Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-02

erence to the public over commercial cor
porations in the use OF the forests, and
trying to help the small man making a liv-
ing rather than the big man to make a
profit Cbut always with the effort to be
just to BOTH. Always and everywhere VIC
have set the public welfare above the ad-
vantage OF the special interests.
Because IL did these things the forest
service has made enemies, Of some OF whom
II Is Justly proud. 1t has been easy for
these enemies to raise the cry of llegality,
novelty and excess. of zeal. But I'm every
instance the service Is fortified either by
express statutes or by decisions Of the SUI
prone court and other courts, OF the secre-
tary OF the interior, of the comptroller, OF
the attorney general. or by general princi-
pies Of law which are beyond dispute, II
there is novelty, IL consists simply in the
way these statutes, decisions and principles
have been used to protect the public. The
law OFFICERS OF the forest service have the
nation for their client, and they are proud
to work as zealously for the public as they
would In private practice for a fee.
There is no reason why the water power
interests should be given the peoples
property freely and forever except that
they would like to have II that way. I
suspect that the mere wishes Of the special
interests, although they have been the
handspring Of much public action for many
years, have begun to lose their compelling
power. A good way to begin to regulate
corporations would be to stop them from
regulating us. ~.
Fortunately for us. the special interests.
with a blindness which naturally follows
from their wholly commercialized point Of
view. have failed to see the essential fact
In this great conflict. They do not under
stand that this is far more than an econo-
mic question. that in its essence and in
every essential characteristic 1t is a moral
question.
The present economic order, with its face
turned away from equality Of opportunity
involves a bitter moral wrong which must
be corrected for moral reasons and along
moral lines. II must be corrected with
business and firmness. but not bitterly, for
that would be 10 lower the nation to the
moral level Of the evil which we nave set
ourselves to fight.
This is the doctrine OF the square deal
II contains the germ Of Industrial liberty,
Its partisans are the many. its opponents
are the few. I am firm in the faith that
the great majority Of our people are square
dealers.
Cannon for Appropriation.
Speaker Cannon was expected at todayts
session, but when the convention opened
here, Kavanaugh read the following letter
from the speaker:
Il am called to Illinois by a mandatory
telegram. VIII you present my regrets to
the convention when announcing my in
ability to be present at the session today.
1 desire to assure the convention that 1
am in harmony with the earliest solution
practicable Of the engineering problems
connected with the construction OF the
Lakes-to-the-Gulf Deep Waterways.
with the adoption of the plan there
fore, l am ready as a citizen and a repre-
sentative to support a plan for an ample
appropriation for the speedy, effective and
continuance Of the work upon such a
waterway until it shall, have been coN
pleted."