Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-05-25
Speech at Asbury Park.
Mr.. Roosevelt spoke as follows
"MY friends and follow citizn1

5PShO bo 1 =
My friends n fellow citizens:
1T is a great pleasure to be here.
| has appreciated more than | can
say, the reception with which | have
been greeted in New Jersey. And,
friends, | feel that we have a pecu-
liar right to ask your support in this
contst, for this is more than any ac-
ton or even more than any ordinary
party contest; 1t is a fight for the
fundamentals of American citizen
ship; 1t Is, and we progressive Re-
publicans who are fighting for the
rights of the plain citizen who is a
Republican, are also fighting for the
rights of every American citizen, no
matter what his party may be, for we
are standing for the fundamentals of
American citizenship, the right of
the people to rule and their duty so
to rule as to bring nearer the day
when justice shall be done to every
man and every woman within our
borders.
Nov, friends. the principles are
perfectly simple; | ask for all of
us collectively only what each man
individually asks for himself, what
you wish, 0 l, every noe of us
wishes to rule his own life. You
do, | do. | know | will make mis-
takes, but | want to make them my
self; | don't want anyone else to
make them for me. And it is the
same way with all of us taken col
lectiVely. In the long run the
American people Will make fewer
mistakes in governing themselves
than any body of outsiders will
make in governing them. That is
why, friends, | wish to make the
American people really and not nom
inally the masters of their public
servants, the masters of themselves.
MY opponents have said that |
preach a revolutionary doctrine.
Norsense- If they choose to say that
| preach the principles of the revo-
luton of 1916, yes! That is all.
(Applause). That Is all. l preach
the principles of Abraham Lincoln.
1t was Abraham Lincoln who said,
The people of this country are
rightfully the masters of both con-
stitution and courts" Not to over
throw the constitution, but to over
throw those who pervert the consti-
tuition. And, friends, I hold that,
not only is it the right but the duty
of the people to elect and nominate
thei rown candidates, but it is their
right and their duty to exercise such
supervision over every public SER
want as to make their servant really,
really, the servant of the people, as
he processes to be. And whenever
there is injustice done by n pub
lie servant, be he executive or legis-
lator or Judge, l am against him.
Il will support the independence
of the judiciary to the last, but the
independence Of the judiciary is not
jeopardized by the people, it is jeo-
pardized by the special interests
(Applause). And | propose only
that, in the courts the relations that
Abraham Lincoln said that they
should occupy, the relations that
Abraham Lincoln and his followers
occupied to the Supreme Court of
the United States in the bred Scott
decision, when the Supreme Court
of the United States decided that the
black man had no rights that the
white man should respect. Abraham
Lincoln stood against that. Abra-
ham Lincoln said, We propose to
repeal that lewiston; it has got to
be repealed by some one, and so we
will repeal it. Now, in a similar
fashion the proposal that l have to
make about the judiciary don't
touch ordinary suits between man
and man; they don't touch any ordi-
nary cases of the kind dealt with by
judges the world over; they don't
touch the federal courts What they
touch are the decisions of the State
courts on constitutional questions,
where state courts says hat the peo-
pie have not the power to do justice
under the police power and general
welfare clauses of the constitution.
"Mr. Taft said the other day that if
my doctrine prevailed there would be
danger about the repeal of the 18th,
18th and 18th amendments. Mr.. Taft
knows better, because Mr.. Taft is
grown up, after all, and that particular
DOGGY is not fit to brighten political in.
fants with. You might just as we'll talk
of state courts repeating the constitu-
ton. Every amendment of the c%onsti-
tuition is now part of the constitution,
and it cannot be gotten rid of unless
three quarters of the people of the
states get rid of it, And there is just
about as much likelihood of the repeal of
those three amendments as there is Of
the repeal of the Declaration of indie
pendence. And the danger is equally
as great in one ease as in the other. 1t
is such a rank absuridity that it is not
worth discussing.
Friends, ! thought that I had had
some middling lively times in the west,
but upon my word, New Jersey is the
most %atrenuous state | have struck, and
| am obliged to work on schedule time,
so that | have a chance only to make
this short speech to you. In their es-
sence the principles for which We con-
tend are not difficult. They are for
genuine popular rule, and for justice
to be obtained through genuine popular
rule. And | ask you of New Jersey to
remember that more is at stake than
New Jerseys own decision. If you de-
eide against us you will give heart to
every boss, to every beneficiary of spe-
cial privilege, to every enemy of the
plain people and of justice throughout
this Union, and I ask that in this great
| Imam batwpen tho Dlain DpoDla op6