The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-02-21
PEOPLE MUST HAVE FINAL
SAY SAYS ROOSEVELT IN
ROUSING SPEECH TODAY

Continued From Page One
extension Of the principles of tru,
democracy into industrialism as wei
as into politics"
Colonel Roosevelt said in part:
4 hold 1T to be the duty Of eyerJ
public servant and or every man who
In public or private life holds a posi-.
ton Of leadership in thought or &C.
ton, to endeavor honestly and fear.
lessly to guide his fellow
to right decisions; but / emphaticalI,
dissent from the view that it is either
wise or necessary to try to devise
methods which under the constitution
will automatically prevent the people
from deciding for themselves what
governmental action they deem just
and proper.
1t is impossible to invent constitu-
tional devices which will prevent the
popular will from being effective for
wrong without also preventing it from
being effective for right. The only
safe course to follow in this great
American democracy is to provide for
making the popular Judgment recall
effective. But it is a false constitu-
tionalism, a false statesmanship, to
e%ndeavor by the exercise Of a peryert-
ed ingenuity to seem to give the people
full power and at the same time trick
them out Of 1t.
Yet this is precisely what is done
in every ase where the state permits
it's representatives, whether on the
bench or in the legislature or in execu-
tive Office. to declare that 1t has not
the power to right grave social wrongs,
or that any of the officers created By
the people, and rightfully the servants
Of the people, can set themselves up to
be the masters of the people. Con-
stitution makers should make it clear
beyond shadow OF a doubt that the
people in their legislative capacity
have the power to enact into law any
measure they deem necessary for the
betterment of social and Industrial
! conditions.
The Real Progressive.
II hold that he is the real progress
sive, that be is the genuine champion
Of the people, who ~endeavors to shape
the policy alike OF the nation and the
| PSfSASA 0I0NS9 81 % W encourage I6-
gitimate and honest business at the
same time that he wars against all
c~rookedness and injustice and unfair
ness and tyranny lin the business
world. This is the reason why l have
for so man insisted as regards
u national government, that it is both
futile Inc mischievous TO endeavor to
correct the evils of big business by an
attempt to restore business conditions
as they were in the middle of the last
century, before railways and tele-
graphs had rendered larger business
organizations both inevitable and de-
sirable.
The effort to restore such condi-
tions, and to trust for justice solely to
such proposed restoration. is as foolish
as If we should attempt to arm our
troops with the fintIocks of Wash
ington's ~continentals instead of with
modern weapons of precision. Flint
lock legislation, of the kind tina seeks
to prohibit all combinations, good or
bad. is bound to fail. and the effort in
so-far as it ~aecomplishes anything al
all, merely means that some of the
worst combinations are not checked
and that honest business is checked
What is needed is. first, the recog-
milton that modern business conditions
have come to stay in-so far at least as
these conditions mean that business
must be done in larger units, and then
the ~cool-headed and resolute determin-
alton to introduce an effective method
of regulating big corporations so az to
help legitimate business as an Incl
dent to thoroughly and completely
safeguarding the interests OF the peo-
pie as a whole.
The middle-sized business men
form an element of strength which is
Of literally incalculable value to the ma
ton. The average business man of
this type is, as a rule. a leading citizen
Of his community, foremost in every
thing that tells of it's betterment. a
man whom his neighbors look up to
and respect.
Yet nowadays many men of this
kind, when they come to make neces-
sary trade agreements with one an
other, find themselves in danger OF be-
coming unwilling transgressors Of the
law, and are at a loss to know what
the law forbids and what 1t permits.
This is all wrong. There should be a
fixed governmental policy, a policy
which shall clearly define and punish
wrong-doing. and shall give in advance
full Information to any man as to just
what he can and just what he cannot
legally and properly do.
Absurd and Wicked.
TT is absurd and wicked to treat
the deliberate lawbreaker as on an
exact par with the man eager to obey
the law, whose only desire is to find
out from some competent govern
mental authority what the law is and
then live up to it. 1t is absurd to
endeavor to regulate business In the
interest Of the public by means Of long
drawn law suits without any accom-
paniment of administrative control
and regulation, and without any at
tempt to discriminate between the
honest man who has succeeded in
business because of rendering a serv-
ice to the public and the dishonest
man who has succeeded In business
by cheating the public.
Tt ia imperative TO exercise over
big business q control and super
vision which Is unnecessary as re-
CARDS small business. / do not be-
Iieve in making mere size OF and by
itself criminal. The mere fact OF size.
however, does unQuestionabIy carry
the po~tentiahty of such grave wrong
doing that there should be by law
provision made for the strict super
vision and regulation of these great
industrial concerns doing an inter-
state business much as we now regu-