manipulation and corrupt and selfish manage
ment. Publicity In the operation OF the rail-
roads and square deal alike to shareholders
and patrons are the basic ideas In the PresI-
dents programme.
1t has been mysteriousy limited that Mr..
Roosevelt would insist on having a physical val
uation made of railroad property and on using
that valuation as the sole measure of traffic
rates. But at indianapolis the President Justly
said:
The physical valuation can never be moro than
one or many elements to be considered hut #
- one sieinent ana at times may be very i'm
portant element. when taken in connection with
the earning power. franchises, original cost
character or management. location and bust
ness possibilities. in reaching an estimate IN The
property and rights of a corporation as a roing
concern. S
Those who maintain that the Republican party
under Its present leadership has entered n mad
race to capture the votes of the untbinkino and
The fanatical believers In socialistic theories
may also take some comfort In this assurance
from the President:
We 1.-THE believers in railroad reeulatfonl would
49, &c eiS III 70 protest against any form of
lscaton or property, and, whether we protested
or not, may add that the Supreme Court could
be trusted in any event 10 see that there
should be nothing done under the guise OF reg
ulating roads to destroy property Without inst
compensation or without due process of law
Inc President is not dangerous radical but
a true conservative His indianapolis speech
breathes throughout the spirit of the quotation
from Burke which he used at the Jamestown
exposition: III l cannot reform with equity.
/ will lot reform at all"
INSULTING THE MILTON