The Somerset reporter., 1907-10-10
Straightforward.

A lay preacher is President Roose-
velt and the doctrine he enunciates is
Straightforward and "without the
shadow Of turning" That is shown
by the speeches he has made on his
way from Washington to the happy
hunting grounds in the South land.
where his attention will be diverted
from pursuing bad men to the chas-
ing of wild animals. For instance in his
speech to the people Of Iowa, deliver
ed at Keokuk, he said:
You know that / believe that the
National government, in the interests
of the people, should assume much
the same supervision and control
over the manage ment Of the inter
state common carriers that it now
exercises over the national banks.
You know furthermore that | believe
that this supervision and control
should be exercised in spirit of rigid
fairness toward the corporations, ex-
acting justice from them on behalf OF
the people but giving them justice in
return. Therefore we need wise laws,
and we need to have them resolutely
administered. We can get such laws,
such administration only if the people
are alive to their interests. Each
man here knows that he himself has
been able to use his freedom to ad-
vantage only provided that he could
master himself, that he could control
his own passions and direct his own
faculties. Each of you fathers and
mothers here knows that II your sons
are to do well in the world they must
know how to master themselves.
Every man must have master; if he
is not his own master, then somebody
else will be. This is just as true of
public life as of private life. If we
cannot master ourselves, control our
selves, then sooner or later we shall
have to submit to outside control.
One way of exercising such control is
through the laws of the land. Ours is
government of liberty, but it is
government of that orderly liberty
which comes by and through the hon
est enforcement Of and obedience to
the law. At intervals during the last
few months the appeal has been made
to me not to enforce the law against
certain wrongdoers of great wealth
because to do SO would interfere with
the business prosperity of the country.
Under the effects of that kind of
fright which when sufficiently acute
we call panic, this appeal has been
made to me even by men who ordi-
narily behave as decent citizens. One
newspaper which has itself strongly
advanced this view gave prominence
to the statement of certain man of
great wealth to the effect that the So
called financial weakness was due en-
tirely to the admitted intention of
President Roosevelt to punish the
large moneyed interests which had
transgressed the laws. If that be so,
while do not admit it, as far as | am
concerned it must be accepted as a
disagreeable but unavoidable feature
in course of policy which as long as
am President will not be changed.
In any great movement for righteous
ness, where the forces of evil are
strongly intrenched, il is unfortu-
nately inevitable that some unoffend-
ing people should suffer in company
with the real offenders. This is not
our fault. 1t is the fault of those to
whose deceptive action these inno-
cent people owe their false position.
A year or two ago certain representa-
tives of labor called upon me and in
the course of very pleasant CONVEX
sation told me that they regarded me
as the friend of labor. | answered
that certainly was, and that l would
do everything in my power for the
laboring man except anything wrong.
| have the same answer to make to
the business man. | will do every
thing l can to help business condi-
tions, except anything that is wrong.
And it would be not merely wrong
be done to secure the punishment of
those wrongdoers whose deeds are
peculiarly reprehensible because they
are not committed under the stress Of
want.