Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-09-01
COL. ROOSEVELT is ORATOR
AT OSAWATOMIE CEREMONY
He Delivers the Chief Address at the Dedica-
ton Of John Brown Park, Discussing Of
the Present Day Struggle for
Human Betterment.

his own shall be safe from violence when
ouiit 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-
i've estimates of capital and labor, of
human rights and property rights. Above
all, Sn this speech, as In many others, he
taught lesson in wise kindness and
charity; an indispensable lesson to us OF
todSy. But this wise kindness and char
fty never weakened his arm or numbed
his heart. We cannot AFFORD weakly to
blind ourselves to the actual conflict
which faces us today. The issue Is join
ed, and we must fight or fail.
Equality Of Opportunity.
In every wise struggle for human bet
torment 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 barbarism 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 foS healthy lib
erty has always been and must always
De to take from some one man or class
or men the right to enjoy power. or
wealth, or position, or immunity, which
has not been earned by service to his
OF their fellows.
At many stages in the advance OF HUI
mainly this conflict between 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 II appears as the strug-
gle or free men to gain and hold the
right of, self government as against the
special interests, who twist the methods
or free government into machinery for
defeating the popular viii. At every
stage and under all circumstances the
essence of the struggle is to equalize OPP
portunity. destroy privilege, apd 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 II, will have
two great results. First every man will
have 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
or another can give TO the commonwealth
that service to which 1t is fairly en-
titled
/ stand for the square deal Rat when
! say that am for the square deal I
mean not merely that I stand for fair
play under the present rules OF the game,
but that / stand for having those rules
changed so as to work for more sub
stantial equality OF opportunity, and of
reward for equally good service.
This means that our governments. Ma
tonal and State, must be freed from the
sinister influence or control of special
interests. Exactly as the special interests
Of cotton and slavery threatened our po-
litical 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 own
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 Con-
stitution guarantees protection to proper
ty, and we must make that promise good.
But it 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
erty shall be 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 it. 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 1t will be
neither short nor an easy task, but it
can be DONE
We must have complete and effective
publicity of corporate affairs, so that the
people may know beyond peradventure
whether the corporations obey the law
and whether their management entities
them to the confidence of the public. 1t
Is necessary that laws should be passed
to prohibit the use of corporate funds
directly or indirectly for political pur-
poses; it is still more necessary that
such laws should be thoroughly enforced.
Corporate expenditures for political pur-
poses, and especially such expenditures
by public service corporations, 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
capitalization not only OF public service
corporations, including particularly rail-
ways but of all corporations doing an
Interstate business. I do not wish to
see the Nation forced into ownership of
the railways If 1t can possibly be avoided,
and the only alternative is thoroughgoing
and effective regulation, which shall be
based on full knowledge OF all the facts.
including a physical valuation of the
property. This physical valuation is not
needed. or at least is very rarely needed
for fixing rates; but II is needed as the
basis of honest capitalization.
We have come to recognize that fran
chises should never be granted except
for limited time, and never without
proper provision for compensation to the
public. 1t Is 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 important scale.
believe that the officers, and espe-
cialiy the directors. of corporations,
should be held personally responsible
when any corporation breaks the law.
Dealing With Combinations.
Combinations in industry are the result
Of an imperative economic law which can
not be repealed by political legislation
The effort at prohibiting all combination
has substantially failed. The way out
lies not in attempting to prevent such
combinations. but In completely controll-
ing them In the interest Of the public well
fare For that purpose the Federal Blu
reau of Corporations is an agency Of the
first Importance. Its power and there
fore Its efficiency as well as that of the
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