Connecticut western news., 1919-10-30
views upon the merit system which

land he had done so much to streng- then, uphold and extend.
 Today, more than ever in our history we are seeking the extension of our foreign trade. -.- Commercial intercourse is one of the most pow erful instrumentalities in the union of peoples. In the efforts we are making in this direction today we cannot help feeling the inspiration which the record of his administra- tion affords us. Ez
 In the category of issues with which the name of Roosevelt is in- separably associated, none gave more ground for violent argument and misrepresentation than his testament of the railroad problem. It was here that he made his valient stand against the excesses of capital. It was in the railroad business that the unfair practices of capital had mani fested themselves most potently. AS the greatest single industry in the land, the railroad interest had com menced to assume that it was its own master. Not because of it's tremen- dous importance in an industrial sense, no government would dare to question. it's right to decree the methods by which its affairs would be managed at the head of many of it's component parts it had some of the ablest men of affairs in the world. But power, uncontrolled and unchecked breeds the desire for more power, and this power came to be directed by number of leading financial groups. 1t was not their own industry or business they aimed to control, but the essential products of the land, such as coal, iron and oil. This control was rapidly ex- tending to the steamship traffic as well. A force such as this unless curbed would in time have all the potency of government itself. Its might would be sufficient to dictate conditions of labor, leading surely to period when the domination of labor or capital would have to be decided and in all probability through sacrificial war between these two elements.
 Roosevelt forsaw this. He de- signed to prevent an industrial struggle that could not fail to do great damage before it was settled. In this he was wiser than the men tors of capital, who angrily refused to meet in advance an issue with which they must inevitably cope. Congresses had sat idly by and avoided action upon an unpleasant subject. Not so, the puissant re- former who had won his first spurs against wrong-doing as member of the New York State Legislature. Where others had doubted, he thought confidently. Where others had dallied, he dared. His course shook the industrial world. His agi- tation unsettled values. But any valuation of his work today will give it a priceless worth in showing the true method in which government should assert its impartial authority over those agencies of commerce upon which the well-being of the people so largely depend.
 N No man was more lovable in his nature than Theodore Roosevelt. None had so many devoted friends. No American has ever had so stu pendous a personal following. Des- pite these characteristics nearly all his most important actions in public life aroused almost passionate con- troversy. Of no question was this more true than the acquisition of the Panama Canal. Here again we find him the man of deeds where others had been dreamers. A canal that would link the Atlantic and the Pacific had been considered, and urged and planned for years. One notable attempt at it's construction had been undertaken. The efforts of the Spanish-American War upon our international position, intensified the exigency and demanded that this nation must in it's own interest act without further delay.
 MT. Roosevelt had very concrete ideas regarding our actual relations with the nations of the old world. When he sent the great fleet on its world tour it was notice to those nations that our executive apprecia- ted the traditions and prejudices of old time diplomacy and was in very truth speaking softly but "carrying big stick".
 To demonstrate the power and efficiency of our fleet served valu- able purpose. But to mobilize our fleet quickly meant that we must have the canal from ocean to ocean. Different routes were suggested but
 in the wise judgment of Theodore
 Roosevelt haste was necessary. He
 had learned enough of the engineer
 ing difficulties to know that the work would require many years for its ac-
 complishment. We negotiated with
 the Republic of Columbia for the
 land necessary in Panama which was
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