Evening star., 1936-06-12

Continued From First PaRe.)
memory of his elaborate preliminary
receptions at Houston. San Jacinto,
San Antonio and Austin.
First at San Jaclnto Battlefield near
Houston, and then at the historic
Alamo at San Antonio, the President
yesterday praised Texas heroes who
made it possible for the Lone Star
State to become republic 100 years
ago and then a State under the Stars
and Stripes.
Thousands greeted the travelling
Chief Executive. Another great crowd
met his train at Austin, the State
capital last night where from the rear
platform the President paid tribute to
Vice President Garner and for the
third time in as many speeches men
toned the value of peace
At the Alamo, where he placed a
wreath. he also repeated a theme in
his Little Rock speech-freedom for
the individual against license by Spe-
cial privilege.
Text OF Address.
Following is the text of Roosevelt s
Texas Centennial speech:
l have come here TO bear the tribute
OF the Nation to you on your hum
dredth birthday; you are a hundred
years young. l am here also because
conceive it to be one of the duties
and the privileges of the presidency
TO visit, from time to time, every part
of the United States When l was
appointed Assistant Secretary of the
Navy by President Wilson in 1918,
had visited, as I recall, only about 20
States, but during the next few years
l had the fortunate opportunity of
going into all the others. Seeing
things at first hand is a good habit
have been fortunate indeed, for as
a result of personal contacts with
every part of the United States dur
ing many years past have tried hon.
eStly to visualize the problems of every
part of the land in their relationships
to every other part, and to the unity
of the whole. This great Centennial
Exposition is not for Texas alone, it
is for the people OF all the other At
States as well. l hope that they will
take full advantage of it. During the
past three years, with the return of
confidence and the great increase in
prosperity, the excellent custom Of
getting acquainted with the United
States has asserted itself. We see a
great tide of travel by rail, by plane,
by ship and by automobile. We are
indeed seeing things at first hand
may the habit spread.
Coincident with the return of bet
ter days, we have witnessed three
great expositions-th Century Of
Progress in Chicago, so popular that
it was kept open for a second year;
the California International Exposi-
ton in San Diego. which is open to-
day in its second successful year
and the third is this fine exposition
commemorating the century of the
independence of Texas May you
have all the good luck you so well de-
serve. 1t is not mere acres that count
in this world 1t is, rather, the char
acter of the people who dwell upon
them.
You, the people of Texas, have
been tried by fire in these hundred
years. You have commenced a war
for independence. You have been
apparently defeated, and then you
have won out. You have gone
through the difficult days of the War
Between the States and the trials of
reconstruction. You have had to
fight against oppressors from within
and without.
Your farmers were among the first
to rebel against exploitation by the
railroads. In a period of monopoly,
combinations. overcapitalization, high
rates, poor service and discrimination
against the small shipper, you estab-
lished a landmark in the regulation of
public utilities for the good of their
users
Later, when industrial development
came to Texas, you were confronted
by corporations that got out of hand.
Here again you called into play the
old Texas spirit of freedom for the
individual, and out of it came your
antitrust laws, preceded by only one
other State in the Union.
Ruin Prophets COnfounded.
1t is. as recall my history, q fact
that during this period there were
many prophets of evil who foretold
the ruin of Texas by the enactment
of legislation to curb these abuses.
Yet it is a matter of record that sew
eral years later an authoritative sur
vey reported this:
No part of>the Union is more pros
porous, no other State has so sympa-
thetically pursued a policy of corpo-
ration regulation, and no other State
is so free from the domination of
special interests"
Why did the people of Texas do
this more than a generation ago?
They believed in democracy in gov
ernment, but they discovered that
democracy in government could not
exist unless, at the same time, there
was democracy in opportunity.
You found that certain forms Of
monopoly, the combinations OF public
utilities and other businesses which
sought their own ends, were undemo-
cratic because they were bearing down
heavily on their smaller competitors
and on the people they served. Be-
cause of this they we're taking away
opportunity.
Today we have restored democracy
in government.
We are in the process Of restoring
democracy in opportunity.
In our national life, public ana pri-