The Colorado statesman., 1910-09-03

Gen. Fred Funston ana the benators
from Missouri and Kansas. he made a
characteristic speech In which he said
nice things about Senator Bristow
and things not nice about dishonest
corporations and individuals.
What Mr.. Roosevelt Said.
Mr. Roosevelt's train arrived just
after noon and he was escorted by
the reception committee and the
Thirteenth regiment to the Hotel Bal
timore, where the luncheon was
served. In his address Col. Roose-
velt said:
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. Hon
esty should be treated as a prime ne
cessity to our success as a nation. The
minute that question of honesty as
against dishonesty is involved. then we
must all act together Americans.
without the slightest regard to party
Affiliations. Honesty is not a party
matter; and the first man to attack a
scoundrel of any party should be the
honest men OF that party. When in
office. always proceeded upon the
theory that there would be no need
of my opponents raising the cry OF
would turn them out myself just as
soon as, by vigilant and intelligent in
dustry. I could discover them. The
present Senator Bristow. for Instance.
was in the Post-Ofice Department
when information reached me which
convinced me that there was extensive
rascality being practiced in the depart
ment This information came to mo
through the then First Assistant Post
master-General, Mr.. Wynne-an admir-
able man whose honesty I knew TO be
beyond proof. The active work of the
investigation was done by another
post-oaice Official in whose honesty,
courage. and energy / had absolute
CONFERENCE.-The present Senator Bris-
tow. When he got through knew
that all the rascals whose rascality
could be detected were out of ONCE and
that all of them that had committed
acts which we could proceed against as
criminal were indicted imprisoned.
As we dealt with the crooked public
official. we dealt with the crooked
private citizen; with the rich swindler
in New York or Chicago as with the
horse-thief or homicide In indian Ter
ritory We never attacked man be-
cause he was a man of one political
faith or another. because he did or did
not possess wealth; and we never
shielded him because he was poor or
rich because he belonged to any par
ticular church or to any particular
y.
to remember that we never hesitated
to shield him and stand up for him
once were convinced that he was
improperly attacked. There is no
greater foe of honesty than the man
who, for any reason, in any capacity.
attacks or seeks to attack. an honest
man for a crime which he has not com
mitted. Falsely accusing an honest
man of dishonesty is an act which
stands on the same level of infamy
of ha diqh
self; and 1t is no higher duty to attack
the dishonest man than 1t is to exone~-
ate the honest man falsely accused;
and I should be ashamed to hesitate
the fraction of second longer in one
oase than in the other
Honesty is Not UnlIateraI.
Remember that honesty cannot be
unilateral. Good citizens should cor
daily distrust the man who can never
see dishonesty excepting in men of the
class he dislikes. The reckless agi-
tator who invariably singles out men
of wealth furnishing the only ex-
amples of dishonesty; and the equally
unscrupulous-but no more unscrupu-
lous-reactionary who see dishon-
esty only in a blackmailing politician
or crooked labor leader; both stand
on the same plane of Consciousness.
You will never get honesty from poll
ticians until you exact honesty from
business men; on the other hand. you
brand yourselves as fools or as hypo-
critics II you say that the corporation
owner. or the employer. is always the
dishonest man. and the poor man
never. that 1t is only the wealthy
man who corrupts the politician ana
never the politician who blackmails
the corporation.
ANY man in his senses knows that
there are plenty of corporations in this
country who prosper by bribing legis-
latures just as they prosper by swim
ding the public: and any man IN MS
senses ought to know, In addition. that
there plenty of corrupt men OF
small means who. in Legislative or
other bodies. try to blackmail corpora
tions-and try to blackmail other peo-
pie as well. II they doubt this. let
them look at the revelations OF cor
ruption in my own state-New york
and in yours, my hearers-here In
Missouri: let them look at what has
occurred in California and what has
occurred in Illinois. In Illinois, for in
stance, one of the rascalities developed
by the recent investigation was the
existence of a combination of legisla-
tors who blackmailed fishermen along
a certain river. forcing them to pay to
prevent legislation which would have
interfered with their business.
No Distinction of Class.
Now. scoundrels who do these kinds
of things are of course, the very men
who, on the one hand. will blackmail
a corporation IL they get chance
and. on the other hand will cheerfully
II the chance occurs. sell themselves to
that corporation against the interests
of the public. Their corruption Is no
more due to the action of the corpora
tions than the corruption OF the cor
porations is due to their action; and
evil, and not good. is done by the hon
est but misguided man who would per-
suade you that either fact is true. Our
duty is to war with equal sternness
against the corrupt man of great
wealth and the small man who makes
a trade of corruption; our fight Is
against both the swindling corporation
and the blackmailing or bribe-taking
politician.
We cannot afford to limit campaign
against corruption to those who hap
To M certaln aOcial status We