Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1910-08-31
TO END ACTIVITY
Of CORPORATIONS
IN POLITICAL FIELD
Col. Roosevelt Declares for In
come Tax and Tariff Re-
vision Commission.
RELATION OF PROPERTY
TO MANKIND DEFINED
Speech at Osawatomie Dedica-
ing John Brown Park Contains
Important Pronouncements.

osAWATOMIE. Kan, Aug. s1.-
Theodore Roosevelt. in his speech dedi-
eating as the John Brown Park" the
field Of Osawatomie, where over half
a century ago the noted abolitionist
and his meager force fired the first gun
in the war against slavery, made sub
stantial additions te-f{is doctrine Of the
square DEAL" and in addition touched
on many subjects OF nationwide IN
terest.
He declared for the income tax and
defined vhe relation of property to
mankind; property shall be the servant
not the master of the commonwealth,
he declared. He also declared for pub
lfcity of corporation affairs. In his ad-
dress Mr.. Roosevelt said in part:
seThe name of John Brown will be
forever associated with this second
period of the nations history; and
Kansas was the theatre upon which
the first act of the second of orr great
national life dramas was played II
was the result of the struggle in Kan
sas which determined that our coun-
try should be in deed as well as In
name devoted to both union and free
dom, that the great experiment OF
democratic government on a national
scale should succeed and not fall
Quotes President Lincoln.
s'Of that generation of men, to whom
we owe so much, the man to whom
we owe the most is. of course, Lin
coin. Part of our debt to him Is be-
cause he forecast our present struggle
and saw the way out He said
.s'I hold that while man exists it is
his duty to improve not only his own
condition, but to assist in ameliorating
mankind And again, Labor is prior
to and Independent of capital; capital
is only the fruit of labor, and could
never have existed but for labor. Labor
is the superior of capital and deserves
much the~higher consideration
81 stand for the square deal. But
when 1 say that am for the square
deal I mean not merely that / stand
for fair play under the present rules
of the game, but that stand for faw-
ing those rules changed so as to work
for a more substantial equality of op-
portunity, and of reward for equally
good service.
"The true friend of property, the true
conservative, is he who insists that
property shall be the servant and rot
the master of the commonwealth; who
insists that the creature of mans MAX
n ing shall be the servant and not the
master of the man who made 1t.
There can be no effective control Of
corporations while their political ac-
tivity remains. To put an end to it
will be neither short nor an easy
task, but itacan be done.
q L. .I1t1 r.<xf-
i've publicity of corporate affairs, SO
that the people may know beyond
peradventure whether the corporations
obey the law and whether their man
agement entities them to the conf
dence of the public. It is necessary
that laws should be passed to prohibit
the use of corporate funds directly or
indirectly for political purposes; it is
still more necessary that such laws
should be thoroughly enforced Cor
porate expenditures for political pur-
poses. and especially such expendt-
lures by public service corporations
have supplied one of the principal
sources of corruption in our political
affairs.
For Government Supervision.
s'It has become entirely clear that we
must have government supervision of
the capitalization not only of public
service corporations, including particu-
larly railways, but of all corporations
doing an interstate business. do not
!. wish to see the nation forced into
Ownership of the railways If 1t can
possibly be avoided. and the only al
'ternative is thorough and ef-
fectiye regulation.
.'I believe that the offers, and espec-
,ially the directors, of corporations
should be held personally resonsible
when any corporation breaks the law
s.There Is a widespread belief among
our people that, under the methods of
making tariffs which have hitherto 90
tanned, the special interests are too in
fiuentia1. Probably this is true of both
the big interests and the little inter-
ests. These methods have put pre-
MUM on selfshness, and nafurally the
selfish big interests have gotten more
than the selfish small interests. The
duty Of Congress is to provide meth
cd by which the interest of the whole
people shall be all that receives con-
sideration. To this end there must be
an expert tariff commission, wholly re-
moved from the possibility of political
nressure or of improper business in
fiuence. Such a commission can find out
the real difference between cost of pro-
duction, which is mainly the difference
of labor cost here and abroad.
mo man should receive dollar un-
less that dollar has been fairly earned.
Everv dollar received should represent
a dollars worth of service rendered.
The really big fortune, the swollen
fortune. by the mere fact of its size,
acquires qualities which differentiate
II in kind as well as in degree from
what is possessed by men of rela-
lively small means. Therefore l be-
lieve in a graduated income tax on big
fortunes, and In another tax which is
far more. easily collected and far more
effective--a graduated inheritance tax
on big fortunes, properly safeguarde.l
against evasion. and increasing rapidly
(Contfnued ON Second PaEe.)