Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-08-21
ROOSEVELT STANDS PAT; WAR ON
PREDATORY WEALTH TO CONTINUE

authorities, for instance, should join
with all the state authorities in war
ring against the dreadful u OF
tuberculosis. Your own state govern
nent, here in Massachusetts. deserves
high praise for the action ii has taken
IN these public health matters during
the last few years; and in this, as in
some other matters, l hope to see the
national government stand abreast Of
the foremost state governments.
| have spoken Of but one or two
laws. which, in my judgment II is adj
Ylsable to nac as part of the gen.
efal scheme FOR making the Interior
ence of the national government more
etectlVe in securing justice and fair
dealing as between man and man here
in the United States. let me add,
however, that while it is necessary to
have legislation when conditions arise
where we can only cope with evils
through the joint action of all of US,
yet that we can never afford to forget
that in the last analysis the all-im-
portant factor for C of us must
be his own individual character. 1t
is a necessary thing to ave good laws,
good institutions; but the most neces-
sarN Of All things is to have a high
quality Of individual citizenship. This
does not mean that We can afford to
neglect legislation. 1t will be highly
NAhHNiaAA We PCT 4 u ~ ~
be misled by the pleas of those who
see in an unrestricted individualism
the all-suffcient Danacea for social
evils: but it will be even more dis
astrous to adopt the opposite panacea
of any socialistic system which would
destroy all in~dividuallsm, which would
root out the fiber of our whole citi-
zenship. In any great government,
such as that in which we 7 engaged,
nothing Is more necessary than sanity,
than the refusal to be led into eN-
trcmcs by the advocates of the ultra
course on either side. Those pro-
fcssed friends of liberty who cham
pion license are the worst foes of
liberty and tend by the reaction their
violence causes to throw the govern
mcnt back into the hands of the men
who champion corruption and tyranny
in the name of order. SO it is with
this movement for securing justice to-
ward all men, and equality of oppor-
tunity so far as II can he secured by
governmental action. The rich man
who with hard declines to
consider the rights and the needs of
those who are less well off, n the
poor man who eXcites or INDUCES in
envy and hatred of those who are
better off, are alike alien to the spirit
of our national life. Each of them
should learn to appreciate the base
iiNNN anu hfEi hhdAipi VI IAN punt VI J
view, as evil in the one case as in the
other. There exists no more sordid
and unloyely type of social develop
mcnt than "A plutocracy. for there
is a peculiar EMBELLISHMENTS in a 500
clal and governmental ideal where
wealth by and OF itself is held up
as the greatest good. The material
ism of such a view. whether it finds
its expression in the life of a man
accumulates a vast fortune IN
ways that are repugnant to every in
stinct of generosity and Of fair deal
ing. or whether it finds ITS express
sion I'm the Vapidly useless and self-in-
dulgcnt life of the inheritOr OF that
is contemplate in the eyes
Of al men capable of a thrill of lofty
feeling. Where the power Of the law
be wisely used. to prevent or to
the acquisition or business
employment of such wealth and to
make il pay by income or inheritance
its proper share of the burden of
government. ! would invoke that
power without a moments hesitation.
But while We can accomplish some
thing by legislation. legislation can
never be more than "A part, and often
20 more than a small part, in tho
general scheme of moral progress;
and crude or Vindictive legislation
may at amy time bring such progress
10 a halt. Certain socialistic leaders