Mountain advocate., 1908-10-30

dividual Progress.
When Washington gave up COM
mand of the army because there was
no more fighting to do, and turned
over to others the continuance along
peaceful lines of the work which ne
Mad carried on amid the thunder or
cannon and 'by bayonet charges, it
was not pretended that there was any
change in the purposes which actu-
ated the American people or thelr
leaders. The aim Of all was TO es-
tablish on an indestructible tootlng
the independence of the united states
and to make the Republic united ana
respected abroad and at home. When
hostilities ceased methods were
changed, but the policies were tne
same, although they now assumed
constructive form.
When President Roosevelt took the
stand that no person, no corporation,
was above the laws Of the United
states he aroused an opposition hard
Iv less formidable than war with
foreign enemy, and he had to take
measures to compel obedience TO law
which seemed more strenuous ana
AGGRESSIVE than they really were be-
cause of the >clamor raised by those
who were forced to take their choice
between surrender to the require
ments of law or legal punishment tor
disobedience. 1t is n well known
fact that a wrong long perpetrated
with immunity comes to be regarded
by the offender at least, as a right
and disturbance In his lawbreaklng
is. i'm his view, the greater wrong:
Such was the attitude not only OF
powerful wrongdoers, but also OF
large part Of the public who had so
long endured fraud, eXtortion ana
oppression at the hands of law-dety-
ing corporations that they hau
learned to accept these evils as mat
ters of course, out OF the reach OF
legal processes that applied 10 OF,
binary lawbreakers. To change all
this required supreme courage, nrIn
resolve, and an Indifference TO un-
lust criticism and studied misrepre-
sentation.
Present conditions more than JUS
tify the so-called Roosevelt policies.
IL can be said without fear of re-
sponsible contradiction that there Is
not i'm the United States to-day cor
poration of importance enough to be
within public view that openly detes
the law. Relating Is unknown, or
where carried on, is conducted with
the same secrecy as counterfeiting,
or any other crime, the perpetrators
of which look for prompt punishment
to follow detection. The orders or
the Interstate Commerce Commission
are obeyed, where not suspended by
appeals to the courts. There Is evil
dence that former offenders have gen.
orally come to the conclusion that IL
is best for them, from every point or
view, to be in the right, so far as COM
pliance with the law is concerned, and
most important of all-the public
have been fully aroused from apa-
thetic indifference to lively interest
in the enforcement of law against
"malefactors of great wealth"
Mr.. Taft will face an entirely diff
ferent situation from that which con-
fronted President Roosevelt, The
Roosevelt policies are now in the
constructive stage. and Mr.. Taft as
he has shown in the Philippines and
at Panama, and In his varied duties
as Secretary of War, is eminently a
constructive statesman. There Will be
no going backward; no reaction to-
ward the liberation of offenses which
President Roosevelt has justly made
odious but there will probably be
little occasion for severity now that
those who defied the law have been
chastened into the conviction that 1t
does not pay, that neither the Gov
ernment nor the people will stand for
unlawful methods in business, and
that, as the old saying has 1t, honesty
is the best policy.
Mr.. Taft, as President, Will be as
loyal to the Roosevelt policies as the
needle to the pole, but he will not
have the same problems to confront,
or rather, not the same phase OF the
same problems. He Will be in po-
sition not dissimilar from that which
he took when he went to administer
the Philippines, after the hard fight
ing had been done, and the battle
won. But II any corporation, or in
dividual, however powerful and
wealthy, should dare to raise his hand
in the same spirit of defiance that
once prevailed, against the laws of
the United States. that corporation or
individual would find in Taft another
Roosevelt.
Indications all point, however, to
harmony and prosperity under the
Taft regime, to a long period of de-
velopment, of enterprise and of ma
tional and individual progress. The
Roosevelt policies" will bear rich
fruit in the achievements resulting
from the impulse given to individual
effort and fair competition by the
proof that those policies were not
merely for day but for all time, and
that every citizen is to have equal
opportunity in the pursuit of wealth
and happiness. The election OF Mr..
Taft will give assurance and stimulus
to every form of legitimate business,
because everyone will feel secure In
the possession of those legal rights
which President Roosevelt has striven
so manfully to vindicate, and which
President Taft will not less manfully