Semi-weekly herald., 1907-10-03
KE0KUK
SPEECH
President Addressed a
Large Gathering of
Iowa People

heo"uk, Ia, Oct. 1.-Presiden
Roosevelt today is the guest of tn,
Inland deep waterway commission ant
city OF Keokuk. The chief executiy,
after his speech here will descent
the Mississippi for the purpose OF
determining the feasibility of an eigh
teen foot channel to the gulf.
The president said:
am glad indeed to see you and to
speak TO YOU in this thriving city of
your great and prosperous state.
believe with all my heart in the peo-
pie of Iowa. for think that you are
good, typical Americans, and that
among YOU there has been developed
t. very high degree of that body of
characteristics which we like to regard
n distinctively American.
During the last few years WE Of the
United States have been forced to
consider very seriously certain econo-
mic problems. We have made a be
ginning in the attempt to deal with
't' i'ldtioHS vi lue HdllOUdl govern
ment-that is, with the relations of
the people of the country-to the huge
and wealthy corporations, controlled
for the most part by a few very rich
men. which are engaged in interstate
business-especially the great railway
corporations. You know my views
thiG
believe that the national government.
il the interests OF the people, should
assume much the same supervision
and cntrol over the management of
the Interstate common carriers that
it now exercises over the national
banks. You know furthermore that
/ believe that this supervision and
control should be exercised in a spirit
of rigid fairness toward the corpora
tions, exacting justice from them on
behalf OF the people but giving them
justice in return.
Recently | have been reading the
work of the eminent Italian scholar
Ferrero on the history of the Ro-
man republic when the life of the Ro-
man state had become that of com.
pleX and luxurious industrial clvili-
zation | am happy to say that the
kdiherences between that civilization
lmd our own are more striking than
The resemblances; and there is no
warrant for our being drawn into any
pessimistic comparison between the
two civilizations. But there is every
reason why we should study carefully
the past in order to draw from it les.
sons for use in the present. One
of the most striking features of the
years which saw the downfall OF the
Roman republic was the fact that the
political life of Rome became split
between two camps. one containing
the rich who wished to exploit the
poor, and the other the poor who
wished to plunder the rich. Naturally
under such circumstances. the public
man who was for the moment success
ful tended to be either violent re,
dictionary or a violent demagogue.
Any such condition of political life
is as hopelessly unhealthy now as
t. was then. | believe so implicitly
in the future of our people, because
| believe that the average American
citizen will no more tolerate govern
ment by mob than he will tolerate
government by a plutocracy; that he
desires to see justice done to and
justice exacted from rich man and
poor man alike. We are not trying
to favor any man at the expense OF
his fellows. We are trying to shape
things SO that as far as possible each
man shall have fair chance in life;
So that he shall have, so far as by
law this can he accomplished, the
chance to show the stuff that there
is in him. We have no intention OF
trying work for the impossible ana
undesirable end of giving to the lazy,
the thriftless, the weak, and the vi
cious. the reward that belongs to- and
In the long run can only come to.
the hard working the thrifty, the
resolute. and the honest. But we do
wish to see that the necessary strug
gle in life shall be carried on under
genuinely democratic conditions: that
so far as human action can safely
provide it, there shall be an approx
mately fair start; that there shall
be no oppression of the weak. and
that no man shall be permitted to ac-
quire or to use "A vast fortune by
methods or in ways hat are tortuous
and dishonest.
Therefore we need wise laws, and
we need to have them resoiutely ad-
ministered. We can get such laws
and such administration only If the
people are alive to their interests. The
other day / listened TO an admirable
sermon by Bishop Johnston, of west
ern Texas. His theme was that the
vital element in judging any man
should he his conduct and neither