The Green Forest tribune., 1912-04-26
ROOSEVELT ASSA|LS
 POLITICAL BOSSISM
Ex-President Speaks to Thirty Thousand People in
 Arkansas.
PLEASED WITH RECEPTION
Tells Big Crowd at Argenta He Came to Ask for an Honest Expression
 of the Popular Will.

eX-pFeSldent or the UHlJeu oldleS, spent a very strenuous afternoon and evening in Arkansas last Saturday. He entered the state at Fort Smith shortly aSter 1 o'clock and was nois- fly welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd variously estimated at from ten to fifteen thousand, whom he ad- dressed for a short time from flat car. His reception at Fort Smith was an ovation, just as his entire trip to Little Rock and Argenta was one grand triumphal tour. Fort Smith Republicans had just declared for Roosevelt.
 Short stops and speeches were made at Van Buren, Alma, Ozark, Clarksville, Russellville, Morrilton and Ccxway, where crowds ranging; from two to four thousand people gathered to see, hear and do honor to the ex-Sresident. The colonel was manifestly pleased at his reception at every Arkansas stop, and said so, and 1 it is needless to say that these vel comes were only a continuation of AAAANi throughout Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
 MT. Roosevelt was met at Fort Smith by a reception committee from Little Rock headed by J. A. Conner, state chairman of the Roosevelt Republi- can League. Several delays and an accident to the engine made the special nearly three hours late into Little Rock, but the colonel was hur- riedly conveyed to the Argenta skat- ing rink through cheering crowds that lined the way from the Union depot to Argenta. His speech was necessa- rily cut short as he had to leave at 9:30 to connect at St. Louis for North Carolina speaking engagements.
 The skating rink was packed to the doors when the Roosevelt party ar rived, but passageway was cleared and the colonel lost no time in she'd l ing his overcoat and stepping onto | the platform to bow an acknowledge ment to the storm of cheers which greeted him.
 J. A. Conner immediately introduced Colonel Roosevelt, presenting him briefly as the greatest American of today and the next president of the United States"
 Colonel Roosevelt was apparently in the best of spirits and he broke into a haerty laugh when he was greeted by cries of "Hurrah for Teddy" when he arose to speak. He was interrupted by similar cries a number of times. He received these 1 interruptions good naturedly with his broadest smile, but begged his haerers l to keep quiet, as he wished to make the most of the short time that he had to speak. He explained that his voice was not in the best of condi- ton, owing to the hard speaking tour which he has been making.
 "Thcy have led me middling live ly life in Kansas and Nebraska the last three days-and Nebraska is all right he said. 'I also have had my own time even in Arkansas to- 1 day"
 Ills Address in Full
 The coloners speech follows: MT Chairman, and You, My Fellow i Citizens, Men and Women of Arkan- sas-It is a very great pleasure for me to be here this evening, and l | wish to tell you am profoundly i'm | pressed by the kind courtesy of your reception of me. I already have most 1 pleasant memories of Little Rock. It | is always to me great pleasure-a rare pleasure-to come here and see you.
 I have come to talk to you about what I regard as the fundamentals of good citzenship and good govern | ment, for I do not feel as though in this contest I was engaged in any mere factional fight, for the princi- ples for which I stand are the prin- ciples of good American citizenship. When I say that I am for the peo- Dle and against the bosses, I don't care which party the bosses are in, and when I ask for honesty in poli- .ics, I wish to point out the fact that WHen l was pTeSlueHt Il lueIe WelS two scoundrels, one in my own party and one in another, drew just this distinction between them-I took off the head of my own scoundrel first.
 Now then, friends, I wish to insist with all the power I have at my command that the politician who has regarded either the nomination or election as place to cheat the people out of their rights is as guilty of dishonesty as if he filched money. There are too many of our people who look with indifference or with the empty laughter at crimes commit ted in politics in the getting Of nomi. nations and elections. Don't forget that the man who will cheat about the nomination or will try to prevent the people from voting their choice who will interfere with the expres sion of the people through direct pri