Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1904 — SPEECH BY ELIHU ROOT. [ARTICLE]

SPEECH BY ELIHU ROOT.

Temporary Chairman Republican National Convention.

Elihu Root, temporary chairman of tha Republican national convention, in his address s.t the Chicago Coliseum, Bpoke in part as follows: The responsibility of government rests upon the Republican party. The complicated machinery through which the 80,000,000 people of the United States govern themselves nnswers to no single will. The composite government devised by the framers of the Constitution to meet the conditions of national life more than a century ago, requires the willing co-operation of many minds, the combination of many independent factors, in every forward step for the general welfare. Government on Practical Baals. The practical governing instinct of our people has adapted the machinery devised in the eighteenth to the conditions of the twentieth century by the organization of national political parties. In them men join for the promotion of a few cardinal principles upon which they agree. For the sake of those principles they lay aside their differences upou less Important questions. To represent those principles and to carry on the government in accordance with them, they present to the people candidates whose competency, and loyalty they approve. The people by their choice of candidates indicate the principles and methods which they wish followed in the conduct of their government. They do not merely choose between men; they choose between parties—between the principles they profess, the methods they follow', the trustworthiness of .tlieir professions, the inferences to be drawn from the records. of their past, the general weight of character of the body of men who will be brought into participation in government by their ascendency. When the course of the next administration is but half done the Republican party will have completed the first half century of its national life. History affords no parallel in any ng« or country for the growth of national greatness and power and honor, the wide diffusion of the comforts of life, the uplifting of the great mass of the people above the hard conditions of poverty, the common opportunity for education and individual advancement, the unfveTsal possession of civil and religious liberty, the protection of property and security for the rewards of industry and enterprise, the cultivation of national morality, respect for religion, sympathy with humanity and love of liberty and justice which have marked the life of the American people during this long period of Republican control. Internal Taxes Are Reduced. Four years ago the business of the country was loaded with burdensome, internal taxes, imposed durkig the war with Spain. By the acts of March 2, 1901, and April 12, 1902, the country has been wholly relieved of that annual burden of over $100,000,000, and further accumulation of a surplus which was constantly withdrawing the money of the country from circulation has been prevented by the reduction of taxation. Between the 00th of June, 1900, and the Ist of June, 1904, our Treasury Department collected in revenues the enormous sum of $2,203,000,000 end expended $2,028,000,000, leaving us with a surplus of over $170,000,000 after paying the $50,000,000 for the Panama canal and loaning $4,600,000 to the St. Louis exposition. Excluding those two extraordinary payments, which are investments from past surplus and not expenditures of current income, the surplus for this year will be the reasonable amount of about $12,000,000. The vast and complicated transactions of the treasury, which for the lasi fiscal year show actual cash receipts of $4,250,290,262 and disbursements of $4,113,199,414, have been conducted with perfect accuracy and fidelity and without the loss of a dollar. Under wise management the financial act of Murch 14, 1900, which embodied the sound financial principles of the Republican party and provided for the maintenance of our currency on the stable basis of the gold standard, has wrought out beneficial results. Ou the Ist of March, 1901, when the second administration of McKinley began, the money in the country was $2,467,295,228. This was $28.34 per capita, and of this 45.273 per cent was gold. On the Ist of May last the money in the country was $2,814,085,440, which was $31.02 per capita, and of it 48.028 per cent was gold. This great Increase of currency has been arranged in such a way that the large government notes in circulation are gold certificates, while the silver certificates and greenbacks are of small denominations. As the large gold certificates represent gold actually ou deposit, their presentation at the treasury exchange for gold can never infringe upon the gold reserve. As the small silver certificates and greenbacks are always in active circulation, no large amount of them enu be accumulated for the purpose of drawing ou the gold reserve; and thus, while every man can get a gold dollar for every dollar of the government’s currency, the endless chain which we were once taught to fear so much lias been effectively put out of business. Practical Regulation of Truata. At every election the regulation of trusts had been the football of enmpuign oratory and the subject Qf many insincere declarations. Our Republican administration bns taken up the subject in a practical, sensible way ns a business rather than a political question, saying what it really meant and doing what lay at its hand to bo done to accomplish effective regulations. The principles upon which the government proceeded were stated by the President in liie message of December, 1902. He said: “A fundamental hnee of civilization Is the inviolability of property; but thle is in no wise inconsistent with the rights of society to regulate the exercise of the artificial powers which it confers upon the owners of property, under tl»e name of corporate franchise*, In such a way as to prevent the misuse of these powers. • • • “We can do nothing of good In the way of regulating and Supervising these torporatlons until we fix dearly In eur

