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


from recurring panics.'' The control OF
such system should be in the hands of
the government. and must be free from
manipulation by Wall street or the large
Conservation.
Under this head Mr. Roosevelt reaffirnis
his well known policy on the conservation
and reclamatio of national resources.
We must conserve our soil. our forests
our mines, not only for our own benefit
but for the benefit of our children and
ALLEVIATE it's fee in the water power which
will be of incalculable value as a source
of power in the immediate future" and
! I'VE should undertake the complete de-
velopment and control of the Mississippi
as a national work, just as we have W
dertaken the work of building the Pan
anna canal
Alaska.
I'm Alaska the government has an op-
portunity of staltirg in what is almost a
fresh field, to work out various problems
construct, own and operate all the rail-
ways in Alaska; it should keep the fee
of all coal fields and allow them to be
operated by lessee with the condition in
the lease that non-uSe shall operate
forfeit; a system of land taxation should
be tried which promotes the actual use
of land and discourageS the holding of
land for speculation; the telegraph lines
should be owned and operated by the
government.
International Affairs.
L
should behave towards other nations
actly as an honorable private citizen be-
HAYES toward other private citizens" Our
small army should have large efficiency;
the navy must be steadily built up I'M
til ''it proves possible to secure by inter-
national agreement a general reduction
of armaments;' the Panama Canal must
be forfeited. Panama tolls on deep-wa-
ter commerce should be uniform to all ma
lions, including ourselves; American
coastwise vessels should pass through the
Canal free, for this would be no discrim-
ination against foreign nations and would
give US reasonable competition with trans
should be entered into which we do not
mean scrupulously to observe in every
particular.
Conclusion.
In summing up the specific policies ex-
pounded in his address Mr. Roosevelt
spoke as follows:
Now, friends, this is my confession OF
faith 1 have made it rather long be-
cause I wish you to know just what my
deepest convictions are on the great ques-
tons of today, so that II you choose TO
make me your standard-bearer in the
fight, you shall make your choice under
standing exactly how 1 iceland if, after
hearing me, you think you ought to
choose some one else, shall Loyalty abide
by your choice. The convictions to which
I 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 ana
varied conditions, L have StrlVen anu toll-
ed with men. I believe in a larger use
of the governmental power to help rem
edy industrial wrongs, because 1t has been
borne in on me by actual experience tnat
without the exercise of such power many
of the wrongs will go unremed1ed- L be-
lieve in a larger opportunity for the peo-
pie themselves directly to partlclpate IN
government and to control their govern
mental agents, because long experience
has taught me that without such controi
many of their agents VIII represent s tIeiI
Txro aXnPTlRnCH L
have found that, as a rule, could secure
the triumph of the causes in which most
believed, not from the ponIclaiis az ne ne
men who claim an exceptional right TO
speak in business and government, put py
going over their heads and appealing d-
rectly to the people themselves am
not Under the slightest delusion as to any
power that during my political career
have at any time possessed
Whatever of power L at any time had,
I obtained from the people. 1 could eX
ercise it only SO long as, and to the ex-
tent that the people not-merely oeneVeo
in me, but heartily backed me mp. What-
ever / did as president 1 was able TO DO
only because 1 had the backing 81 trS
people. When on any point did nor
have that backing, when on any point
differed from the people, 1t nattered not |
whether I was right or wneLner l was
wrong, my power vanished: l tEled my |
best to lead the people, to advise them, to
tell them what I thought was right; IL
necessary, 1 never hesitated to tell them |
what I thought they ought to hear, even
for them to hear it; but 1 recognized that |
my task was to try to lead them ana not |
TO drive them, to take them into my con- |
fidence, to try to show them THAI 1 was |
right, and then Loyalty and in good faltn |
TO accept their decision. L Will do any |
thing for the people except what my cor |
science tells me is wrong. and that can |
10 for no man and no set of men; L holG
hat a man cannot serve the people wen
hold also that where his conscience bids
him refuse to do what the people desire.
ne should not try to continue IN otr me-,
-em should be so shaped that the publ1c
servant when he cannot conscientiously
larry out the wishes of the people, shalI
them in office; and hold
hat the public servant can by SO ooIlg,
better than in any other way serve ooth
hem and his conscience.
.ESurelv there never was a fight better
worth making than the one in which we
ire engaged. 1t little matters what be-
alls any one of US who for the time b.
ng stand in the forefront of the battle
nope we shall win, and believe that II
We can wake the people to what the fight
'eally means we shall win. But, win or
ose, we shall not falter. Whatever fate
nay at the moment overtake any of US.
he movement itself will not stop Our
.ause is based on the eternal principles of
righteousness; and even though we VINO
low lead may for the time fail, in the end
he cause itself shall triumph. Six weeks
Lgo, here in Chicago. spoke to the hor-
st representatives of convention which
vas not dominated by honest men; con-
-ention wherein sat, alas! a majority OF
men who, with sneering Indifference to
very principle of right, so acted as to
ring to a shameful end a party which
lad been founded over half century ago
~ men in whose souls burned the fire of |
ofty endeavor- Now to you men who, in
our turn. have come together to spend
nd be spent in the endless crusade
gainst wrong, to you who face the future
esolute and confident, to you who strive
n a spirit of brotherhood for the better
nent of our nation. to you who grid your
elves for this great new fight in the |
ever-ending warfare for the good of hui
mankind. I say in closing what in that
peech 1 said in closing: We stand at
Arma geddon, and we battle for the Lord"
The Address in Full
To you men and women who have
hH- Ia hi cit IL IL