The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-06

| coastwise traffic from Canal tolls; and
| at any future time we might have found
| ourselves obliged to arbitrate the question
! whether, in the event of war, We could
vessels and closed to those of our foes.
/ There could be no better illustration of
the extreme unwisdom of entering into in
! ternadonal agreements without paying
| heed to the question of keeping them. On
| the other hand, we deliberately, and with
our eyes open, and after ample consldera-
| ton and discussion, agreed to treat all
| merchant ships on the same basis; 1t was
partly because of this agreement that
there was no question raised by foreign
| the Canal; and, having given our word,
We must keep it. When the American
people make promise, that promise must
Conclusion.
Now, friends, this is my confession OF
faith. 1 have made it rather long because
L wish you to know just what my deepest
convictions the great questions of
today, that if you choose to make me
your standard-bearer in the fight you
shall make your choice understanding eX-
actly how 1 iceland if, after hearing me,
you think you ought to choose some one
else, 1 shall Loyalty abide by your choice.
The convictions to which l have come
have not been arrived at as the result OF
study in the closet or the library, but
from the knowledge have gained
through hard experience during the many
years in which. under many and varied
conditions, have striven and toiled with
governmental power to help remedy in
dustrial wrongs, because it has been
borne in on me by actual experience that
without the exercise of such power many
of the wrongs will go unremed1ed. be-
lieve in a larger opportunity for the peo-
pie themselves directly to participate in
government and to control their govern
mental agents, because long experience
has taught me that without such control
many of their agents will represent them
badly. By actual experience in office
have found that as a rule, could secure
the triumph of the causes in which
most believed, not from the politicians
and the who claim an exceptional
right to speak in business and govern
ment but by going over their heads and
appealing directly to the people them
selves. I am not under the slightest de-
fusion as to any power that during my
political career / have at any time pos
sessed Whatever of power L at any time
had, I obtained from the people. could
exercise 1t only so long as, and to the ex-
tent that, the people not merely believed
in me, but heartily backed me up. What
ever I did as president was able to dc
only because I had the backing the peo-
pie When on any point did not nave
that backing, when on any point az
fered from the people, it mattered nor
wrong, my power vanished. tried my
best to lead the people, to advise them, to
tell them what I thought was right; Il
necessary, I never hesitated to tell them
what I thought they ought to hear, even
though 1 thought it would be unpleasant
for them to hear it; but 1 recognized that
to drive them, to take them into my con-
fidence to try to show them that was
right, and then Loyalty and in good faith
to accept their decision VIII DO any
thing for the people except what my con-
science tells me is wrong, and that l can
do for man and no set of men; nold
that a man cannot serve the people well
unless he serves his conscience. but hol
also that where his conscience bids him
should not try to continue In once
against their will Our government syS-
tenn should be so shaped that the public
servant, when he cannot consc1endouSly
carry out the wishes of the people, snail
at their desire leave his office and not
snisrepresent them in off1ce; and nold
that the public servant can by so dong.
better than in any other way, serve Doth
them and his conscience.
Surely there never was fight better
worth making than the one in which we
are engaged. 1t little matters what be-
falls any one of US who for the time PC
ing stand in the forefront of the battle l
hope we shall win, and I believe that If
we can wake the people to what the 11Sht
really means we shall win. But. win OF
lose we shall not falter. Whatever fate
may at the moment oVertake any OF us,
the movement itself will not stop. Our |
caused is based on the eternal principles |
of righteousness; and even though we
who now lead may for the time fail, in |
the end the cause itself shall triumph |
Six week ago, here in Chicago, spoke TO |
the honest representatives of a convention |
which was not dominated by honest men; |
a convention wherein sat, alas! majority |
of men who. with sneering indifference 70 |
every principle of right, acted as to |
bring to shameful end party which |
had been founded over haIf century aso |
bv men in whose souls burned the fire of |
lofty endeavor. Now to you men, who, in |
your turn, have come together to spend |
and he snent in the endless crusade |
against wrong to you who face the future |
resoIute and confident, to you who strive !
in spirit of brotherhood for the better |
ment of our nation to you who grid your |
selves for this great new fight in the |
warfare for the good of hui
1 say in closing what in that |
speech i said in closing: We stand at i
Armageddon and we battle for the Lord /