Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-01
AN AMERICAN MESSAGE

/ LlDnS, ne says dIC tltDOldtC anu ia
genious and untruthful in import AM
particulars. This is strenuous Ian
guage. It is vigorous, ardent, earnes
and energetic and will be intensel.
gratifying to the enemies of the cor
porations specified ty the vehemen
! president.
Col. Roosevelt calls attention to tn,
! impartial severity with which the fed
eral government mas punished offend
ers, regardless of riches or of rank
The government, he says. DOES dis
courage sin, and DOES bid sinners fear
1t has put behind the bars with i'm.
partial severity the powerful f1nancier
the powerful politician, the rich land
thief, the rich contractor-all, no mat.
ter how high t,-eir station, against
whom criminal misdeeds can be proved
All their wealth and power cannot
protect them.
In answer to those who have as
serted that business conditions have
been seriously disturbed by what APP
pear to be presidential attacks upon
investments and vested interests, Pres
ident Roosevelt declares, with just a
faint suspicion of a sneer, that the
business which is hurt by the move-
ment for honesty is the kind of busi-
the country to have hurt. It is the
kind of business which has tended to
make the very name of ''high finance
a term of scandal to which all honest
American men CT business should join
in putting an end.
President Roosevelt interjects a dec
laration for which many good Amer
leans, both Democrat and Republican,
have been waiting and longing, and
which they will greet with rapturous
applause. "The opponents of the meas
ures (of reform) we champion single
out no one measure for special at
tack" he says, land speak as If the
movement in which we are engaged
was purely economic. 1t has a large
economic side, BUT 1T IS FUNDA-
MENTALLY AN ETHICAL MOVE
MENT." (There speaks the American,
true blue.)
This ethical movement, which is also
in it's essential tendencies altruistic,
will not be completed n one year. says
the president to enthusiasts who wish
the country to respond as if to an
order to presto. change!' There will
be nothing magical about it. 1t is not
a movement to be completed even in
two or three years, or he might have
added, in any specified number of
years.
'It is" says President Roosevelt, "a
movement which must be PERSE-
VERED IN until the spirit which lies
behind it sinks deep into the heart
and the conscience of the whole people"
He goes on to say that new condi-
tions make it necessary to shackle
cunning, as in the past we have
shackled force. The vast individual
and corporate fortunes and vast COM
binations of capital create new con-
ditions and necessitate a change from
the old attitude of the state and nation
toward rules regulating the acquisition
and untrammeled business use of prop
erty.''
President Roosevelt SCOTS at the
ministration caused business distress
He puts the blame where he thinks it
ought to he placed, saying: 80 far
as this distress is due to local and not
worldwide causes and to the actions
of any particular individuals, it is due
to the speculative folly and flagrant
dishonesty of q few men of great
wealth, who seek to shield themselves
from the effects of their own wrong
doing by ascribing the results to the
actions of those who have sought to
put a stop to the wrongdoing."
Taking up the question of measures
preventive of demoralizing practices
which cause trouble and distress, he
says. "I do not know whether it is
possible, but if it be possible it is
with measures to restrain stock water
ing and apitalizing, there should
be measures taken to prevent, at least,
the grosser forms of gambling in Sc
curities and commodities, such as max
ing large sales of what men do not
possess and tcornerins' the market"
When a certain olL-time farmer of
the good and grand old school, during
any of the public proceedings in which
he was frequently called upon to en-
gage, came to point at which thought
baffled speech and the emotion pre-
vailed over the word, he would say,
Toys, we cannot talk what we feel
about this; but let's all join hearts
and voices in singing AMERICA
That is the attitude of grateful and
appreciative Americans all over the
United States today with regard to
this essentially fearless and American
message, which, like much that has
characterized President Roosevelt's ad-
ministration, is. in essence, spirit, in
spiration. purport and force MORE
DEMOCRATIC THAN REPUBLICAN.
Two or three months ago all of the