Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-02-23
DOWN WITH
CORRUPTION,
SAYS HUGHES
GOVERNOR FOR REFORM, He
ASSERTS
HITS CORPORATIONS AND SINS
IN HIGH PLACES
AS Leading Speaker at Washington's
Birthday Celebration Presidential
Candidate Makes Ring
ing Appeal
~ Associated Press.

CHICAGO, Feb. 22.-1he prlnclpai
features of washington's birthday cele-
bration in Chicago were held, as usual,
under the auspices of the Union League
club. The chief orator of the day was
Governor Charles T.. Highest of New
York, who spoke at 10:30 o'clock, de-
voting himself chiefly to the various
phases of the character of Washington.
The auditorium was filed to over
flowing and the speaker was frequently
interrupted by applause. Later a sec
ond meeting was held in Orchestra hall,
at which BENJAMIN Ide Wheeler, presi-
den of the University of California,
delivered the chief address. devoting
his remarks to the desirability of the
establishment of a national university
at Washington, u. c., in accordance
with the expressed wish of Washington
during his life and in his will.
Az a banquet tonight speeches were
made by Governor Hughes, President
Wheeler and various members of the
Union league.
In his address today. Governor
Hughes said:
Venerate Washington
I'VE venerate Washington because in
supreme test he indicated manhood.
The standards of liberty were unsullied
in his hands. We must all take to
0tdIJ INC 1cHbOI vi lllb nv a We a =
TO realize American ideals. 1t is the
lesson Of the supremacy of duty. 1t is
the lesson of honor--of fidelity to trust
1T must be enforced in executive cham
bers, in legislative halls, in courts Of
Justice, In newspaper Offices, in banks,
in trust and insurance companies, in
professional and commercial life, in the
lnarts of trade, in counting room
and in the shop, by employer and en-
ployed
ssThere is no legislative road to char
acter If the spirit of Washington
could perrneate our public and private
life. g should neither seeli nor need
governmental panacea. And II is only
insofar as in fact that spirit imbues
administration that the government Of
free people can perform its functions.
THE country is morally sound. It's
standards of business were never high
err. The business men of the country
are for the most part honest men. repre-
senting fairly the moral standards of
the people. And never more than to-
day have they taken them as a while,
earnestly desired that abuses shall be
stopped that an end shall be put to
corrupt dealings and unfair practices,
that gambling shall not parade In busi-
ness livery. and that American indus
try and trade shall have free score for
development and extension along the
lines of honorable rivalry and with JUS
tice to stockholders, to employees and
to the people at large.
''Pessimists and cynics cannot de-
velop this country. We must have con-
fdence in the stability, Of our institu-
tions. in the sanity Of the people and
in their realization of what underlies
our prosperity.
Commerce in Infancy
I'VE have only begun to develop the
commerce of this country.
This is no time for discourage cement
or halting, but for appreciation of
American opportunity, and for that In
telligent and united effort by which
alone we can avail of 1t and deserve
the blessings of posterity.
ITO support this confidence and to
gain these ends we must have a settled
governmental policy. And it must be
n right policy. 1t must be policy
consistent with the genius of our in
situations. The people of this country
do not desire socialism even as an ex-
pertinent. They do not propose to pass
through a decaded quarter of an hour
Of revolutionary changes to satisfy
themselves of those imperfections of
human nature of which they are already
we'll apprised, and which makes inn
possible the constitution of society In
accordance with the Socialist theory "
1--WE must make progress and 1t must
be steady and consistent, conserving
what is good and safeguarding the OPP
portunities for honest effort. Otherwise
gains will be offset by unnecessary
losses and expert accountants may
search in vain for a credit balance. We
may accomplish needed reforms by
making our institutions work as they
were intended to work. and by effect
ing, In the light of the benefits thus
secured, such changes as experience
raay command and deliberate judy
ment may approve.
"It must be a policy consistent with
our constitutional limitations and dis
tribution OF powers BY making our
institutions work in the way in which
they were intended to work I meant
that we should secure the maximum ef-
ficiency in both state and federal ad-
ministration to the end that every mat
ter OF state concern and every mat
ter of local concern shall receive, by
the appropriate exercise of the powers
Of each jurisdiction, that full considera-
tion and necessary remedial action by
which wrongs, both national and local,
may be completely redressed.
Must Keep Hands OF
Special interests must keep their
hands of the government in city, state
and nation. The common welfare must
be the supreme law. The lobbies WHICH