Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1909-01-28
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! WASHINGT ON LETTER
by John j. Hartman
21nI1 7IlI1J1annl ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

President Roosevelt has demonstrate
ed again his wonderful ability to hold
the attention of the public and direct
it's thought into channel far removed
from the trend he does not want it to
take.
Just at the moment when his enemies
in Congress were gioating over the
contumely which they had put upon
him, he sent to that body one of the
most remarkable of the many messages
with which he has bombarded it. The
enemies of the president seemed deter
mined to make his last days in the
presidency as unhappy as it is in their
power to do. They bring him to book
for utterances in his messages. Con-
firmation of some of his appointments
is withheld without apparent reason.
Every possible means is employed to
disparage his work as an official.
The one effect sought is to. leave an
unfavorable impress in the literature
of the day, in the hope that an unfavof-
able impress may be made on the his
torian of the future. President Roose-
welt appreciates the purpose and his
message shows that he is not unwilling
to play the game. Incidentally the
president seems to have an appreciation
of the place he will occupy in history.
He gave that estimate last year when
he wrote in substance that he would
not live as great constructive states
man but as one who aroused the moral
sense of the American people and COM
PEELED halt in the rule of special pri-
vilege.
So while it does not appear upon it's
face as reply to his congressional and
other critics, the presidents message
transmitting the reports showing the
waste of our natural resources was
made the vehicle by which he read into
the congressional record an epitome of
the principal achievements of his adj
ministration. The president said:
| "The man who serves the community
greatly should be greatly rewarded by
the community; as there is great in
equality of service so there must be
great inequality of reward; but no men
and no set Of men should be allowed to
play the game of competition with
| loaded dice. This administra-
| ton has achieved some things; it has
sought, but has not been able, to
achieve others; it has doubtless made
mistakes; but all it has done or at
tempted has been done in the single,
consistent effort to secure and enlarge
the rights and opportunities of the
men and women Of the United States.
We are trying to conserve what is good
in our social system, and we are striv-
ing toward this end when we endeavor
to do away with what is bad. = =
Our aim is SO far as possible to provide
such conditions that there shall be
equality of opportunity where there is
equality of energy, fidelity, and intel
ligence; when there is a reasonable
equality of opportunity the distribu-
ton of rewards will take care of it.
self"
The president then reviews in detail
the achievements of his administration:
railroad regulation, control of monopo-
| lies, settlement of the coal strike, the
public land policy, the forest policy, re-
elimination act, pure food law, Panama
canal, improvement of water ways,
conservation of resources and other
matters, AMI said:
"All these efforts are integral parts
Of the same attempt, the attempt to
enthrone justice and righteousness, and
secure freedom of opportunity to all
our citizens, now and hereafter, and to
set the ultimate interests of all of us
above the temporary interests of any
Individual, class or group. The nation,
it's government and its resources exist,
first of all for the American citizen.
The obligations, and not the
rights, of citizenship increase in pro-
portion to the increase of mans
wealth and power The time is coming
when a man will be judged, not by
what he has succeeded in getting for
himself from the common store, but by
how we'll he has done his duty as citi-
zen, and by what the ordinary citizen
has gained in freedom of opinion be-
cause of his service for the common
good. The highest value we know is
that of the Individual citizen, and the
highest justice is to give him fair play
in the effort to realize the best that
there is in him.
The president after writing the plain
and concise history of his administra-
ton from the viewpoint of the policies
established or attempted, commends
the report of the conservation commits
sion and makes some recommendations,
the most important of which are:
The remaining public lands should
| be classified and the arabic lands dis
posed of to homeseekers. In their in
| terest the timber and stone act and the
| communication clause of the homestead
act should be repealed, and the desert
land law should be modified in accord
ance with the recommendations of the
public land commission. The use of
| the nub1ic grazing land should be repu-