Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1902 — WILL ENFORCE LAW [ARTICLE]

WILL ENFORCE LAW

Justice the Keynote of Roosevelt’s July 4 Speech. CURB ON COMBINES. •' t ' President Declares Trusts Must Be peculated by Legislation. Mew Law», He Says, Must Be Administered with Due Regard for AH Interests Expresses Confidence that Reciprocity with Cuba Is Sure to Come—Achievements of the Army Are Declared to Merit the Gratitude of the Nation.

President Roosevelt has proclaimed it to be his uncompromising policy in dealing with industrial combinations to enforce to the letter the laws as they are on the statute books. Almost in the lame breath he gave great praise to Attorney General Knox as a man who can be depended on to work for the administration of justice to rich and poor alike. The President was addressing 200,000 people in the great Fourth of July celebration at Schenley’s Park, near Pittsburg. Those who Were within hearing of his words applauded them roundly, both for the praise of their fellow townsman and for the declaration of policy. The others took up the cheer, and sent it Tinging in one great hurrah back to the city, four miles away. The President's speech was the culminating moment of the day’s celebrations, as indeed the President’s presence was the one center of interest to a half million people gathered there from all parts of western Pennsylvania. He was received with a cannon salute and with a great militarx parade of 3,050 men, at whose head he drove. His address was a fine Fourth of July oration, even apart from the fact that it contained the words of the nation’s chief executive issued authoritatively on national issues. From a summing up of the great national of patriotism it passed to a discussion of the Philippine and Cuban questions, and from them to the topics of domestic industry. As to the Philippines, President Roosevelt congratulated the country on the promulgation of the declaration establishing peace and civil government, and predicted that if there were any embers of insurrection left they would be quickly stamped out. Of Cuba he said that while it was to be regretted that reciprocity had not already been given her, it could confidently be asserted that the gift was only delayed, and would surely come in the end. Of the Industrial problems he spoke at length, dwelling on the difficulty of the problems, the earnestness of past attempts to enforce the statutes, and the certainty that while the present Attorney General remained in office justice Would be impartially administered. Speech of the President. The President’s speech followed directly after the reading of the Declaration of Independence, and was as follows: You have just listened to the reading of the great document which signaled our entry Into the Held of nations 12C years ago. That entry was but the promise which bad to be made good by the performance of those men and their children and their children’s children. Words are good If they are backed up by deeds, and only so. The declaration continues to be read with pride by us year after year, and stands as a symbol of hope for the peoples of all the world, because its promise was made good, because its words wero supplemented by deeds, because after the men who signed it and upheld It had done their work the men who came again after them, generation by generation, did their work In turn. The Declaration of Independence bad to be supplemented in the first place by that great Instrument of constructive and administrative statesmanship—the constitution upder which we now live. The document promulgated In 178 S, under which Washington became our first President, supplemented, necessarily gupplemented, the declaration of 1770. We showed In the revolution that we had a right to be free; we showed when wo constructed the more perfect union of the old confederacy that we knew how to use that right as it needed to be used. Second Great Kpoch. And then seventy years and more passed, and then there came again upon the nation the days of Iron need. There came again the days that denmidlfd all that was best, the life itself of the bravest and the trnest of the nation's sons. And when Sumter’s guns awakened our people and America, until then the Incarnate genius of peace, sprang to her feet, with sword and with shield, a helmeted queen among nations, when the thunder of the guns called the nation’s children they sprang forward to do the mighty deeds which If left undone would have-meant that the words to which we have listened to-day would have rung as meaningless platitudes. Those were the two great epochs In the nation's history, the epoch of the founding of th« Cnlon and the .epoch of Its preservation; the epoch of Washington and the epoch of Abraham Lincoln. _ Those two generations had the greatest tasks to do, but each generation has Its tasks, and woe to the generation which regards the deeds Of the mighty men of the past as an excuse for falling to do In Its tarn the work that It finds ready to hand. The great deeds of those who have gone before us must ever serve not as a reason for Inaction on our part, but as the keenest of spurs to drive us forward on the path of national greatness and justice. We have had our tasks to da In the last four years, or, rather, we have had, as every generation must have, many tasks to do. tasks affecting ns abroad, and one of those tasks being done, as it has been, has signa led oar entry Into a larger world. Peace in the Philippines. It is most appropriate that ea thia Fourth

