Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-07-17
Beyeridge on Roosevelt

In the Saturday Evening Post SEN
ator Beveridge compares the political
movement with which the names Of
Roosevelt and Taft are identified |
with the movement for American in
dependence and the war for abolition
Of slavery. New York traders were
mainly tories, opposing the war for
independence on the ground that it
'hurt business" which it unques-
tionably did for seven years. The
Emancipation Proclamation was op-
posed because it would reduce the
price of stocks, and there we're con-
servatives who proposed In the midst
of the war to 'let the erring sisters
CO." quit fighting and get back to
normal business. Senator Beveridge
goes on:
CAN these men-the kings of
finance who respect not the rights Of
the great mass of ordinary and honest
business men; the great interests that
refuse to recognize the new ethics Of
business which command them to con-
slider the welfare Of the people; their
paid lawyers, who invent cunning
arguments to show that all the laws
we propose are unconstitutional, and,
most dangerous Of ALL the politician
Of the old school who believes the
whole movement to be nothing more
than a spasm-all these are uniting
to fight the movement, Sometimes
they voice their purpose publicly in
most plausible phase. For example,
we hear 1t said that 1--WE should do no
more until we see how that which we
have already done will work" But
what would you think Of a man who,
when you were building a house,
would tell you to stop and live in 1t
and see how you liked it before the
plaster was on the walls, the windows
in the frames or the roof shingled?
81 do not think that this historic
movement will be turned back. 1t
has been checked, it Is true; for the
moment it is almost at standStill;
but it will gather new force again and
sweep forward till it is done. There
were similar periods of hesitation and
despair in every one Of the great
movements which have given as ex-
amples of the present one. There
were times during the civil war when
the best Of men grew faint of heart
and said Let the erring sisters co."
and In the midst of that conflict
great national party actually adopted
platform which declared that the
war was failure. There were times,
such as the winter at Valley Forge,
when our war for independence seem
ed certain of failure. Indeed, whole
paper might be written showing how
in every movement like the present,
in this and other countries, it seems
that the end had come before the
move had accomplished it's work, but
always the people themselves we're re-
newed from on high, their hearts
we're strengthened and they went for
ward till their work was done.''
| Washington was assailed as fail
ure and would-be dictator. Lincoln
was called button and an ape; and
Roosevelt is characterized in New
York by thousands of people, in the
language of the New York Sun, as an
insane man, destroyer Of property
and an enemy of wealth, because he
persists in holding "kings Of finance"
accountable to law no less than ordi-
nary persons. There is prevailing
sentiment In the highest circles Of
business that the giants of railroad
and industrial ombination are 8 su-
perior order of men and immune from
ordinary laws.
The Republican party has not nom-
mated crank or an insane man for
president, but man eminently sane
and judicial in temperament, who
represents the sound moral sense Of
the country. Mr.. Taft is platform
in himself.