Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-09-05

around lily fall fhrk ana up Main
street to The Strong. Sherman's band
headed the parade and nearly every man
IN the procession carried a cane and ban
danna handkerchief.
The colonel entered The Strong thea
tire at g:l5, more than an hour late. He
had been rushed from point to point since
morning. and frequent stops along the
route had delayed his progress so that he
did not leave Middehury until the crowd
had begun to ill the theatre. The long
wait was cheerfully endured by an audi
ence estimated conservatively as of 1909
people. and the tedium was broken by fire.
Quent selections by the Bull Moose quar-
tette, and Candidate Guy b. Horton for
the office of city representative was in
PRODUCED to the gathering BY A. H. Town
send.
on the stage were seated some 800 men,
hers of the local Progressive club. many
of them carrying bandannas attached to
canes, and the display of these culmi-
mated in an enthusiastic waving of the red
emblems upon the arrival of Mr.. Roose-
welt. When the cheering had ceased,
Harry s. Howard introduced without
waste of words the ex-president.
COL. ROOsEVELT's SPEECH.
Colonel Roosevelt spoke as follows:
Here in Vermont | feel that we have
peculiar right to appeal on behalf of
the Progressive party. You men and
women Of Vermont represent the very
type of American citizen to whom we must
trust when We strive to make this gov
eminent really a government by the peo-
pie themselves in the interest of all the
people and not of any one class of the
people From the days of Ethan Allen to
the present time the people of Vermont
have sustained the same character for
rugged Independence and for the posses
bincd with the ability to cooperate one
with another. These are the very quail
ties that we are endeavoring to make
more widespread in this republic of ours
and to develop as basis in our govern
nent., The national progressive platform,
like your own progressive platform
here In Vermont. represents a radical
~ new departure when compared with
any of the political platforms of the
last forty years. But the principles
that our platform contains are not
new. They are fundamentally tn.
principles OF Lincoln. the principles
Of Washington. What lie new IL that
we progressives are trying In good
faith to apply these principles to the
actual and Vital needs of the present
day instead OF combining ourselves to
praisng our forefathers for having
applied them TO the needs Of their
days In 1860 1t was OF no use merely
to profess allegiance to the principles
OF 1916; what was necessary then was
to apply these principles to the cur
rent year So we In our turn must
not confine ourselves to prasing the
men of Lincolns time for the wa,
they met Issues that We're living then
but are dead now; we must take the
principles of Abraham Lincoln AMI APP.
ply them to the Issues OF the pres
ent day The National progressive
convention at Chicago thus apple !,
the principles of 1916 ami 1860 to the
Issues OF 1912.
40 HOPE IN PLANTATION OF OLD
PARTIES
Both of the old parties, on The
contrary. have confined themselves to
thrashing over again the old straw
There is not one particle of hope for
social or economic reform contained
In the triumph of either the Demo-
cratic or Republican parties. Each Is
boss-ridden and privilege controlled
Neither dares to face the real Issues
Of to-day Each proposes sham
remedies and tries to distract
the attention Of the people from
their real needs by the empty
sound and fury with which they quarrel
over false Issues. The two old parties
have utterly lost touch with the facts
of modern economic life. and they serve
no other purpose than that of screens
each for it's own sinister alliance OF
crooked politicians and crooked fnanciers
who rule and pilage with impunity 1t 10
no wonder that where this Is the case
the average man grows to regard politics
as a game between two sets OF sharpers
at the expense of muddle headed
public Instead OF n representative
government ours has become an un-
representative government. and the pop
ular will II continually frustrated by the
politicians, misrepresented in the Legtsia-
ture set at naught by the courts. and
trampled on by the forces OF privilege.
Neither OF the old parties shows even
the least faint promise OF breaking up
this condition of affairs. The triumph
of either would perpstuats II. The leaders
Of neither show even an understanding
Of what tho problem means. There is
nothing In either tho republican or tho