The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1910-09-02
Declares the Ex-President
Who Discusses Purity of
Official Life.

KANSAS CITY NO. sept. z.-4Col.
Theodore Roosevelt in one of his
speeches on his visit here said:
There are certain matters which
should never be treated as party mat
tiers; and foremost among these is
the great and vital virtue of honesty.
Honesty should be treated as prime
necessity to our success as nation.
The minute that question of hon
esty as against dishonesty is involved.
then we must all act together as
Americans. without the slightest re-
gard to party Affiliations. Honesty Is
not party matter: and the first man
to attack a scoundrel of any party
should be the honest man OF that
party. When IN ONCE. 1 always pro-
ceedcd upon the theory that there
would be no need OF my opponents
OUT because / would turn them out
myself. just as soon as, by vigilant
and intelligent industry. 1 could dis
cover them The present Senator
Bristow. for Instance. was in the Post
office Department. when Information
reached me which Convinced me that
there was extensive rascality being
practiced in the Department. This
information came to me through the,
then First Assistant Postmaster Gem
craI, Mr.. wynne-an admirable man
whose honesty knew to be beyond
proof The active work OF the in!
vestIgatyon was done by another post
office official in whose honesty, cour-
age and energy had absolute conf
dence-the present Senator Bristow.
When he got through I knew that all
the rascals whose rascalty could be
detected were out OF Office and that
all of them that had committed actsI
which we could proceed against as
criminal weer indicted and imprisoned
AS we dealt with the crooked public
official. so we dealt with the crooked !
private citizen; with the rich swindler
in New Fork 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-I
ticuIar church 4Or to any particular
party. But also wish you especially
to remember that We never hesitated
to shield him and stand UP for him
once we were convinced that he was
improperly attacked. There Is mol
greater foe of honesty than the man
who, for any reason, in any capacity, |
attacks, OF seeks to attack, an honest
man for a crime which he has mott
committed. Falsely accusing an hon
est man of dishonesty Is an act which
stands on the same level OF infamy
with that of the dishonest man HIM
self: and it Is no higher duty to at
tack the dishonest man than it Is to-
exonerate the honest man falsely ac-
cused; and 1 should be ashamed toI
hesitate the fraction OF second long
er in one case than in the other.
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
agitator who Invariably singles out
men of wealth as furnishing the only
examples of dishonesty; and the
equally unscrupulous-but no more
northumberland dictionary who can
see dishonesty only in a matchmaking
politician or a crooked labor leader;
both stand on the same plane OF OBJ
righteousness. You will never get hon
esty from politicians until you exact
honesty from business men; on the
other hand you brand yourselves as
fools or as hypocrItes If you say that
the corporation owner, or the en-
ploycr. is always the dishonest man,
and the poor man never, that it is,
only the wealthy man who cCrrwpts
the pol tician and never the politician
who blackmaiIs the corporation.
Amy man 10 MS senses knows that
there are plenty of corporations I'M
this country who prosper by bribinG
legislatures just as they prosper BY
swindlinE the public; and any man
in his senses ought to know, in ad
dition that there are plenty of cor
rupt men of small means, who, in leg
islative or other bodies, try to black
mail corporations-and try to black
mail other people as we'll. If they
doubt this, let them look at the reve-
latlons OF corruption In my own state
New York-and in yours, my hear
ers-here In Missouri: let them look
at what has occurred in California
and what has occurred in Illinois. In
Illinois. for Instance, one OF the ras
calitles developed by the recent inves-
tigaton was the existence OF a COM
bination of Legislators who black
mailed fishermen along certain river
forcing them to pay to prevent legis-
Iation which would have interfered
with their business.
i