The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-08-11

which told what he had been tryiIg &
TO do for the American people, is
equality of opportunity for every citi-
zen. No man should have less and
no man ought to ask for any more.
Equality of opportunity is the real oo-
ject of our laws and INSTITUTIONS
Our institutions and our laws are not
valuable in themselves. They are
valuable only because they secure
equality of opportunity for happiness
and welfare for our citizens. An in
ssitu.ion or a law is a means, not
an end. a means to be used for the
public good. to lbe modified for the
public good. and 10 be interpreted for
The public good. One of the great
reasons why President Roovesetls' G
reasons why President Roosevelt's 5
administration was of such enormous
value to the plain American was that
he understood what ST Paul mean;
when he said: THE letter killeth. but
the spirit giveth life" To follow
blindly the letter of the law. or the
form of an institution, withou: intel
ligent regard both for its spirit and
for the public welfare, is very nearly
as dangerous as to disregard the law
altogether. What we ned is the use
of the law for the public good. and
the construction of it for the public
welfare.
II goes without saying that the law
is supreme and must be obeyed. Our
civilization rests on obedience to law
But the law Is not absolute . 1t re-
quires TO be construed Rigid con-
ION, of hn Iax
work. in the vast majority of cases,
for the benefit of the men who can
hire the best lawyers and who have
the sources of influence in lawnaking
at their command. Strict construc-
tion necessarily favors the great in
terests as against the people. and in
the long run can not do otherwise.
Wise execution of the law must con-
slider what the law ought to accom-
plish for the general good. The great
oppressive trusts exist because of
lawmakers and adriot le-
gal constructions. Here is the cen
tral stronghold of the money power
in the everlasting conflict of the few
to grad. and the many TO keep or win
the rights they were born with. Le-
gal technicalities seldom help the
people. The people not the law
should have the benefit of every
doubt
Equality of opportunity, a square
deal for every man, the protection
of the citizen against the great con-
centrations of capital, the intelligent
use of laws and institutions for the
public good, and the conservation of
ha
trusts. but for the people; these are
real issues and real problems. Upon
such things as these the perpetuity of
this country as a Nation of homes
really edpends. We are coming to
see that the simple things are the
things to work for. More than that,
we are coming to see that the plain
American citizen l sthe man to work
for. The imagination is staggered by
the magnitude of the prize for which
We work. If we succeed, there will
exist upon this continent a sane,
strong people, living through the CEN
turtles in a land subdued and controll-
ed for the service of the people, its
rightful masters, owned by the many
and not by the few. If we fail. the
great interests, increasing their con-
troll of our natural resources, will
thereby control the country more and
more. and the rights of the people
will fade into the privileges of con-
centrated wealth.
There could be no better illustra-
ton of the eager. rapid. unwearied
absorption by capital of the rights
which belong to all the people than
the water power trust, not yet form
ed but in rapid process of formation.
This statement is true. but not un-
We are met at every
turn by the indignant dinal of the wa
ter power interests among them and
yet they appear year after year at
these Congresses by their paid attor
Eeys. asking for your influence to
help them remove the few remaining
obstacles to their perpetual and CON-