of Joly, thia anniversary of the birth of the nation, it should be our good fortune to have promulgated' - {he declaration establishing peace in the Philippines and the acknowledgment to the anfiy of the praise so richly due our fellow-Amerioans who wear the uniform of the United States, for all that they have done in the {topic islands during the.paßt four years. We said Cuba should become' a free republic and we have kept our word. To have turned Cuba over to the hands of its own people Immediately after the withdrawal of the Spanish flag would have meant rnln and chaps. We established a • government In the isle nds; -eflitftfriirtted—peace and dF* der; we began to provide for the payment the Cuban troops, who had fought against -the misrule of their oppressors; we instituted a public school system, modeled upon that which has been so potent a factor in our own national progress. We cleaned the cities in Cuba for the first time in their history. We changed them from being the most unhealthy to being among the healthiest cities of the civilised world. We introduced a system of orderly justice to succeed one of irresponsible and arbltratlve despotism, so that any man, rich or poor, weak or strong, could appeal to courts and know that he would receive his rights. And then when in the fullness of time we felt they couldvwalk alone we turned over the government to them and now the beautiful queen of the Antilles has started on her course as a free republic among the nations of the earth. Reciprocity for Cuba. But there is one thing—our policy toward Cuba has not yet met with its entire fruition. It will meet-with IL The course of the last few years has made more evident than ever before that this nation must in time to come 'have pecuniary interests on the Isthmus connecting the two Americas, and in the waters and among the islands adjacent thereto. Nationally we cannot occupy the position- toward these regions that we did toward others, wherfe our interests are far less, and this is doubly true, now that Congress, with great wisdom, has provided for the building of an interoceanlc canal. Cuba must occupy a peculiar relation to us In the field of International politics. She must in the larger sense be a part Of the general political system in international affairs in which this republic stands as the head. She has assented to that view and in return this nation is bound to give her special economic privileges not given to other nations. I regret that a measure of reciprocity with Cuba Is not already embodied In statute or in treaty, but it will be, just as sure as fate. And now a word as to the Philippines. There are yet troubles in the Moro country, the country of the Mohammedan tribes, but ln<- the Philippines among the Filipinos, among the people who have been in Insurrection, peace now reigns. It may be, I think, unlikely, but it Is possible, that here and there some seeming dead coal of insurrection may be for the moment fanned into a live piece of ember, and burst into a fitful flame. If so, that flame will be stamped out. Reward for the Army. t But, speaking broadly and generally, peace has come. Our army has received its reward. And what was the reward of our army? The reward of the consciousness of duty well done. Our soldiers have fought, have tolled, have struggled, so that when victory came they might turn over the government to the civil authorities. Victory came. To-day the proclamation of peace and amnesty has been promulgated, and at the same time our-generals have been notified that the civil government Is supreme in the Islands. Does not that speak well, O, my brethren, for our army, for our troops, that the troops of this people should war hoping for a triumph which Is to put the power into the hands of the civil authorities. By law we are allowed an army at a maximum of 100,000 men, at a minimum of 60,000 men. While this war has gone on we have steadily reduced that army until now by orders promulgated its limit is 66,000, and as a matter of fact we have two or three thousand fewer actually under arms. That speaks well for our institutions. It speaks well for the triumphs of the policies with which as a nation we have been Identities- during the last four years, and, men and women of the United States, it shows how slight was the warrant for the fears expressed by those of little faith as to what would follow authorizing even the small army that was authorized. No body of our citizens deserves franker and more generous recognition at the hands of the country than the officers and enlisted men who wear Uncle Sam's uniform. For there Is no body of our citizens which gives more disinterested services with less thought of a material reward proportionately In any way to them. Other Problems to Face. And now, my fellow-citizens, I spoke of" the past which hns confronted those In Cuba and the Philippines as being one of the tasks which this generation had to face. It Is only one. We have great problems at home to face. I am speaking In one of the great industrial centers, not merely of America, but of the world. A million people stand grouped in a small radius around the spot where we now are. The growth of your cities within this radius has been ope of the most striking phenomena of this day, and here, therefore, you are brought faee to face with those problems which affected our entire civilization at the opening of this new century. The tremendous rush of our industrial development which has brought In its train so much that is good has also of necessity brought some that was evil. The progress that has been made has meant that new and infinitely difficult problems have arisen which we must strive to solve as best we may. Under our form of government, with its great decentralization of power, some of those problems must be solved through the work of private Individuals working by themselves; others by the association Into organized bodies of groups of private citizens, and others vet through the various governmental agencies of municipal, state, and nation. Especially great, especially difficult are the problems caused by the growth and concentration of great Individual, and above alh freat corporate fortunes. It Is immensely or the Interests of the country that there should be such Individual and corporate wealth as long as it Is used right, and when not. used right then it becomes a serious menace and danger. The Instruments and methods with which we are to meet these new problems must in many cases, themselves, be new, but the purpose lying behind the nse of these methods of those instruments must, if we are to succeed, be now as In the past, simply In accord with the immutable laws of order, of justice, and of right. We may need, and, in my belief, will need, new legislation conceived in no radical or revolutionary spirit, but In a spirit of common sense, common honesty, and a resolute desire to face facts as they are. We will need then new legislation, but while laws are important it is infinitely more Important that they should be administered In accordance with the principles that have marked honest administration from the beginning of recorded history. In the last analysis the most Important department of civilised government Is the department of justice. Think what it means!

