New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-09-28
MR. ROOSEVELT SOUNDS
BATTLE. CRY IN STATE
Direct Primaries and Elimination of Corrupt Influences
High Praise for President Taft

President Taft.
the betterment 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. I hold that
we show ourselves the best servants Of ou-
party when. with all our might. We strive
TO make that party the hest servant of the
people as a whole.
War Against Corruption.
"Our first duty is to war against dis
honesty We war against II in pubic
life. and we war against it In business Iife
Corruption I'm every form is the arcn
enemy of this Republic, the arch enemy
of free institutions and Of government by
the people. an even more dangerous enemy
than the open lawlessness of violence, be-
cause it works in hidden and furtive fash
ion We are against corruption In poll
tics. we are against corruption in bust
ness, and above all. and with all our
strength. we are against the degrading al
lance of crooked business and crooked
politics, the alliance which adds strength to
the already powerful corrupt boss and 10
the already powerful corrupt head Of big
dual capacity enemies against whom every
natriotic man should stand with unwaver-
ing firmness.
Let no man say that this Is an assault
,;non the honest business man. That is as
foolish to say that Il is an assault upon
the upright political leader. The extent
of our generation for the great name Of
Abraham Lincoln. a true servant Of the
people measures also the extent OF our
adherence for the crooked boss who mis-
leads and misgoverns and corrupts the
people: and so the high regard in which
we hold the upright and honest bust
ness man who reaps a great reward by
rendering a great service to the community
IS the measure of our contempt and alb
horrence for that business man, big or
little. who wins success by corruption and
fraud, who swindles the public instead of
serving the public.
Honesty and Progressiveness.
In short, our attitude is merely that
we stand for honesty as well as for pro-
gressiveness 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 crookedness In the small
men, but We are against 1t just strongly
in the big men. We Judge each man by
his conduct, and not by his wealth or his
social station, and we hold II to be our
hounden duty to strive steadily TO make
and to keep this great American COM
monwealth as true democracy and stead
lily to endeavor to shape our legislation and
our social conditions so that there shall
4 be far nearer approach than at present
toward equality of opportunity among men.
The corporation must be protected, must
be given its rights, but 1t must be pre-
vented from doing wrong, and its man
ayers must be held in strict accountability
when 1t does wrong and 1t must be de-
prived Of all secret influence in our public
life
I'VE must strive TO do away with the
social and economic injustices that have
come from failing to meet by proper legis-
lation the changed conditions brought
about by the gigantic growth of our
gigantic industrialism. We Of this state
must make it our business TO help in
efficient fashion the country districts. TO
shape matters so as TO encourage the
growth of the farming communities and
to help give the people in those communi-
ties the advantages which have come in
disproportionate measure to the city rather
than TO the country during the industrial
growth Of the last fifty years
We must guard the interests of the
wage workers. the man who works with
his hands; We must safeguard the woman
who tolls and see that the young children
do not toll We must see that by far
reaching legislation 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 Ger
tain industries shall be equitably and fairly
distributed. instead of being placed upon
the shoulders Of those not able to bear
It. We must make il a matter of obIfga-
ton by the state to see that the conditions
under which working men and working
women do their work shall be safe and
healthful So far as by legislation it is
possible. we must strive to give to the
workingman the power to achieve and
maintain high standard OF living. Final
~. and as a matter of course. we must do
everything possible TO promote and con-
serve the business prosperity Of the whole
country.
Direct Primary Nominations.
we who come together to set the
standard of our party have a Grave re-
ssporsibility to that party and to the pub
lie Democracy means nothing unless
the people rule. The rule of the boss is
the negation of democracy. II is abso-
Iutely essential that the people should
exercise self control and self mastery.
and he is a foe to popular government
who in any way causes them to lose
such self-control and self mastery
whether from without or within. But Il
must be literally self control and not
control by outsiders. We should at once
introduce in this state the system Of d.
rect nominations in the primaries, so that
the people shall be able themselves to
decide who the candidates shall be, in
stead of being limited merely to choosing
between candidates with whose nominal
tons they have had nothing 70 do