Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1908-02-05

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strong feeling to the attacks that he
says are being made on him through
newspapers and public speakers con-
trolled blythe Standard Oil Trust and
other combinations and says the key
note Of these attacks upon his efforts
to secure honesty in business and
politics is that they are unnatural
and unwarranted,. and business panic
is the penalty.
- Like Plea Of Gambler. ~:
The morality OF such a plea, he
says, is precisely as great as If made
on behalf of the men carSht in 6
gambling establishment raided by the
police and means that no effort should
be made to prevent eSrepetition. of the
insurance, banking and railroad scan
dals in New York, the Chicago and
Alton DEAL. the successful effort by
the Standard Oil people to crush out
every competitor, and to establish p
monopoly which treats the public
with a contempt 1t deserves 80 long
as It permits men ofsuch principles
to ayow and act on. them with I'M
punity.-s :,
The Business which Is hurt by
the movement for honesty, the Pres
ident says, is the kind which in the
long run 1t pays the country to have
hurt; the kind which has tended to
make the name ahigh finance" a
term OF scandal to which all honest
American men OF business should join
in putting an end.
The opponents of the measures he
champions, Mr.. Roosevelt says, single
out now one and now another fol
special attack. as IL the movement he
is engaged, in was purely economic
This is not so, he says, for 1t is funda-
mentally an ethical movement and
one which must be perseyered in;until
the spirit which lies behind 1t sinks
deep into the heart and consciencs OF
the whole people. His purpose he
declares, Is to secure national honesty
in business and politics and equality
of opportunity, for all, and he will not
be swayed from 1t by attacks on him.
Laws. Will BE Enforced. Z
The laws, the, President insists,
must in future be administered as
they are at present, Justice. being
meted out with an even hand to great
and small, rich and poor, weak and
strong. And he adds that there
should be no delay in supplementine
the laws now on the statute books
with others he recommends.
Referrin g to the financial situation
the President says there is natural
tendency to feel gloomy and fright
enea at the outlook, but he declares
there is no justification for such a
feeling, as there is no nation sosab-
solutely sure Of success as ours, and
we must certainly succeed.
Not Responsible, He Says.
The President then discIaims ,nny
responsibility for the business dis
tress,; saying he does not believe for
a moment. that any actions of the
Administrator brought it on. 1t was
due, he. says, to the speculative folly
and fagfant dishonesty of few men
of great wealth, who seek to shield
themselves from the effect of their
own wrongdoiDg by ascrdbing its re-
suits to the actions Of those who have
tried to put astop to the wrongdoing.
"But," says the President, "if 1t
were true that to cut out rottenness
from the body polite meant mo:
mentary check to en- unhealthy seem
ing prosperity, Tshould not for a mo-
ment hesitate to put the knife to the
corrup ton. - ~
+ He advocates the immediate re-en-
actment of the employers liability
law, limiting its scope to interstate
employmentto conform to the ruling
of the Supreme Court; urges legisla-
tion providing for compensation by
the Government and employers, gen.
orally to all employees for injuries,
calls attention to the need Of some
action in connection with the abuse Of
{ injunctions in labor cases by the
~. 5i:s! nd. warns men of property
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