Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-06-23
FORMER PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
DISCUSSES PRESSING PoLITI-
CAL PROBLEM.
BIG MAN AS WELL AS LITTLE
MAN MUST BE HELD
RESPONSIBLE.
POINTED CRITICISM OF NEWS
PAPERS-CONDuCT is WHAT
COUNTS.

The pol teal problems confronting the
Coun /. thl ough the development of
power by large corporations is made
n vigorous language by ex-President
Roosevelt in his article in this weeks
Outlook. Taking for his subject The
Thraldom of Names, Mr.. Roosevelt
says il behooves our people never to
be misled by Designing people who
appeal to the reve. ence for or antip-
athy toward given name n order to
achieve some alien purpose. The
rule OF mob he declares, may be as
tyrannical and oppressive as the rule
of single individual, and the rule OF
: n oligarchy, whether this oligarchy
is plutOcracy or a bureaucracy, may
he as sordid and bloodthirsty as that
of a mob; but the mob leaders usually
state that all that they are doing is
necessary in order to advance the
cause of liberty" while the dictator
and oligarchy are usually defended
upon the ground that the course they
follow is absolutely necessary so as
to secure order"
Many excellent people are taken
in by the use of the word liberty at
the one time says the ex-president,
and the use of the word order at
the other and ignore the simple fact
that despotism is despotism tyranny
tyranny, oppression oppression,
whether committed by one individual
Or by many individuals, by state or
by private corporation. All forms
of tyranny and cruelty must alike be
condemned by honest men.
I'VE in this country have been very
fortunate. Thanks to the teaching
and the practice of the men whom we
most revere as leaders, of the men
like Washington and Lincoln we have
hitherto escaped the twin CULTS of
despotism and mob rule, and we have
never been in any danger from the
worst forms OF religious bitterness
But we should, therefore, be all the
more careful, as we deal with our in
dustrial and social problems, not to
fall into mistakes similar to those
which have brought lasting disaster
on less fortunately situated peoples.
First and foremost, we must stand
firmly on basis of good sound eth
les. We intend to do what is righl
for the ample and sufficient reason
that it is right. If business is hurt
Oy the stern exposure of crookedness
and the result of efforts to punish the
crooked men then business must be
hurt, even though good men are in
volved in the hurting, until it so ad-
justs itself that it is possible to pros
ecute wrongdoing without stampedins
the business community into a terror.
struck defense of the wrongdoers anG
an angry assault upon those who have
exposed them. On the other hand.
we must beware, above all things, OF
being misled by wicked or foolish men
who would condone homicide and vio-
lence, and apologize for the dynamic
er and the assassin because forsooth,
they choose to take the ground that
crime is no crime if the wicked man
happens also to have been shiftless
and unthrifty Or lazy man who has
never amassed property. 1t is es-
sential that we should wrest the con-
troll of the government out OF the
hands of rich men who use it for I'M
healthy purposes, and should keep it
out of their hands; and to this end
the first requisite is to provide means
adequately to deal with corporations.
which are essential to modern bust
ness. but which, under the decisions
of the courts, and because of the
short sightedness of the public, have
become the chief factors in polite
and business debasement But it
would be just as bad to put the con
troll of the government into the hands
of demagogues and Missionaries who
seek to pander to ignorance and
prejudice by penalizing thrift and
business enterprise and running all
men of means. with. ss an attendant
result. the ruin of the entire commun-
itv."
Mr.. Roosevelt quotes an article by
Stevens. an English journalist. on
conditions in the United States. writ.
ten in 1896 in which it was declared
that if indiv'dualism is left absolute
ly uncontrolled as q modern business
condition. the result will follow that
all power Of individual achievement
and individual effort in the average
man will be crushed out just as effec.
lively as if the state took absolute
control of everything On this line
Mr.. Roosevelt continues as follows:
Those who advocate total lack of
regulation. those who advocate law
lessness in the business world. them
selves give the strongest impulse to
what I believe would be the 6ea6en-