The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-17

said he, leach wolf dislikes the Other
but there is not any benefit to the sheer
IN that dislike"
The colonel said he was taking a
| more advanced stand constantly as he
went forward with the new party
movement.
AS this movement Develops" he
told his hearers, instead of being less
radical, have grown more radical l.
1 am ready to go further than the
platform.
The presidents usefulness ceasn
when he no longer represents the peo-
ple- sometimes I am going to devel-
op that thought. For the present I
shall go no further than the plat
FORM
Assails Old Parties.
In his prepared speech Colonel
Roosevelt assatled the Republican and
Democratic parties and discussed the
tariff and currency questions.
Il take peculiar pleasure in making
my first speech as nominee of the Pro-
gressive party here in Rhode Island.
You have suffered, as in my own state
of New York we have suffered, from
boss politics in the most extreme form
of development The Progressive
movement is aimed at the rotten ma
chimes, the rotten boss system of both
parties. Only by supporting the Pro-
gressive party can you strike any eff
1CCLlNC DlOW against the DOSS rule anu
machine and ring politics in the Unit
ed States.
THE success of the Democratic ma
tional ticket means enthroning in pow
er one set of bosses; the success of the
Republican national ticket means eu-
throning in power the other set of
bosses. The effort at this time to re-
Duke one set of bosses by voting for
the candidate of the other set of bosses
is from its very nature bound to result
in mere futility.
1.-THE difference between the men
who really dominate the two parties
are merely the differences between
great corporation attorneys who for
the moment represent different corpo-
rations, but who come together in
stantly against any movement which is
meant to establish the people as mas
tiers over both.
Zone of our great troubles here in
New England, as elsewhere, is that
the representatives. of privilege in f.
nance and politics control most of the
newspapers, so that the ordinary man
finds the channels of information
choked I do not so much mind the
editorial columns being closed against
US, but it is a matter for real regret
that the news columns are closed to
us.
''There is good reason why many
men should bitterly oppose the Pro- |
gressive party. Every political jobber, |
every crooked business man, every
beneficiary of privilege and every paid |
employee of such beneficiary-slll
these are naturally against US. But
hold that every self-respecting ordi- |
nary citizen should be for US.
Quotes a Kansan.
hitherto. as a standpatter, a re-
dictionary congressman from Kansas
with involuntary truthfulness put it, |
these plain people have been regarded
by politicians as only entitled to pay
the price of admission and sit on che
bleachers and watch the politicians
play the game for their benefit I'm ,
der this congressTran's views, the plain |
people have nothing to do except to |
pay the expenses of the contest which
the rulers wage for their own benefit. |
The Progressive doctrine, on the con-
trary, is that the plain people of |
America are not after this to sit on
the bleachers and look on at the poll !
ticians play the game, that the plain |
people are to be their own masters
and masters over all their public ser
wants.
1--WE stand for a protective tariff. !
but we wish to see the benefits of the
velope of the wage worker. Instead
of decreasing. we wish to increase the
amount of the prize money that is
due those who work hard
in industry; but we stand for more
equitable division of the prize money I
Moreover, our movement is not only
for economic but for ethical better
ment. We do not accept the view that
greed and selfishnesS are the old fdc-
tors to be considered in government I
We insist that in mans nature there
is som ething noble, something lofty, TO
which it is possible to appeal, and we
make our appeal therefore not only to
his self-interest but to what is highest
and best in him.
I'VE intend to work for the eco
nomic betterment of the average c1tl-
zen. We intend also to work for a
broader and kindlier charity OF rela-
-ionship as between man and man.
Discusses the Tariff.
THE Progressive platform has real
" faced the real issues of today. 1t
has done this as regards the trusts, /
IS regards the rights of labor, as re-
cards the tariff. L do not see how
The people of New England can for
1ne moment support either the Re
publican or the Democratic tariff plat
.orm. Remember. that when 1 use /
he word Republican I do not refer
% the rank and file of the Republic