Praise for Attorney General. The department of lustice. Justice that means that each man, rich or poor, strong or weak, shall have his rights and shall not be allowed to do wrong to his fellows. And you here of this city have a right to feel proud of your representative in the Cabinet, the man under whom we can guarantee that the department of juattce will tie such In fact as well os In name. When it comes to the practical, the ounce of performance outweighs the ton of promise. And under Mr. Knox there has been very much more than an ounce of performance. Oh, ray fellow countrymen, as we face these Infinitely dlfllcuA. problems let us ever keep In mind that though we need the highest qualities of the Intellect In order to work out practical schemes fpr their solution, yet we need a thousand times more, what counts for many, many, many times as much as intellect—we need character. Character, that compound of honesty and common sense will avail os more In the long run than any brllllaig:y on the stump or any advising legislative means and methods. The brilliancy Is good. We need the Intellect; we need the best Intellect we can get; we need the best Intelligence, but we need more still, character. We need common sense, common honesty, and resolute courage. We need what Mr. Knox has shown—the character that will refuse to be hurried Into any unwise or precipitate movement by say clamor, whether hysterical or demagogic, and on the other hand, the character that will refuse to be frightened out of the movement which be thinks it right to undertake, by any pressure still less by any threat, express or Implied. Great Caution Needed. Gentlemen, we have great problems. We csa only tglve them by degrees. We can

