Gilpin observer., 1910-09-01
'<<LN7ERESTS" HAYED
BY COL. ROOSEVELT
Vigorous Address on Personal and
National Liberty Delivered by the
Former President at the Dedication
of John Brown Park at Osava-
tonne, Kan.

srty Property is tho fruit of labor; prop
erty is desirable: is positive good in
the world. Let not him who Is houseless
pull down the house Of another, but let
him work diligently and build ono for
himself. thus by example showing that
his own shall be safe from violence when
ouif.' 1t seems to me that in these
words Lincoln took substantially the atti-
tude that we ought to take; he showed
the proper sense Of proportion in his rela-
tive estimates OF capital and labor. of
human rights and property rights. Above
all. In this speech. as in many others, he
taught lesson in wise kindliness and
charity; an indispensable lesson to US of
today. But this wise kindliness and char
ity never weakened his arm or numbed
his heart We cannot afford weakly to
ohnd ourselves to the actual conflict
which faces us today. The issue Is join
ed. and we must fight fail.
Equality Of Opportunity.
In every wise struggle for human bet
terment one of the main objects, and
often the only object has been to achieve
| In larger measure equality of opportunity.
| In the struggle for this great end, ma
| tons rise from barbarian to civilization,
and through 1t peoples press forward from
| one stage OF enlightenment to the next.
One of the chief factors in progress is
| the destruction of special privilege The
essence of any struggle for healthy lib
erty has always been and must always
De TO take from some one man class
OF men the right to enjoy power. or
wealth, or position, or immunity. which
has not been earned by service to his
| or their fellows
AT many stages in Ii. advance of hu-
manity this conflict be tw sen the men who
| possess more than they have earned and
the men who have earned more than they
possess is the central condition of prog
ress. In our day 1t appears as the strug-
gle or free men to gain and hold the
| right OF self-governnent against the
| special interests. who twist the methods
| or free government into machinery for
defeating the popular will At every
stage and under all circumstances the
essence OF the struggle is to equalize op-
portunity. destroy privilege, and give to
the life and citizenship of every individ-
ual the highest possible value both to
himself and to the commonwealth.
| Practical equality of opportunity for all
citizens. when we achieve it, will have
Two great results. First every man will
have a fair chance to make of himself all
that In him lies. to reach the highest point
| TO which his capacities. unassisted by
| special privilege of his own and unham-
pered by the special privileges of Others
| can carry him, and to get for himself
and his family substantially what he has
| earned. Second. equality Of opportunity
means that the commonwealth will get
| from every citizen the highest service of
| which he is capable. No man who car
| ries the burden of the special privileges
| of another can give TO the commonwealth
| that service to which II is fairly en-
| titled.
| l stand for the square deal. But when
say that I am for the square deal
| mean not. merely that I stand for fair
play under the present rules of the game
put that / stand for having those rules
| changed so as to work for a more sub
stantial equality of opportunity. and Of
reward for equally good service
| This means that our governments. Ma
.ional and State. must be freed from the
| sinister influence control OF special
! interests. Exactly as the special interests
OF cotton and slavery threatened our po-
| htical integrity before the Civil war, so
now the great special business interests
too often control and corrupt the men and
methods Of government for their
| profit We must drive the special inter-
ests out of politics That is one of our
tasks today Every special interest Is
: entitled to justice-full. fair. and COM
plete-but not one is entitled to a vote In
! congress. voice on the bench. or to rep
| resentation in any public office. The Com
| stitution guarantees protection to proper
| ty and we must make that promise good.
But II does not give the right OF suffrage
| to any corporation.
! Property Should Be the Servant.
The true friend OF property, the true
| conservative is he VINO insists that prop
| ertS SNAIL De the servant and not the
| master OF the commonwealth: who Insists
that the creature of mans making shall
| be the servant and not the master of the
man who made II. The citizen OF the
| United States must effectively control the
mighty commercial forces which they
have themselves called into being
| There can be no effective control OF
corporations while their political activity
remains. To put an end to It will be
neither short nor an easy task. but 1t
! can be done.
We must have complete and effective
! publicity OF corporate affairs. so that the
! people may know beyond pcradventure
whether the corporations obey the law
! and whether their management entities
! them to the confidence of the public II
In necessary that laws should be passed
| to prohibit the use OF corporate funds
directly or indirectly for political pur-
| poses. II Is still more necessary that
such laws should be thoroughly enforced.
Corporate expenditures for political pur-
poses. and especially such expenditures
| by public service corp p)rations have sup
/ piled one of the principal sources OF cor
ruption in our political affairs
! 1t has become entirely clear that we
/, must have government supervision Of the
! cspithizrt tion not only OF public service
| corporations including particularly rail-
ways but OF all corporations doing an
Interstate business do not wish to
| see the Nation forced into owncrship NJ
| the railways II II can possibly be avoided
! and the only alternative Is thoroughgolng
and effective regulation, which shall be
! based on n full knowledge OF all the facts
including physical valuation Of the
| property This physical valuation Is not
| needed. or at least is very rarely needed
| for fixing rates: but It Is needed as the
basis of honest capitalization.
We have come TO recognize that fran
chises should never be granted except
| for a limited time. and never without
proper provision for compensation to the
public. II IL my personal belief that the
same Kind and degree OF control and
supervision which should be exercised
over public service corporations should
| be extended also TO combinations which
control necessaries OF life. such as meat.
! oil. and coal, or which deal in them on
| an isnpOrtnnt Rcnle.