Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-10-02
PRESIDENTS CAMP
Hunting Grounds Are Easily Ac- cessibIe to Outside World.
SCORES EvILDOERS IN IOWA.
Asserts He Has Been Urged Not to
 Enforce Law Against Certain Grim.
 inaIs of Great Wealth Lest 1t Should Hurt Business.

St. Louis, Oct. 2.-St. Louis put or
 gala attire to receive President Roose
 welt when he arrived here from Keo
 kuk, Ia., today The city was assisted
 in it's reception of the chief magistrate
 by notable gathering of distinguish
 ed men, including several members Of
 congress.
 The president was highly pleased
 with the reception accorded to him at
 Keokuk, where he delivered an ad- dress, the keynote of which was that righteousness must take precedence over all business interests and that no mercy would be shown to wrongdoers. He said in part:
 During the last few years we of the United States have been forced to consd- CT very seriously certain economic prob lems. We have made q beginning in the attempt to deal with the relations of the national goVernment-that is, with the re- lations of the people of the country-to the huge and wealthy corporations con- trolled for the most part by few very rich men, which are engaged in inter state business especially the great rail- way corporations You know my views on this matter. You know that 1 believe that the national government, in the m- terests of the people. should assume much the same supervision and control over the management of the interstate common carriers that it now exercises over the national banks You know furthermore that I believe that this supervision and control should be exercised in a spirit of rigid fairness toward the corporations, eX- acting justice from them on behalf Of the people, but giving them justice in return.
 The Roman Republic and Ours.
 Recently I have been reading the work of the eminent Italian scholar Ferrero on the history of the Roman republic when the life of the Roman state had become that of q complex and luxurious indus trial civilization, I am happy to say that the differences between that civilization and 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 lessons for use in the present. One of the most striking features of the years which saw the downfall of the Ro- man republic was the fact that the polit- ical 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 sue cessful tended to be either a violent re- or a violent demagogue. Any such condition of political life is as hope lessly unhealthy now as it was then. believe so implicitly in the future of our people because I believe that the average American citizen will no more tolerate government by a mob than he will tol- crate government by a plutocracy; that he desires to see justice done to and jus tice 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 a fair chance in life-so that he shall have. so far as by law this can be accomplished, the chance to show the stuff that there is In him.
 Appeals From Rich Wronsdoers.
 If we cannot master ourselves. control ourselves then sooner or later we shall have to submit to outside control. for there must be control somewhere.
 One way of exercising such control is through the laws of the land. Ours is a government of liberty. but it is q govern ment of that orderly liberty which comes by and through the honest enforcement i of and obedience to the law. At intervals l during the last few months the appeal | has been made to me not to enforce the i law against certain wrongdOers of great ] wealth because to do so would interfere i with the business prosperity of the coun- | try 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 ordinarily behave ! as decent citizens One newspaper which | has itself strongly advanced this view ! gave prominence to the statement of a ! certain man of great wealth to the effect that the so called financial weakness was , due entirely 10 the admitted intention of 1 President Roosevelt to punish the large ! interests which had transgressed 1 the laws do not admit that this has , been the main cause of any business trou- bles we have had, but 1t Is possible that l It has been a contributory cause If so, friends as far as I am concerned it must ! be accepted as a disagreeable but un- avodable feature in a course of policy | which as long as am president will not | be changed. In any great movement for
 
 are strongly intrenched, it is unfortunate y inevitable that some unoffending peo. | pie should suffer in company with the real offenders. This is not our fault It s the fault Of those to whose deceptive action these innocent people owe their 'alse position.
 Honest Men Need Not Fear.
 year or two ago certain representa- f, aF f1t. 'ourse of a very pleasant conversation old me that they regarded me as the friend of labor" I answered that I cer- ainly was and that would do everything n my power for the laboring man except InythinK that was wrong l have the aine answer to make to the business nan. I will do everything I can do to ielp business conditions except anything hat is wrong And 1t would he not mere y wrong. but infamous. to fail to do all hat can be done to secure the punish nent of those wronEdoers whose deeds Ire peculiarly reprehensibIe because they ire not committed under the stress of want.
 Whenever a serious effo-t Is made to cut ut what Is evil in our political life rhether the effort takes the shape of varring against the gross and sordId orms Of evil in some municipality or rhether 1t takes the shape of trying to eeure the honest enforcement of the law g against very powerful and wealthy sople. there are sure 10 be certain indi- idsals who demand that the movement top because it may hurt business In ach case the answer must be that ue sruestiy hope and believe that there win e TO permanent damage to buSinsss -om the movement. but that if righteous ess conflicts with the fanciei needs of 1ssness then the latter must go 70 the all We cannot afford 10 substituts any iher test for that of guilt or innocence. vrongdoinE CT welidoing. in judging ny man
 If man 6sss yell if he acts HoEs<fiy. , has nothing 10 fear from this admin frsffr~ s~--s s~- f- --- Hes the srTups po1ftfcisr. great or sraTi the prf- ate efti1en uho Sransgresses the law. he 2 Tsch CT poor. shall be brought before faT ~F a