only solve them by doing well each parties* tar Mt of work as.it comes uwfor solation. Much can be done along the lines of super* vision and regulation of the great industrial combinations which; have become so marked a feature in our civilization, but if we recklessly try without proper thought, without proper caution, to do too much we shall do nothing or else we shall work a ruin that will be felt most actitely among those of our citizens who are most helpless. It M no easy task to deal with great Industrial tendencies. To deal with them in a spirit of presumptlous and rash folly, and above all to deal with them lb a spirit of envy and hatred and mallee would be to Invite disaster, a disaster which would be so widespread that this country would rock to its foundations. The Mississippi sometimes causes Immense damage by flood. If you cannot dam it and stop the floods, yon can regulate them, and control them L. levees. Yon can regulate and control the current; you can eliminate Its destructive features, but you can do it only by studying what a current is, and what your own powers are. Special Legislation Needed. It is just exactly so in dealing with the great tendencies of our industrial civilisation. Wte cannot- turn back the wheels of progress. If we could it would mean the absolute destruction of lust such industrial centers as this. We will either do nothing or we will do damage If we strive Ignorantly to achieve the impossible. But that fact does not excuse us for failure to strive to do what Is possible. Special legislation is needed, some of that legislation must come through municipalities, but above and beyond all legislation we need honest and fearless administration of the laws as they are on the statute books. Honest and fearless administration of those taws in the interest neither of the rich man as such, nor of the poor man as such, but in the Interest of exact and equal justice to all alike, and such administration you will surely have whHe Mr. Knox remains as Attorney General In the Cabinet at Washington. Speaks at a Banquet. At a banquet in the evening, responding to the toast, “Theodore Roosevelt,” the President said sh part: I think, gentlemen, that the average American Is a pretty good fellow. All that is necessary to find that out Is to know you and that the differences that come up among us mainly spring from failure to know one another. Sometimes that causes differences ambng localities; sometimes it causes differences between employer and employed, between the men of the town and the men of the country, between the men of one occupation and the men of another occupation, and I most earnestly and fervently believe that jthe best solvent for all such conditions is bringing the people together, so that one side shall get to understand the viewpoint of the other. I don’t sgy that that will prevent all differences, but I am confident that it will minimize the causes.of difference, and that it will make the differences far less acute. I don't believe that any considerable body of our people really wishes ill of any considerable body of our people, and when there is an appearance of such wishing ill I am sure that it springs from some fundamental misapprehension between the two sides, and that the best way of removing the difference, be It real or assumed, is to try to get the two sides together, and to try to make each approach the meeting with the honest purpose of looking at the matter that is "the cause of the difference from the viewpoints of both. And so, gentlemen, I feel that meeting such as those to-night, such a great assemblage which I had the honor of addressing this morning, served one purpose, the most important of all—the purpose of getting our people together, the bringing them in contact, one with the other, so that they may realize that the differences that divide one from the other arg trivial, and that the unity among us all is fundam intal.

Principle of Brotherhood. Perhaps the most valuable lesson taught by the civil war as regards our civil life, apart from the lessons taught in military life, was that of brotherhood, of unity. Wherever I speak of men who have been in the great war, who have been In the civil such as that body that we passed In the'course of the procession this morning, I speak of men, who have practically applied for a number of years the principle of brotherhood and who could not apply any other principle. I mean all that the principle of treating a man on his word' as a man, with all proper charity for his fallings, but with regard primarily with what Is real as distinguished from what his accidental qualities and characteristics were. There are In this audience, there are In every audience one speaks to, men who have fought In the great war, the men who got down to the fighting, to the marching, to the long, wearisome months of drudgery in camp, who_got to put a pretty good judgment on their fellows that were next to them, If it was a fight, and who headed a move forward, or to be sure that the men next to them would move the right way. They did not care a bit whether the men next to them were bankers or bricklayers. They wanted to know- whether they would “stay put.” Now Is that you In civil life? More and more I think, gentlemen, as one grows older one comes to feel that It Is not the sphere in which we perform the duty, It is the doing the duty that counts. Duty, Not Occupation, Counts. I do not care what the man’s occupation la, or what his standing is. If he does his .duty well, he Is a good citizen and If he does not he Is not a good citizen. Compared with that fundamental question, the other question* as to the particular position he occupies In public life, social, financial, any other way—those questions sink Into absolute Insignificance. Now, gentlemen, just one word. The importance of anything that Is said can be tested by how nearly what is done afterward corresponds with it. It Is a very good thing for us to meet together on the Fourth of July, In order to remind ourselves of what our forefathers did, to refresh our memories as to what our government really means. I ask of each man here that he prove bls truth by his endeavor, that In whatever line he may be, that in whatever walk of life he may be; that whatever may be the line In which he does his work, he try to act throughout the rest of the year as he talks on the Fourth of July.