The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-02

est enforcement or ana ODeuitHce tu the law At Intervals during the last few months tine appeal has been ma q . to me not to enforce the law against certain wrSnsdoers of great .rys wyssith h3ss 6s, the business prosperity of the country. Under the effects of that kind of fright which when sufflciently acute we call panic. this appeal has been made to mo even by men who ordinarily behave as
 Sone newspaper which has itself prominence to the statement of cer- tain man of great wealth to the affect that the so-called financial weak mitted intention of President Roose- welt to punish the large moneyed tn- terests which had transgressed the laws do not admit that this has troubles we have had; but it Is possi- ble that it has been contributory cause. If so. friends as far as I am concerned 1t must be accepted as dis agreeable but unavoidable feature in q course of policy which as long as am President will not be changed.
 Tn any great movement for right eousness, where the forces of evil ars strongly intrenched. 1t Is unfortunately pie should suffer in company with the real offenders This is not our fault. It Is the fault nf those to whose decept- i've action these innocent people owe
 
 Enemy of Wrong.
 "A year or two ago certain repre- sentatives of labor called upon me and in the course of very pleasant con me as the friend of labor.' I answer ed that certainly was. and that would do everything in my power for the laboring man except anything that was wrong. I have the same answer to make to the business man l will do everything can to help business con- ditions. except anything that is wrong. And 1t would be not merely wrong but infamous to fail to do all that can be done to secure the punishment of those wrongdoers whose deeds are peculiar ly reprehensible because they are not committed under the stress of want.
 sssWhenever a serious effort is made to out ous what is svil in our political life. whether the effort takes the shape or warning against the gross and sordtd forms of evil in some municipality. or whether 1t takes the shape of trying to secure the honest enforcement of the law as against very powerful and veal thy people, there are sure to bo certain individuals who demand that the movement stop because 1t may hurt business. In each case the answer must be that we earnestly hope and be- lieye that there will be no permanent damage to business from the movement, but that if righteousness conflicts with the fancied needs of business. then the latter must go to ethe wall. We can not afford to substitute any other test for that of guilt or innonence of wrong doing or welldoing, in judging any man
 If man does well, if he acts hon estly, he has nothing to fear from this administration But so far as in me lies the corrupt politician, great or small. the private citizen who trans gresses the law--be he rich or poor shall be brought before the impartiai justice of a court. Perhaps I am most anxious to get the politician who IS cor rupt, because he betrays a great trust; but assuredly. shall not spare his bro- ther corruptionist who shows himself swIndler in business life, ana, a.Svro- ing to our power. crimes of fraud and cunning shall be prosecuted as relenf- leSSly as crimes or brutality ana phy- sical violence,
 we need good laws and we need above all things the hearty aid of good citizens In supporting and enforcing the laws. Nevertheless. men and women of the Middle West, never rorget tnas law and the administration Of law, tm- portant though they are. must always occupy a wholly secondary place as compared with the character of the average citizen himself.
 "On this trip shall speak to audi ences in each of which there will be many men who-fOught in the civil war. You who wore the blue and your bro- thers of the South who wore the gray know that in war no general, no matter how good. no organization, no matter how perfect, can avail if the average man in the ranks has not got the zation, the preparation; we need the good general: but we need most the fighting edge in the individual soldier. So 1t must be in private life. We live in A rough, workaday world, and we are yet a long way from the millennium. We can not, as a nation. and we cannot. as individuals. afford to cultivate only the gentler, softer qualities. There
 f.sH strongest men are gentle an tender. but there must also be courage and
 T have a hearty sympathy with those who believe in doing all that can pc at all with those who believe that in the world as it now is we can afford to see inc average American citizen lose the qualities that in their sum make up. good fighting man. You must pc workers who work with all your heart and strength and minu at your several tasks in life: and you. must also be able to fight at need. You women nave nave for I honor no man. not even the so,- dier who fights for righteousness. quite as much as I honor the good woman who does her full duty as wlIe ana mo wife and mother then she stands on a par with the man who refuses to work for himself and his lamily, TOT tnose dependent upon him. and wno m tiIi.o of the nations need refuses to fight. The man or woman who shirks his or her duty occupies cotempttole posi- tjon You here are the sons ano daughters of the pioneers. l preacn 70 won no life of ease. I preach to you the life of effort. the life that finds it's hiehest satisfaction fin doing well some work that is we'll worth doing
 Trip Down the River.
 "So much for what concerns every man and every woman Tn thIs countIy. Now, a word or two as to matters which are of peculiar interest 'o 'hiS region of our country.
 "Since I have been President, l have travelled in every State of this Unlon' hut my travelling has been almost en- tirely on railroads, save now ana then by wagon or on horseback. Now ] have the chance to try travelling by river; 10 20 down the greatest of eur rivers, the Father of Waters. A good many years ago when I lived in the Northwest, travelled occasionally on the Upper Mis- souri and its tributaries; but then we went in a fatboat and did our own row ing and padding and polling. Now aTh to try a steamboat. l am great be- fever In our railway system; and tho fact that I am very firm in my pellet as to the necessity of the Government exercising a proper supervision and con trol over the railroads does not in the greatly admire the large majority of the men in all positions. from the top to the bottom, who build and run them. Yet, while of course l am anxious to see these men, and therefore the corpora tions they represent or serve, achieve inc fullest measure of lgitimate pros prity, nevertheless as this country grows I feel that we can not have too many hIghroads. and that in addition to the iron hlghroads of our. railway sys-