Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-26
Roosevelt FLAYS
WEALTHY CROOKS
Declares He Would Attack Dis
honest Rich More Strongly
Than Poor
URGES CLEAN CONDUCT IN ALL
Advises Citizens to Take Good
Care of Resources They
Now Possess
JRGES CLEAN CONDUCT IN ALL
toontInusd from Page One,


within the last few days that they
will have all the fight they want"
Mr.. Roosevelt first dwelt on sub
ject of particular local interesting
necessity of preserving unpolluted
1.-THE wonderful fresh water supply Of
the great lakes"
I'VE claim to be civilized people"
he said.
LAS such we ought to be able to dis
pose of our sewage without putting 1t
into our drinking water.
state and nation must combine in
preventing further contamination and
making the purity Of lake water as
absolute as possible. That is so as
we'll in the field of morals, public and
domestic" he continued. There must
be no pollution at the sources"
This led naturally to his grimly ear
nest expression of intention to seek
out and bring to an accounting graft
ers, big and little.
"Distrust, however" he said, "finan-
ciers who can see crookedness only in
grating small politicians and grating
leaders; distrust also those who can
see it only in the financiers. You must
attack a man because he's crooked.
IL poor and crooked. attack him. If
rich and crooked, attack him. In fact,
attack the rich crook a trife stronger.
Yes. 1 will put it-attack him very
strongly"
THRoNGs GRET COLONEL
The gathering Of people at the sta
ton had been considerably augmented
during the hour. Standing on the rear
platform of his car Mr.. Roosevelt
waved his hat as the train pulled out
westward.
When Col. Roosevelt appeared on the
rear end platform at Dunkirk, n. Y,
hn OF hu loF har ri Of
railroad men.
81 have always admired the railroad
men because they have certain quail
ties / like to think of as typical of
Americans" he saio.
Fully 5000 persons greeted Col.
Roosevelt when his special train ar
rived in Erie. The colonel spoke
briefly, chiefly along the lines of the
earlier speech he had made at Buffalo
regarding pure water in the great lake
cities.
He was met by a reception commit
tee from Erie, consisting of Congress-
man Arthur L. Bates, Frank D.
Schultze. president of the chamber of
commerce; *. c. Sturgeon, president
of the board of trade. and William B.
Trask.
Congressman Bates was a member
of the lower house during the seven
and a half years that Roosevelt was
president and long consultation was
held in the private car as the train
rushed through the northwest Pennsyl-
vania grape belt. At every town and
hamlet hundreds lined the tracks.
Hello, Teddy" was heard from the
sea of humanity that crowded the sta
tion platform when the train pulled
into Erie and it was some minutes be-
fore the colonePs voice could be heard.
LIKES TO BE CALLED TEDDY
In an undertone to Congressman
Bates, who was on the rear plat
form, the African hunter said: Il
used to think it lowered my dignity
to have them call me Teddy-but, do
you know mgetting to like it now"
Some of the things Colonel Roosc-
velt said in his speech in Buffalo fol- |
low:
"I believe in party government, but |
the moment question of honesty is in |
volved l recognize no party disttnc-
ton. If / make any distinction, 1t Is
that it is a little more my business
to hunt out of public life a crook who |
claims to belong to my party than if |
he claims to belong to another.
There is a royal road to learning. |
Something can be done by good laws
or by strict administration of law,
but in the last resort you must have |
the average citizen with a live con-
science or you cannot expect the pub
lie servants of that private citizen to |
do their duty honestly and we'll.
"Often you will find that men have
betrayed the interests of the people by
doing what is improper for some big |
corporation. In that case try to get
at them and try to get at the big |
corporation and all those responsible |
for it's management and 1 will help !
you in every way that 1 can. I have |
done it in the past. 1 will do it just
as we did in connection with the sugar |
trust.
"If the people fail to condemn the
man who is crooked and who viii
blackmail a corporation, they will have |
themselves to thank when the black |
mailer turns round and becomes tool
of the corporation, which he will do
when 1t is his interest to do so.
"You are not going to get honesty
in a public servant on behalf of the
people unless you insist on that man
showing honesty to all with whom ne
is brought into contact.
81 would fight for the rights of the
big man just as l would for the rights
of the small man and for the rights OF
all the people"