The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-02-26

that they cannot afford to trust to
anything but the spirit Of justice and
fair play.
Mr.. Roosevelt assails stock gam
bling and the "cornering" Of the mar
ket. He says there is no moral diff
ference between gambling at cards,
in lotteries, at the race tracks and
gambling in the stock market. 1t Is
just as pernicious and in degree the
evil worked is far greater.
Presidents New Platform.
Roosevelt's platform, as he states
it in this second message, is as fol-
lows: "We seek to control law-defy-
ing wealth; in the first place to pre-
vent it's doing dire evil to the Repub-
lie, and in the next place to avoid the
vindictive and dreadful radicalism
which, If left uncontrolled, it is GER
tain in the end to arouse.
"Sweeping attacks upon all prop
erty, upon all men Of means, without
regard to whether they do we'll or Ill,
would sound the death knell CT the
Republic; and such attacks become
inevitable if decent citizens permit
those rich men whose lives are cor
rupt and evil to domineer in swollen
pride, unchecked and unhindered,
over the destinies of this country.
"We act in no vindictive spirit and
we are no respecter Of persons. If
labor union does wrong we oppose
it as firmly as we oppose corpora
tion which does wrong; and we stand
equally stoutly for the rights of the
man Of wealth and for the rights of
the wage worker.
@We seek to protect the property
of every man who acts honestly OF
every corporation that. represents
wealth honestly accumulated and
honestly used. We, seek s. to stop
wrongdoing and we desire to punish
the wrongdoers only as far as 1t Ia
necessary to achieve this end" =
The Administrations aim, the
President asserts, is to control law
defying wealth, and he asserts that
corporations and men Of great wealth
have banded together to bring about
a reaction from this policy, hiring
writer's to attempt to overthrow and
discredit all who honestly administer
the law. :
Flags Standard Oil.
The Standard Oil Company and the
Santa Fe Railroad he specifically de-
nounces. With regard to the former
he says:
THE methods by which the Stand
ard Oil people and those engaged in
the other combinations of which
have spoken above have achieved
great fortunes can only be justified
l., = =, . a rt1,, of I
ity which would also justify every
form of criminality on the part of a
labor union, and every form Of vio-
lence, corruption and fraud, from
murder to bribery and ballot-box
stuflng in politics"
In advocating laws better to secure
control over great business concerns,
especially great common carriers, Mr..
Roosevelt says the Interstate Com
merce Commission should be empow-
cred to pass upon any rate or practice
on its own initiative, even to prohibit
an advance in rate pending examina-
ton.
He says the Federal Government
should exercise supervision over the
financial operations Of interstate rail-
roads, and must also assume a cer-
tain measure of control over their
physical operations. He favors traffic
associations. T.
After quoting from Lincoln, with
malice toward none, with charity for
all; with firmness in the right as God
gives us to see the right, let us strive
on to finish the, work we are in" the
President says: I'm the work we Of
this generation are in, there is,
thanks be to the Almighty, no danger
of bloodshed and no use for the
sword" as "we strive to bring nearer
the day when greed and trickery and
cunning shall be- trampled under foot
by those who fight for righteousness
that eXalteth nation"