Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-28
Asserts That the Strength of the Cause Is in thu
Fact That the Party Represents the Policies
Essential to the Reform of Abuses, and
Declares That the Machinery for
Restraining Lawbreakers
Should Be Perfected.


him Of his nomination for the presidency
by the republican national convention
spoke as follows:
Senator Warner and gentlemen of the
committee:
which the republican national convention
has conferred on me In the nomination
which you formally tender. accept II
with full appreciation Of the responsibility
1t imposes.
Maintenance Of Roosevelt Policies
Gentlemen, the strength Of the repub-
lican cause in the campaign at hand Is IN
the fact that we represent the policies
essential to the reform Of known abuses.
to the continuance of liberty and true
prosperity, and that We are determined. as
our platform unequivocally declares. to
maintain them and carry them on For
more than ten years this country passed
through an epoch OF material develop
ment far beyond any that ever occurred in
the world before. In its course certain
evils crept in. Some prominent and inf1u-
entail members of the community. spurred
by financial success and in their hurry for
greater wealth. became unmindful OF the
common rules Of business honesty and
fidelity and Of the limitations imposed by
law upon their action. This became
known. The revelations Of the breaches
OF trust. the disclosures as to rebates and
determinations by railways, the accumu-
lating evidence Of the violation Of the
antitrust law by a number OF corpora
tions. the overissue Of stocks and bonds on
interstate railways for the unlawful en-
riching of directors and for the purpose of
concentrating control OF railways In one
management all quickened the conscience
OF the people. and brought on moral
awakening among them that boded well
for the future Of the country.
What Roosevelt Has Done.
THE man who formulated the express
sion Of the popular conscience and who
led the movement for practical reform
was Theodore Roosevelt. He laid down
the doctrine that the rich violator' Of the
law should be as amenabie to restraint
and punishment as the offender without
wealth and without influence. and he
proceeded by recommending legislation
and directing executive action TO make
that principle good in actual performance.
rate bill. designed more effectively to
restrain excessive and fix reasonable
rates, and to punish secret rebates and
Determinations which had been general
in the practice of the railroads, and which
had done much to enable unlawful trusts
to drive out OF business their competitors.
1t secured much closer supervision OF
railway transactions and brought within
the operation of the same statute express
companies. sleeping car companies. fast
freight and refrigerator lines, terminal
railroads and pipe lines. and forbade IN
future the combination Of the Transports
iton and shipping business under one con-
troll in order to avoid undue discrimi-
nation.
president Roosevelt directed suits to
be brought and prosecutions to be insti-
tuted under the antitrust law to enforce
its provisions against the most powerful
Of heindustrial corporations. He pressed
to passage the pure food law and the
meat inspection law in the interest OF the
health Of the public. clean business
methods and great ultimate benefit to
the trades themselves. He recommended
the passage Of a law. which the repub-
lican convention has since specifically
approved, restricting the future issue OF
stocks and bonds by interstate railways
to such as may be authorized by federal
authority. He demonstrated to the people
by what he said. by what he recon-
mended to Congress. and by what he did,
the sincerity of his efforts to command
respect for the law. to secure equality OF
all before the law. and to save the
government. toward which we were fast
tending. In this work Mr.. Roosevelt has
had the support and sympathy OF the
republican party, and its chief hope OF
success in the present controversy must
rest on the confidence which the people
Of the country have in the sincerity OF
the party's declaration in its platform
that it intends to continue his policies.
Permanently Securing Progress.
Mr.. Roosevelt has set high the stand
ard of business morality and obedience
to law The railroad rate bill was more
useful possibly in the immediate moral
effect of its passage than even in the
legal effect of it's very useful pro-
visions. From Its enactment dates the
voluntary abandonment of the practice
of rebates and Determinations by the
railroads and the return by their man
ayers to obedience to law in the fixing
OF tariffs The pure food and meat In
spection laws and the prosecutions d.
rected by the President under the anti
trust law have had a similar moral ef-
feet in the general business community
and have made it now the common
practice for the great industrial corpo-
rations to consult the law with view
to keeping within its provisions. 1t has
encouraging smaller competitive COM
paines SO that they have been enabled
to do profitable business.
But We should be blind to the ordi-
did not recognize that the moral stand
ards set by President Roosevelt will
not continue to be observed by those
whom cupidity and a desire for hnan-
Cldt power may tempt uu1CSS tiiS
requisite machinery Is introduced into
the law which shall in Its practical
operation maintain these standards and
secure the country against departure
from them.
Function Of Next Administration.
THE chief function Of the next admin
istration. in my judgment, Is distinct from
and a progressive development OF. thai
which has been performed by Presi
dent Roosevelt The chief function Of the
next administration is to complete and
perfect the. machinery by which these
standards may be maintained. by which
the lawbreakers may be promptly re-
strained and punished. but which shall
operate with sufficient accuracy and dis
patch to interfere with legitimate bushes:
as little as possible. Such machinery !!
not now adequate Under the present rate
bill, and under all Its amendments, TIT
burden of the interstate commerce com
mission in supervising and regulating TIT
operation Of the railroads OF this countr,
has grown so heavy that 1t Is utterly I'm
possible for that tribunal to hear and dis
pose, in any reasonable time. OF the many
complaints, queries and issues that arr
brought before it for decision. 1t ough
TO be relieved Of its jurisdiction as an ex
ecutive, directing body. and its functions
should be limited to the quasi-tudictal In
vestigation Of complaints by individual
and by department OF the government
charged with the executive business OF su
pervising the operation of railways.
There should be classification Of tina.
very small percentage of industrial cor