The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1912-06-28
ROOSEVELT CAUST|C
CALLS NATIONAL COMMITTEE
PRACTICES THIEVERY AND
HIGHWAY ROBBERY.
FORESAW SUCH A FIGHT
Knew When He Re.entered the Ring
that "Powers of Prey" Would On.
pose Him-Maintains that the
Victory Will be His.

Chicago, III. - Theodore Roose-
welt addressed the large audience at
the auditorium Monday night in which
he attacked Taft and the National
Committee in no uncertain terms.
His speech, in part, follows:
MY friends and fellow citizens, I
address you as my fellow Republicans,
but l also and primarily address you
as fellow Americans, fellow citizens,
for this has now become much more
than an ordinary party fight. The
issue is both simpler and larger than
that involved in the personality of any
man, or than that involved in any fac
tional or in any ordinary party con-
test.
I'VE are standing for the great fun.
damental rights upon which all sue
cessful free government must be
based. We are standing for elementary
decency in politics. We are fighting
for honesty against naked robbery;
and where robbery is concerned, the
all-important question is not the iden.
tity of the man robbed, but the crime
itself. The actions of the Taft leaders
in the national committee taken with
the active aid of Mr.. Taft's private
secretary and of one of Mr.. Taft's
cabinet officers, are monstrous, and
they should be Indignantly condemned
by the moral sentiment of the whole
country.
Tonight we come together to pro-
test against a crime which strikes
straight at the heart of every prin-
ciple of political decency and honesty,
a crime which represents treason to
the people and the usurpation of the
sovereignty of the people by irrespon-
sible political bosses, inspired by the
sinister influences of money privilege.
Mr.. Taft at first denied that he
represented the bosses. His denial
was of little consequence. For his
deeds belied his words, but l doubt If
the president would venture to repeat
the denial. AS it has become con
stantly more and more evident that
more and more undisguisedly thrown
him into the arms of the bosses. Here
in Chicago at this moment, he has
never had one chance of success save
what was given him by the actions of
Messrs. Crane, Barnes, Brooker, Pen
rose, Murphy, Guggenheim, Mulvane,
Smoot, New, and their associates in
cheating the people out of their rights.
He was beaten so overwhelmingly by
the people themselves in the states
where primaries were held, that in the
last state in which he spoke, in New
Jersey. he permitted himself to be be-
trayed into the frank admission that
he expected to be nominated because
he believed the National committee
would stand by him.
"One member of his own cabinet,
representing a state that has just re-
pudiated him, has been working hand
in glove with the other Taft members
Of the National committee, under the
lead of Mr.. Crane Of Massachusetts.
Mr.. Penrose of Pennsylvania, of Mr..
Mulvane of Kansas, of Mr.. Murphy of
New Jersey, and Mr.. Scott Of West
Virginia, all Of whom have just been
%repudiated by their own state, to steal
from the people, the victory which the
people have won.
Our opponents here in Chicago to-
day have waged such a bitter and IN.
%scrupulous fight for the very reason
that this is no ordinary fractional con-
test. The big bosses who control the
National committee represent not
merely the led captains of m%ercenary
politics but the great crooked finan.
ciers who stand behind these led cap.
tains. These political bosses are OBJ.
noxious in themselves. but they are
even more obnoxious because they rep
resent privilege in Its most sordid and
dangerous form.
The majority of the National com.
mittee in deciding the cases before
them have practiced political theft in
every form, from highway robbery tc
petty larceny; and political theft is as
dishonest as, and much more damag
ing than, ordinary theft. There is nc
law to reach the o%ffenses they have
committed, but morally these offenses
are far more serious from the stand
point of the national interest than any
of the ordinary commercial or political
o~ffenses which expose the perpetrat
Ors to be brought before the courts oil
justice. The committeeman respon
sible for such action need to be taught
hat h National committee was Great
ed to be the servant and not the
master of the plain men and womer
who make up the bulk of the Repub
lican party.
when I undertook this contest
was we'll aware of the intense bitter
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