Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-29
FOR PEOPLES RULE
Col. Roosevelt Restates His
Campaign Platform.
MAKES SPEECH IN ST. LOUIS
Ignores Tariff, He Says, Because His
Views on That Issue Are Known.
HITS NEW YORK PRIMARIES
Declares Against BOSSES" in Politics
and Denounces Aristocracy and
BRUTAL Wealth"

ST. LOUIS. March c9.-Theodore Roose-
welt spoke In this city last night on the
topic ''The Right of the People to Rule. 1"
He made five speeches during the day in
this city and one I'm East st. Louis, ex-
planning his political views Wherever he
spoke large crowds greeted him.
| In addition to his speeches, the colonel
attended a breakfast, a luncheon and
dinner. issued two statements, sent q
message to the Illinois legislature and
went over the situation with his Missouri
leaders.
His principal address was the one made
last night in the LIST Regiment Armory,
which was in the main a repetition Of his
recent speech In New York on the same
subject. The Rights Of the People," He
| received a tumultuous welcome when he
reached the armory. All the seats were
filled and hundreds Of persons were
standing He mounted the platform. the
people rose to their feet with a cheer.
waving small flags. which the Roosevelt
| committee had distributed.
Introduced by Gov. Hadley.
Gov Hadley introduced the colonel The
| first reference which Col. Roosevelt has
AiioNC ~ liC III al pIcScuC CALI
paign was brought into tonight's speech.
| Il haven't spoken on the tariff" he
| said, because 1 have little to add to
what 1 said two years ago. in upholding
an honest fulf1llment Of what the re-
publican platform contained on that sub
| ject."
The colonel said he would lay en-
phaSis upon one additional point which
was that the tariff should be regulated
| for the beenf1t of the wage Garner and
| the farmer. and that the benefit should
not all accrue to the men at the heads of
large business operations.
He repeated the charges which he made
yesterday that improper means were used
| to defeat the Roosevelt candidates at the
primaries in New York.
What happened in New York." he said,
| shows there is actual missionary work
down thre for any Missourans you can
spare"
Here in Missouri" ne continued, they
have arranged for contesting delegates to
| the Chicago convention from districts
where they could hardly procure q cor
| porafs guard to make the contest They
| cap only hope that at Chicago they can
Hepeat what was,d one in New York"
! :. In appealing for control of the govern
! ment by the people, Col. Roosevelt said
| the people by the bosses, "or by that
| meanest kind of aristocracy that ever
trod the earth, the aristocracy of naked
| and brutal wealth.
Not a Figure of Speech.
When 1 say that 1 believe not only in
the right Of the people to rule, but in
| their duty to rule themselves and to re-
| fuse to submit to being ruled by others,
| l am not using a figure of speech. 1 am
speaking of a vital issue which funda-
| mentally affects our whole American
life.
There are peoples in the world which
have proved by their lamentable expert
ences that they are not capable of this
self-control, but I contend that the Amer
lean people most emphatically are capa-
BILE of 1t. l hold that in the long rum
| taken as a whole. our people can and
will govern themselves a great deal bet
ter than any small set of men can gov
ern them.
Now, I want each of you to consider
this governmental proposition from his
own individual standpoint. Our contention
is that just as each individual wishes, and
ought to wish, to rule his own life for
himself, so that all individuals taken to-
gether-that is, the people-must wish
themselves to rule their collective life and
not to be ruled by others. Each of us
IcIt WdHtS W lcdu Ills own lie himself
Is not that true Of each of you? 1t GER
tainly is true of me, and if 1 found it was
not true of any of my sons l would feel
like disinheriting them.
In a government like ours our repre-
sentatives do not rule us IN the sense
that monarch or an aristocracy bears
rule over the people. We, the people, rule
ourselves, and what we really want from
our representatives is that they shall
manage the government for us along the
lines we lay down, and shall do this with
efficiency and in good faith. We well
and we are content to let experts do the
expert business to which we assign them
without fussy interference from us. But
the expert must understand that he is
carrying out our general purpose and not
substituting his own for it,"