Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1910-09-02
HONESTY IS NOT k
MATTER Of PARTY
Prime Necessity to Our Success
as Nation, Says Roosevelt.
ADDRESS AT KANSAS CITY
1reat Issue Declared to Be Doine
Away With Special Privilege
Praise Is Given Senator
BristoW.


president Roosevelt arrived here
shortly after noon today. and spent
the day as the guest of the CONNER.
cial club. The reception committee
and the Thirteenth regiment met
him at the station and there was a
short parade through the city to the
Hotel Baltimore, where luncheon was
served. Among the guests were Gov
ernor Hadley of Missouri, Governor
Stubs of Kansas. General Funston
and the senators from Missouri and
Kansas
Makes Lively Speech.
This evening, after dinner given
py the officers Of the Commercial
club, Col. Roosevelt delivered a lively
address on honesty and corruption in
the public service. He said:
Ihere are certain matters which
shouid 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 as 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
once, / always proceeded upon the
theory that there would be no need
or my opponents raising the cry OF
Turn the rascals out" because I
would turn them out myself jrst as
soon as, by vigilant and intelligent in
dustry. ! could discover them The
present Senator Bristow. for instance,
was in the Post-Ofhce Department
when information reached me which
convinced me that there was extensive
rascality being practiced in the depart
ment. This information came to me
through the then First Assistant Post
master General. Mr.. Wyn1e--aE admir-
able man whose honesty l knew to be
beyond proof. The active work of the
, investigation was done by another
post office official in whose honesty
courage. and energy I had absolute
conference.-the present Senator Bris-
tow. When he got through I knew
that all the rascals whose rascality
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 swindle1
in New York or Chicago as with the
horse-thief or homicide in Indian Ter.
/ ritory. We never attacked Il man be.
cause he was man of one politica
faith or another. because he did or die
not possess wealth; and we neve,
| shielded him because he was poor O.
| rich. because he belonged to any par
| ticular church or to any particula
party. But ! also wish you especial.
| to remember that we never hesitatet
to shield him and stand up for hin
once we were convinced that he wa:
improperly attacked There is nj
greater foe Of honesty than the mar
who, for any reason. in any capacity
attacks. or seeks to attack, an homes
man for crime which he has not com
mitted. Falsely accusing an homes
man of dishonesty is an act which
stands on the same level OF infamJ
with that of the dishonest man him
self; and it is no higher duty to attack
the dishonest man than it is to exoner
ate the honest man falsely accused
and should be ashamed to hesitate
the fraction of second longer in enc
case than in the other.
~ Honesty Is Not uniIateraI.
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 agl-
tator who invariably singles out mel
of wealth as furnishing the only ex'
amples of dishonesty; and the equal,
unscrupulous-but no more tunscrupu'
lous-reactionary who can see dishon
esty only in a Matchmaking politician
or crooked labor leader: both stanc
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 If you say that the corporation
owner. or the employer, is always the
dishonest man, and the poor mar
never, that it is only the wealthy
man who corrupts the politician ano
never the politician who blackmails
the corporation.
ANY man in his senses knows thai
there are plenty Of corporations IN TINS
country who prosper by bribing legls'
latures just as they prosper by swim
ding the public; and any man in MS
senses ought to know, in addition. that
there are plenty Of corrupt men OF
small means who, in legislative OF
other bodies. try to b1ackmail corpora
tions-and try to blackmail other PEG.
ME as we'll. If they doubt this. let
them look at the revelations OF cor
r11ption in my own state-New York
and in yours, my hearers-here IN
Missouri; let them look at what his
occurred in California and what has
occurred in Illinois. In Illinois, for in.
stance. one of the rascalities Developed
Nv the recent investigation was the
eristence Of a combination OF leg1sla-
tors who blackmailed fishermen along
a certain river, forcing them to pay to
nrevent legislation which would nave
interfered with their business. LIZ
No Distinction Of Class.
Now scoundrels who do these kinds
~ things are, Of course, the very men
who. on the one hand, will blackmall
a lcorporation. If they get a cnance'
and. on the other hand, will cheerfully'
~ the chance occurs. sell themselves %
that corporation against the interests
~ the public. Their corruption rs no
more due to the action of the corpora
tions than the corruption OF the cor
norations Is due to their action; ano
evil. and not good, is done by the nom
est hut 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 VINO makes
:. trade of corruption: our hsht is
a 1ainst both the swindling corporation
ard the Matchmaking or bribe-taklng
We cannot afford to limit campaign
, ,.ainst corruption to those VINO nap
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