Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-09-28

they represent an earnest of the
achievement which is yet to come;
and the beneficence and far reach
ing Importance of this work done for
the whole people measure the credit
which is rightly due to the congress
and to our able. upright and dis
tinguished President. William Howard
Taft.
Il believe in the party to which we
belong because | believe in the prin-
ciples for which the Republican party
stood in the days Of Abraham Lincoln:
ard Furthermore and especially be-
cause ! believe in treating those prin-
ciplrs not as dead but as living. We
can deserve the confidence of the peo-
pie, not by stating that our forefath-
crs preserved the Union and freed the
slaves. but by proving in deed as well
as in word, that we face the problem
of dealing with political and business
corruption and of working for social
and economic justice and for the bet
termcnt of the conditions of life and
the uplifting of our people, with the
same fervor and sincerity that Lincoln
and his followers brought to the great
tasks allotted to them in their day.
"Our first duty is to war against dis
hone Sty. We are against corruption in
politics; we are against corruption in
business and above all. and with all
our strength, we are against the de-
grading alliance of crooked business
and crooked politics; the alliance which
adds strength to the already powerful
corrupt boss and to the already pow
erful corrupt head of big business and
which makes them in their dual capac-
ity enemies against whom every pat
riotic man should stand with unwav-
ering firmness. Let no man say that
this Is an assault upon the honest bus
mess man. That is as foolish as to say
that It IS an assault upon the upright
political leader.
In short. our attitude is merely that
we stand for honesty as well as for
progressiveness and for efficiency;
that we believe both business men and
politicians should be just and upright
and honest as well as wise. courageous
and far sighted. We are against crook
edness in the small man but we are
against it just as strongly In the big
man. We Judge each man by his con-
duct and not by his wealth or his social
station: and we hold 1t to be our
bourden duty to strive steadily to
make and to keep this great American
comE1or wealth as true democracy
and steadily to endeavor to shape our
Legislation and our social condition so
that there shall be far nearer ap-
proach than at present toward equality
of opportunity among men.
The corporation must be protected,
| must be given it's rights, but it must be
prevented from doing wrong; and It's man
ayers must be held In strict accounta-
bility when 1t does wrong; and 1t must
| be deprived of all secret influence In our
pubic life. We must strive to do away
| with the social and economic injustice
| that have come from falling to meet by
proper legislation the changed conditions
brought about by the gigantic growth OF
| our gigantic industriallsm. We Of this
| state must make it our business to help
in efficient fashion the county Districts
| to shape matters so as to encourage the
growth of the farming communities and
| to help give the people In those commu-
| mites the advantages which have come
lin disproportionate measure to the city
rather than to the country during the i'm
dustrial growth OF the last SO years. We
must guard the interests Of the wage
| worker, the man who works with his
hands: we must safeguard the woman
who tolls. and see that the young children
do not toll.
I'VE must see that by far-reaching leg|
isIation the workman who Is crippled and
the family of the workman who is killed
In industry are compensated. so that the
loss necessarily incident to certain in~
Idustries shall be eQuitably and fairly dis-
tributed instead Of being placed upon the
| shoulders Of those not able to bear them
We must make 1t a matter of obligations
by the state to see that the conditions
under which workingmen and women do
their work shall be safe and healthfuL
So far as by legislation Is possible. We
must strive to give to the workingman
the power to achieve and maintain a high
standard of living. Finally. and as a
matter of course, VIC must do everything
possible to promote and conserve tha
business prosperity of the whole country.
I'VE who come together to set the
standard Of our party have grave re-
sponsibility to that party and to the pub
lie. Democracy means nothing unless
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