The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1910-09-09

Kansas City Kan, Sept. 1.-Theo-
dore Roosevelt delivered the following
address in this city today:
There are certain matters which
should never be treated as party mat
ters; and foremost among these is the
great and vital virtue Of honesty.
should be treated as a prime
necessity TO our success as a nation.
The minute that question of hon
esty as against dishonesty is involved,
then we must all act together as
Americans. without the slightest re.
gard TO party affiliations. Honesty is
not a party matter; and the first man
to attack scoundrel OF any party
should be the honest men of that
party. When In office, ! always pro-
ceeded upon the theory that there
would be no need of my opponents
raising the cry of Turn the rasoals
out" because ! would turn them out
myself just as soon as, by vigilant
and intelligent industry, ! could dis
cover them The present Senator Bris.
tow. for instance, was In the post.
office department when information
reached me that convinced me that
there was extensive rascality being
practiced in the department This
information came to me through the
First Assistant Postmaster General,
Mr. Wynne-an admirable man whose
honesty | knew to be beyond
proof The active work of the IN.
yestigation was done by another post.
office official In whose honesty, cour.
age, and energy / had absolute conf.
denee--the present Senator Bristow
When he got through knew that all
the rascaIs whose raseality could be
detected were out of office and that
all of them that had committed acts
which we could proceed against as
criminal were indicted or imprisoned
AS we dealt with the crooked public
official, so we dealt with the crooked
private citizen; with the rich swindlei
in New York or Chicago as with the
horse-thlef or homicide In Indian Ter
ritory. We never attacked man be
cause he was man of one politiea
faith or another, because he did or die
not possess wealth. and we never
shielded him because he was poor ol
rich, because he belonged to any par
tieular church or to any particular
party But / also wish you especially
to remember that we never hesitatet
to shield him and stand up for hin
once we were convinced that he was
Improperly attacked. There is n,
greater foe of honesty than the mar
who, for any reason, IN any capacity
ATTACKS, or seeks to attack. an homes
man for a crime which he has no
committed. Falsely accusing an hon
est man Of dishonesty Is an act whiel
stands on the same level Of infam!
with that of the dishonest man him
self; and It is no higher duty TO al
tack the dishonest man than II Ia Il
exonerate the honest man falsely &C
ensed; and | should be ashamed Il
hesitate the fraction Of a second long
er in one case than IN the other
Remember that honesty cannot b,
lunilateal Good citizens should cor
daily dlstrust the man who can neve
see dishonesty excepting IN men o
the class he dislIkes. The reckless
agitator who invariably singles on
men Of wealth as furnishing the onl,
examples OF dishonesty, and the equal
| ~ unserupnlous-but no more unseru
pulous-reactlonary who can see dis
honesty only in a blaekmailng politi
clan or a crooked labor leader, hotl
stand on the same plane Of obnoxious
ness. You viii never get honesty from
politicians until you exact HONESTY
from business men; on the other hand
you brand yourselves as fools or Al
hypocrites II you say that the cor
poration owner. or the employer i
always the dishonest man. and thl
poor man never, that is Is only tn
wealthy man who corrupts the poll
tician and never the politician whit
blackmalls the corporation
any man in his senses knows tha
there are plenty Of corporations II
this country who prosper BY bribinl
Legislators just as they prosper b,
swindling the public; and any maj
in his senses ought to know, IN ad
dltion, that there are plenty Of COZ
rupt men OF small means who. IN leg
islative or other bodies, try to black
mail corporations-an try TO black
mail other people as we'll II the!
doubt this, let them look at the reye
iatlons Of corruption in my own stat
New York-and in yours, my hear
lers-here In Missouri: let them lool