Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-02-23
Speaking Before Ohio ConSti-
tutionaI Convention RooSe-
welt Proclaims Himself a
PROGRESSIVE
COLONEL TELLS. WHAT
1--WE PR0GRESSWESn WANT
Former President ProcIainS
Himself the Champion of
Practically Everything That
La Toilette Has Done
(1y Associated Press. )

of judges, and praise for the progress
sive legislation in Wisconsin instituted
and furthored by Senator Robert H..
LaFollette when ne was governor, were,I
topics discussed by Theodore Roosevelt
in an address today before the Ohio
constitutional convention. Colonel
Roosevelt chose as. his subject. "a
Charter of Democracy"
OF what ne termed big Business"
Colonel Roosevelt had this to say:
THE antitrust law does good insofar
as it can be invoked against combina-
tions which really are monopolies or
which restrict production or which ar
officially raise prices. But in so far
as its workings are uncertain or as it
threatens corporations which have not
been guilty of anti-social conduct it
does harm. There should be fixed
governmental policy which shall clearly
define and punish wrong-doing ana
give in advance full Information to any
man as to just what he can and just
what he cannot legally and properly
do"
AS to the fitness of the American
people for enlightenment, Colonel
Roosevelt said:
| MANY eminent lawyers pelleNe Ludl
| the American people. are not fitted for
popular government and that it is nee
essary to keep the judiciary independ-
ent of the majority Of the people,
take absolute issue with all those who
| hold such a position. t.H
! OF the recall Of judges, he said:
THE question Is one Of expediency
/ merely. Each community has the right
| TO try, the experiment for itself in
| MA 7
lieve in adopting the recall save as
last resort when it has become clearly
evident that no other course VIII
achieve the desired hesult. tzs~-
TRIBUTE TO IlAFOLLETTE.
senator LaFoliette was mentioned
but once, as follows
"FoIlowinge Senator IsaFollette
number of practical workers and think
! ers in wisconsin have turned that state
! into an experimental laboratory OF Wise
/ governmental action in aid of social
and Industrial justice. They have ini-
! :iated that kind of progressive govern
ment which means not only the preser-
walton of true democracy, but the eN-
tension of the principle of true Democ-
racy into industrialism as well as INTO
] politics. SO '.
Colonel Roosevelt said in. part
Il hold it to be the duty of every pub
| lie servant and of every man VINO IN
public or in private life holds posi-
1 ton of leadership in thought or action
to endeavor honestly and fearlessly TO
! guide his fellow-countrymen to right de-
| cisions but emphatically dissent from
/ the view that 1t is either wise or nee
| essarv to trv to devise methods which
under the constitution will automatically
prevent the people from deciding for
themselves what governmental action
/ they deem just and proper.
LET PEOPLE RULE.
eft is impossible to invent eonstitu-
| tional devices which will prevent the
| popular win from lbeing effective for
wrong without also preventing it from
4 being effective for right. The only safe
course to follow in this great American
! Democracy is to provide for making the
popular. Judgment really effective. But 1t
is q false constitutionalism, false
craftsmanship, to endeavor by the exer-
else of a perverted ingenuity to seem
to give the people full power and at
the same time to trick them out of 1T.
yet this is precisely what is done
in every case where the state permits
! its representatives, whether on the
| bench or in the legislature or in execu-
tive office, to declare that it has not
the power to right grave social wrongs
or that any of the officers created by
| the people, and rightfully the servants
/ o
i to be the masters Of the people. Consti-
| tuition makers should make. 1t clear be-
yond shadow of doubt that the people
i in their legislative capacity have the
power to enact into law any measure
they deem necessary for the betterment
4 of social and industrial conditions.
IT hold that he is the real progressive,
that he is the genuine champion of the
people who endeavors to shape the poll
cy alike of the nation and of the sew
eral states so as to encourage legitimate
and honest business at the same time
that he wars against all crOokedness
and injustice and unfairness and tyran-
ny in the business world. This is the
| reason why L have for so many years
insisted as regards our national gov
eminent, that it is both futile and mis-
chieVous 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 rail-
ways and telegraphs had rendered larger
business organizations both inevitable
and desirable.
"FLINTLOCK1 LEGISLATION
1.-THE effort to restore such conditions,
and to trust for justice solely to such
proposed restoration, is as foolish as
If we should attempt to arm our troops
with the fiintlocks of Washingtons
continentals instead of with modern
/ weapons OF pIeCiSioh' HihiAOCh ieSASAei-'
ton, of the kind that seeks to prohibit
!, all combinations, good or bad, is bound
to fail, and the effort, in so far as it
:, accomplishes anything at all, merely
means that some Of the worst combina-
4 tions are not checked and that honest
business is checked. .ag fa.
What is needed is, first, the recOgni-
ton that modern business conditions
have come to astay, in so far ut least
as these conditions mean that business
must be done in larger units. and then
I the cool-headed and resolute determine
|, ton to introduce an effective method
of regulating big corporations so as to
help legitimate business as an incident
to thoroughly and completely safe
Ccoutinusd on Page Kline. Column 81