The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-10-01


forcement of the law as against very pow
erful and wealthy people, there are sure 10
be 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 believe that
there will be no permanent damage TO busi-
ness from the movement. but that II
righteousness conflicts with the fancled
needs Of business, then the latter must
go to the wall. We cannot afford to sub
stitute any other test for that of guilt
or Innocence. Of w~roDgdoing or welldoing,
In judging any man. II a mar does
well, If he acts honestly, 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
transgresses the law-be he rich or poor
shall be brought before the impartial JUS
tice Of a court. Perhaps I am most anx-
rupt, because he betrays a great trust:
but assurcdly ] shall not spare his brother
corruptionist who shows himself a swim
dler in business life; and, according TO
shall be prosecuted as relentlessly as
crimes of brutality and physical violence.
I'VE need good laws and we need above
all things the hearty aid of good citizens
Nevertheless, men and women of this
great State. men women of the Mid
die West. never forget that law and the
administration of law, important though
they are, must always occupy a wholly
secondary place as compared with the
character Of the average citizen himself.
On this trip l shall speak to audiences
in each of which there will be many men
who fought in the Civil Wal. You who
wore the blue md your brothers Of ths
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
organization. the preparation. we ned
the good general; but we need most the
fighting edge in the individual soldier.
So It is IN private life. We live in a
rough, workaday world, and we are yet
n long way from the millennium. We can
not as a nation, and we ean not as indi-
viduais afford to cultivate only the
ghntler, softer qualities. There must be
gen~tleness and tenderness-the strongest
men are gentle and t~ender-but there
must also be courage and strength. 1
have g hearty sympathy with those who
believe in doing. all that can be done
for peace; but 1 have no sympathy at all
with those who believe that In the world
as it now Is we can afford to see the
average American citizen lose the quail
ties that IN their sum make up a good
fighting man. You men must be workers
who work with all your heart and
strength and mind at your several tasks
/ fight at need. o women have even
higher AID more difficult duties: for 1
honor no man, not even the soldier who
fights for righteousness. quite as much as
l l.onor the good woman who does her
full duty as wife and mother. But if she
shirks her duty as wife and mother then
she stands on a par with the man who
refuses to, work for himself and his fam
lily, for those dependent upon him, and
who in time of the nation's need refuses
to fight. The man or woman who shirks
his or herr duty occupies a contemplate
position. You here are the sons and
daughters of the pioneers. l preach to
you no life of ease, I preach to you the
est satisfaction in doing well some work
that is well worth doing.
80 much for what concerns every man
a word or two as to matters which are OF
peculiar interest to this region Of our
country.
Since I have been President have
Travelled in every State of this Union, but
my travelling has been almost entirely on
railroads. save now and then by wager
or on horseback. Now [ have the chance
TO try travelling by river; to go down the
greatest of our rivers, the Father OF
Waters. A good many years ago when ]
lived in the Northwest I Travelled OCCASION
ally on the Upper Missouri and its tribu-
tar1es. but then we went il a flatboat ano
did our own rowing and padding and pol
ing. Now I am to try a steamboat. 1 am
n great believer in our railway system
and the fact that I am very firm in my
belief as to the necessity of the govern.
ment exercising a proper supervision anc
control over the railroads does not in thf
least interfere with the other fact that
1 greatly admire the large majority of The
men IN all positions. from the ton to The
bottom. who build and run them. Yet
While. OF course, / am anxious to see these
men. and therefore the corporations they
represent or serve, achieve the fullest
measure Of legitimate prosperity, never
theless as this country grows I feel that
We cannot have too many highroads, and
that in addition to the iron highroads of
our railway system we should also utilize
l the great river highways which nave been
I given US by nature. From q variety OF
calses these highways ave in many parts
of the country been almost abandoned.
IEis is not healthy. Our people, and espe-
cially the representatives of the people in
the National Congress, should give their
most careful attention to This subject. We
should be prepare TO put the nation col
lectivelv back of the movement to i'm
prove them for the nations use. Our
knowledge at this time is not such as To
permit me to go into Details. or to say
definitely just what the nation should do;
but most assuredly our great ~navlgable
rivers are national assets Just as much
as our great seacoast harbors. Exactly as
1t is for the interest of all the country that
our great harbors should be fitted to re-
ceive in safety the largest vessels of the
merchant fleets of the world. so hx1deepen-
ing and otherwise orr rivers should be
fitted TO bear their part in the movement
OF our merchandise, and this is especially
true of the Mississippi and its tributaries,
which drain the immense and prosperous
region which makes N very fact the heart
of our nation: the basin of the Great
Lakes being already united with the basin
OF the Mississippi, and both regions being
identical in their products and interests.
Waterways are peculiarly fitted for the
transportation of the bulky commodities
which come from the soil or under the
soil. inc no other part OF our country is as
fruitful as is his in such cmmodities.
you in Iowa have many manufacturing
centres, but You remain. and I hope you
will always remain, a great agricultural
State. I hope that the means OF trans
portating your commodities to market viii
be steadily improved: but this will be OF
modities, and in the long run this viii
largely depend upon your being able TO
keep on the farm a high type of citizen
ship. The effort must be to make farm
life not only remhnerative but attractive,
so that the best young men and girls will
feel inclined to stay on the farm and not
to go TO the city. Nothing Is more impor-
tant to this country thap the perpetuation
Of our system OF medlum-sized farms
worked by their owners. We do not want
to see our farmers sink to the condition
of the peasants of the old world, barely
able to live on their small holdings, nor
do we want to see their places taken by
wealthy men owning enormous estates
which they work purely by tenants and
hired ~ervants
cat present the ordinary farmer holds
his own in the land as against any tossi-
bic representative 81 the landlord class Of
farmer-that is. OF the men who would
own vast estates-because the ordinary
farmer unltes his capital. his labor and hts
biains with the making Of a permanent
family home, and thus can afford TO hold
his land Mt a value at which ii canno he
held by the cnpitalist. who would have IN