Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-09-25
ROOSEVELT ASKS
GOVERNMENT TO
BACK UP TRADER
Business Must Be Encouraged
to Grasp Opportunity Created
by War, He Says.

MARION, Ill, Sept 25.-Addressing
an audience here yesterday. the sec
ond and last of his Illinois campaign
in behalf of Raymond Robins, Pro-
gressive candidate for United States
senator, Col. Roosevelt dwelt on the
labor features of the Progressive
platform and paid particular atten-
ton to advocacy Of the initiative ref
erendum and recall.
Speaking of business conditions,
he repeated that unbridled COMPETE
ion means monopoly. The efficiency
Of industrial combinations must be
retained, he said, but their evils must
be eliminated in a manner fair TO all
"Unbridled competition is the father
Of nesNpoly," he asserted. lllustrat-
ing t4s relations of the government
TO business, the colonel referred TO
newspaper article he had read.
1T stared" said he, that it would
be no use for American business men
TO go into the business undertakings
for the moment abandoned by the
Germans because of the war, for after
The war the German government
would put itself behind the German
business men, exercising proper con-
troll over them. but encouraging them
so far as was possible while the
American government would not be
behind American business men and
would, il anything, be antagonistic to
them, We must alter completely this
type of attitude if we are to meet on
equal terms the trained efficiency of
foreign competitors in the great world
Of business today. The government
must assume an attitude of hearty
encouragement and cooperation as
far as all legitimate business, big or
little, is concerned. But 1t must ac-
company this attitude with rigid in
sistence upon the rights of the wage
worker for his full share in the bene-
fit that comes from successful bust
ness"
The speaker said that the Republic
can party fulfills Victor Hugo's defini-
ton of reaction as boat rowing up
stream and unaware that the stream
is steadily carrying 1t down with the
current. He declared that it is be-
cause Of the existence Of the Progress
sive party that woman suffrage exists
IN Illinois, and this, he said, will do
more to solve the problem of the
modern city than anything else that
>ould be devised. He continued:
We Progressives are trying to give
70 the plain men and plain women
OF the nation the power to run their
own government. That is why we are
trying to secure the initiative, the
referendum and the recall.
ut is idle to say this is an assault
on representative government On the
contrary, ii represents an effort to
make government really represent
you. Then you will never have to
use the initiative, the referendum and
the recall In such case there can be
no possible objection from any stand
point to placing these measures on
the statute books. They will only re-
cali misrepresentation They won't |
initiate and enact a law which their |
representatives are willing to give
them; they will only initiate and
enact a law If those who should be
their representatives misrepresent
them and deny them the right to have
~ach a law. They won't refuse by
the referendum to indorse law
which their representatives have 4
passed. unless the so-called represent 4
atives have in every fact proved not
to be representatives of the people |
behind them. The initiative. referen-
dunn and recall are measures to make !
our government really and not merely |
nominally representative govern
ment."