Evening star., 1907-10-23
"DIsHoNEsT SUCCESS"
Conclusion Of the Presidents Ad-
dress at Nashville.

NASHVILLE, October 23-In conclud-
ing his address on disfon estly acquired
wealth at the Auditorium yesterday
President Roosevelt said: Tie man who
builds railroad where 1t is needed and
runs 1t honestly is a benefactor We
should back him up and protect him
against unjust attacks. The man who
manipu!ates the securities of that rail-
road so as to swindle the outside public
or the stockholders or the investors of
many kinds or shippers, to swndle the
people at large, that man is doing all
that ne can to bring down in ruin the
1aor1c OF our institutions, and 1t Is our
business to set our faces like flint against
MS wrongdoing; to war TO undo that
wrongdoing in the interest of the people
as whole. and primarily in the interest
OF the honest man of means. (Applause) }
Remember this, that atonement in this
word Is largely vicarious; that If We sit
suplne and let men of great wealth set
before the country as whole the stand
ard OF successful dishonesty, so that
young men are taught to think of bust
ness trickery, of evasion and violation
or the law. of stock gambling and swim
ding as the chief roads to financial sue
cess-tEat II We should let such a state
of affairs exist, not only do we bring
about deterioration of the public con-
science as a whole. but as sure as fate
we ultimately invite ignorant and vile
reaction. which in tramp.ing out the
wrong will trample out each right at
the same time: which in pun:shing the
wealthy wrongdoer VIII inflict the pun
1shment SO brutally and SO unskillfully
as to confound. and in 1t many men who
have done honestly and vel.
want TO see the process, the process
OF gaining wealth by successful dishon-
esty stopped before it goes so far as to
invite the very reaction of which l speak
tApplause.) And the man Of property
the man of great means. VIII do well in
turn and in the loftiest way back up a
rational movement for reform: a
rational movement for such supervision
and control over the use over the accu-
mutation and business use, OF these great
-ortunes as will. If not eliminate at least
minimize the evil of which l complain
Shch movement as that in which we
are now engaged is not I'm the least under
taken with any vindictive purpose. 1t is
undertaken to cure evils and to prevent
their recurrence. ,..- --.
If the beneficiaries of these evils sue
eeed. which they will not do-they will
not succeed-hut If they did succeed in
stoppiug the. movement it, will, merely
mean that in very few years it would
break forth again and that time it would
oe in the control of men who would leg
islate with vindietive purpose, who
wonld legislate and act as executives with
the desire to hurt and damage the men
It whom the movement was not aimed.
There is no movement in it's proper
sense that can more properly be described
as conservative, using the word with its
real significance, than the movement
which We have seen developed during
the past four or five years. the move
Tnent for the proper supervision and con-
troll in the interest of the general public
Of those colossal fortunes which singly
Or in combination, are of such tremen-
dous importance in the modern industrial
world, to control and supervise them
hat in their accumulation and their bust
ness use there shall be as far as we can
prevent it no wrongdoing to the small
man, whether that small man is a COM
petitor and wageworker or an investor.
In other words, our whole movement is
simply 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)