The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-08-13
" the people of America.

by the people of America.
There is one other thing / want
ITO say, and that is that all this regu-
lation, and inspection, and inquiry
Into the affairs of the business man,
(present a danger that can be met
lin only one way. There is tend
ency for the railroads to be afraid
of the interstate commerce commits
sion, and for the banks to be afraid
of the central reserve board and the
comptroller of currency, and for the
express companies to be afraid of the
postmaster general, and for the in
jdustrial establishments to be afraid
of the new trade commission, and
for the manufacturers of everything
that comes under the pure food law
to be afraid of the department of ag-
,riculture. 1t is critical question
for the people of the united states,
whether that fear is going to control.
For if it does, the power will be
abused. There is only one way to
meet that kind of power, and that is
with courage.
What happens today or tomorrow
is of little consequence. The tend
encies of nation are all that count.
If we permit by cowardice or timid-
ity; by cringing before official power
If wer permit a great body of a
bureaucracy to establish itself in con-
troll over the affairs of our daily lives,
the most vital possession of free
people will be destroyed; that is, the
independence of individual character.
| grieve to see business hating,
to see men out of work, to see honest
people deprived of their income. to
see the pains of contracting expendi-
ture in the household, to see the I'M
employed on the street; but all of
that is nothing compared with the
danger that the people of the United
States shall become subservient to
power; all that is nothing compared
with the danger that we lose all in
dependence of individual character
which has been built up through all
the thousands of years of growth of
,Anglo-Saxon freedom. If we main
tain that, nothing can prevail against
us. If we lose it, we are slaves to
the first conqueror. The subject is
too high and too great for politics.
would not venture to treat it as a
political question, for it goes to the
very basis of the future of our be-
loved country.
It seems no what it is the i'm
portant mission of the Republican
party to reassert the individual indie
pendence, the individual rights, the
individual integrity of the people of
the United States. We are not justly
subjects of suspicion. We are not
justly subjects of condemnation. We
are people of these great states, Of
these busy communities of industry.
We are honest, free, true Americans,
and we must not and we will not live
in an atmosphere of suspicion and
distrust. We will not be governed
by men who look upon us as unfit
to participate in government.
The mission of this Union league
is not ended. Not only Is eternal
vigilance the price of liberty; enter
nal struggle is the price of liberty
You have again to strike with the
weapons of your intelligence and your
courage upon the battlefelds of pub
lie discussion, of public education and
instruction, to strike and yet again
to strike with all your power for the
perpetuity of the Union, for the con-
tinuance of freedom, for the sure
foundations of justice, for the mem
cry of the great man who gave you
birth as an organization. In your
efforts you have my prayers, and al
ways my grateful and affectionate re-
membrance.