The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-28
ROOSEVELT CHARGES THAT
 TRlCKERY AND FRAUD ARE
 BEING USED TO DEFEAT HIM
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE n ------~~----------~------~>-- mess man, but I also want to do full Justice to the small business man, and the middle sized business man. It should be the policy of the government clearly to define and punish wrongdoing, to give | in advance full information to every man l Just what he can and what he cannot legally do. But with the big business man there Is need for especial precautions which are unnecessary as regards the small business man.
 Need Government Control
 "It is of the utmost consequence that we | shall get permanent business prosperity. | and 1t can only be permanent If it is on 1 a safe basis, and 1t can only be on a safe I basis if there is effective governmental control of big business. including the issue | and the sale of stocks and bonds, so as to prevent all such evils as overcapitaliza- | tion and the fragrant abuse of power by | exploiting the business interests of the people for the personal gain of the few. Now l am not speaking as a matter l of theory, I am speaking in view of what 1 has actually happened in connection with l the utter failure of the suits against the | tobacco trust and the Standard on trust | to accomplish a result of real worth. lt 1 is not my purpose at this time to dis | quiescing in that decision In it's final form, or to try to apportion the responsi- blity for this utter failure. The net re- | suit has been that the Tobacco trust and the Standard oil trust materially in- creased the value of their stocks, and
 that there has been no diminution of their power to control markets.
 sThe effort to strangle big business ac- | cording to the methods of the extremists | has only been successful to the extent of alarming all business, and has failed com | pletely as regards adequately controlling | the very kinds of big business which it is necessary most to control, Four months ago. in statement I made, entitled, The Trusts, the People and the Square Deal, 1 reiterated the position l had taken as President in this matter, which is the | same position that l now outline.
 Wall Street Frightened
 At that time Wall street was for the
 moment very much frightened over the
 recently decided Standard oil and Tobac- | co trust casts For the moment Wall street l through it's newspaper organs, and other | representatives, seemed prepared to sup 1 port the policy. l advocated for honest and I efficient control, rather than to see ruin | come to both good and bad business. But | Wall street has changed it's mind. The | representatives of the worst kind of big business have now concluded that the Standard oil and Tobacco trusts were really benefited by the decision.
 Ut Is the duty of the federal and state governments each in its own sphere at | once to begin policy of supervising the organization and management of big cor porations so as to make it possible for
 small investors to participate safely in the ownership of shares and stock in all corporations which are subject to goy- ernmental control. There is at present a gigantic capitalization of stocks and bonds upon which the American people pay from | their earnings whatever annual interest and dividends are paid, and the Amer ican people should have the government guaranty of the honesty of that for which they thus pay.
 We must achieve a permanent pros- perity based on justice, a prosperity which must come by the wise and reso- lute effort to control business under clear ly defined and definite law, by adminlstra- tive work under the law. We must not pin our faith only to a succession of law
 suits. which, under pretense of strangling big business punish real offenders inade- quately, or positively benefit them, as in the cases of the Standard oil and Tobacco trusts, and are at the same time a con- stant source of anxiety and alarm to honest business men whose anxiety is to find out the law and then live up to it. Issue Is One of Decency
 50 much, friends, for what l have to say about business. It is a very impor-
 tant subject but there is still more im- portant subject that I wish to touch upon.
 Now, the fundamental issue in this fight is an issue of honesty, decency, fair play.
 Have the people the right to rule? Have
 the masses of the republican party the right to express their will as to who the nominee for President shall be? Or are they to be bullled and defrauded out of that right and is the nomination to be entrusted to the representatives of politi- cal and financial privilege, the representa- lives of the powers of pillage, the men who, with the backing of big crooked
 business. work through the lowest kind of political machinery and count on the si- lence or support of every newspaper that is owned or controlled by or directly or indirectly responsive to those great fnan- cial powers that work in the darkness. Is Not Ordinary Fight
 Now, am using strong language. be- cause only strong language will describe the facts a sthey actually are. I shall l give details. This is not an ordinary fac | tonal fight it is far more important even
 than any ordinary party fight. The issue | is in substance whether the American people are fit and able to govern them selves or whether they are 10 De governed 1 by those machine politicians whose close alliance with the worst forms of big busi- ness has produced nine-tenths of the cor ruption and scandal of American public | life" | Colonel Roosevelt said that fin many parts of the country the opposition was | counting for success on methods which 1 I can only characterize as infamous" He asserted that President Taft had con- 4Ino rf ina nf 10 a of the people by representative part | of the people"
 Raps Taft's Leaders
 | "In pursuit of this theory of govern Take No Chances