The Globe-republican., 1908-05-14
CONGRESSMAN MAD|SON'S SPEECH
HIS MAIDEN SPEECH HELD THE ATTENTION AND WON THE
ADMIRATION Of THE HOUSE MEMBERS
ForceuAy Endorses Administration Policies
Twenty five Minute SpeechFuII Of Sound Doctrine and
Remarkable Maiden Effort

Mr.. Chairman, the administration {
Theodore Roosevelt is fast passing int
history, and one OF the greatest, II nc
thegrea'est question 10 the minds Of til
American people At the present time is
Are the policies which have come to bea
his name to be continued and perpetua
ted?
With the plain common people of tn
ShSlds and workshops, who have Away
Jand do still regard the president as th
champion OF their rights and Interests
there is the fear that they will not be
With many who have heretofore ant
many who continue TO enjoy special priv
ileges or freedom from restraint In the
furtherance Of their enterprises to enricl
themselves at the expsnse of the people
there il the fear that they may be
A distinguished gentleman closed an
eloquent speech OIL the floor of this
House shor. time ago with the state
ment that 'just what niche Theodore
Roosevelt was to occupy in the temple of
his country's history, God and the future
alone can tell" The gentleman was
correct, for the subject of his remarks is
still comparatively young man, whose
career, in the natural order, lacks much
of being closed, and the history of no
man can be written until he Is dead.
But If today that career was to suddenly
close, many of the gentlemen in Con-
grass and out who have exhausted their
vocaubularies in depicting him as a
nsnrper of power, menace to the consti-
tutional rights and liberties of his fellow
citizens, an insincere and dishonest Ex-
ecutiye would be saying of him that he
enjoyed the confidence and affection of
lhis cOuntrmen as no man has since the
days of Lincoln, and that he was en-
titled to and would live in history as
great tribune of the people (AppIause)
The American people admire the man
who earnestly and aggressively does
things ana they hate a "quitter" Zap
plause)
They admire the man who stands up
and fights for what he c0nceiyes TO be
right; who fights in the open n and gives
and receives blows; who takes the side
of the weak against the strong, of the op-
pressed against the oppressor; who loves
his fellow-men and lives with and
among them and not above them.
The human qualities of theodore
Roosevelt have appealed to III IN and all
the ridlcule and denunciation of political
opponents, all the criticism Of an un-
friendly press all the speeches of the adj
vocates of those who see their special
privileges being wrested from them will |
not avail to convince them that he Is in
Imlcal to the welfare Of the State.
And history will record that the great !
heart of the American was right in this
Instance, as it has always baen when it
has bestowed Its affection upon public
servant, and in future days the men who
Roosevelt upon the floor of
his House will join those who denounced
lincoln as a tyrant, Grant as butcher,
Garfield as a thief and Mckinley as a
weak tool Of combines and trusts, 10
banking God that the American people
n such matters are prone TO forgetful-
less and are ut all timts generous users
1 the mantle of charity.
, The things which have been referred
S>here by those who seek to destroy the
influence of the President are things that :
ecause of their insigniflcance, even If |
hey contained an element of truth; even /
they, In some measure, would bear ont q
40 inferences sought to be drawn from G
lem, which they do not even by the r
lost forced and strained construction, @
re the passing events of the day which Q
le historian OF the future will not even I
i've casual notice. But he will Judge n
lis administration by those things h
hich 1t has done or helped to do that 9
I'VE made their lasting impress upon II
lie people as nation and have contrlbu- I
d toward either the advancement or the Q
leck of the moral and material develop Il
ent OF this mighty republic. Gap Q,
ause)
In multitude OF communities Of the D.
eat west, located In places that were IL
ce numbered among the waste places tr
the earth, where the sun beats down nj
boundless expanses of sand heaps OF
tied with an occasional cactus, and &C
rren plains covered with mesquite and m
men will In the future stand OF
the doors OF comfortable houses and DC
y out upon the productive fields and III
Ikhomes of happy and prosperous th
nerlcan communities and give credit | he
! the Transformation TO the reclamation