minds that we are not attacking the cor* porations, but endeavoring to do away with any eril in them. We are not hoatlle to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to sabserve the public good. We draw tha line against misconduct, not against wealth.” * • * The Department of Agriculture has been brought to a point of efficiency and practical benefit never before known. We have at last reached a point where the public wealth of farm land which has seemed so inexhaustible is nearly gone, and the problem of utilizing the remainder for the building of new homes has become of vital importance. The present administration has dealt with this problem vigorously and effectively, great areas had been unlawfully fenced in by men of targe means, and the home-builder had been excluded. Many of these unlawful aggressors have been compelled to relinquish their booty, and more than 2,000,000 acres of land haa been restored to the public. The postal service has been extended and improved. Its revenues have increased from $76,000,000 in 1895 to $95,000,000 in 1899 and $144,000,000 in 1904. In dealing with these vast snms a few cases of peculation, trifling in amount, and by subordinate officers, have occurred there as they occur in every business. Neither fear nor favor nor political or personal influence has availed to protect the wrongdoers. Their acts have been detected, investigated, laid bare; they have been dismissed from their places, prosecuted criminally, indicted, many of them tried and many of them convicted. The abuses in the carriage of secondclass mail matter have been remedied. The rural free delivery has been widely extended. The systematic collection and publication of information regarding the magnitude and condition of our crops is mitigating the injury done by speculation to the farmer’s market. To increase the profit of the farmer’s toil, to protect the farmer’s product and extend his market, and to improve the conditions of the farmer’s life; to advance the time when America shall raise within her own limits every product of the soil consumed by her people, as she makes within her own limits every necessary product of manufacture—these have been cardinal objects of Republican administration; and we show a record of political things done toward the accomplishment of these objects never before appoached. The Platt amendment is the sheet anchor of Cuban independence and of Cuban credit. No such revolutions as have afflicted Central- and Booth America are possible there, because it is known to ail men that an attempt to overturn the foundations of that government will bo confronted by the overwhelming power of the United States. The treaty of reciprocity and the act of Congress of Dec. 6, 1903,- which confirmed it, completed the expression of our policy toward Cuba; which with a far view to the future aims to bind to us by ties of benefit and genuine friendship, that island which guards the Caribbean aud the highway to the isthmus, aud must always be, if hostile, an outpost of attack, and, if frien lly, an outpost of defense for the United States. When the last national convention met the Philippines also were under military rule. The insurrection from the mountains spread terror among the peaceful people by midnight foray nnd secret assassination. Aguinaldo bided his time in a secret retreat. Over 70,000 American soldiers from more than 500 stations held a still vigorous enemy in check. The Philippine commission has not yet begun its work. Situation in the Philippines. The last vestige of insurrection ha* been swept away. With their work accomplished over 55,000 American troops have been brought back across the Pacific. Civil government has been established throughout the archipelagd. Peace nnd order and justice prevail. The Philippine commission, guided at first by executive order and then by the wise legislation of Congress in the Philippine government act of July 1, 1902, have established and conducted a government which has been a credit to their country nnd a blessing to the people of the islands.

America as a Peacemaker.

All Americans who desire safe and conservative administration which shall avoid cause of quarrel, all who abhor war, all who long for the perfect sway of the principles of that religion which we all profess, should rejoice that under this Republican administration their country has attained a perfect leadership among the nations in the cause of peace and international justice. Wo have advanced the authority of the Monroe doctrine. Our adherence to the convention which established The Hague tribunal was accepted by the other powers with a formal declaration that nothing therein contained should be construed to imply the relinquishment by the United States of its traditional attitude toward pffrely American questions. Meantime, mindful that moral powers unsupported by physical strength do not always avail against selfishness and aggression, we have been augmenting the forces which command respect. We have brought our navy to a high state of efficiency, and have exercised both army and navy in the methods of scacoast defense. The joint army and nnvy board bus been bringing the two services together in good understanding and the common study of the strategy, the preparation and the co-operation which will make them effective in time of need. The present administration has reduced taxation, reduced the public debt, reduced the annual interest charge, mado effective progress in the regulation of trusts, fostered business, promoted agriculture, built up the navy, reorganized the army, resurrected the militia system, inaugurated n new policy for the preservation and reclamation of public lands, given civil government to the Philippines, established the Republic of Cuba, bound it to us by tics of gratitude, of commercial Interest and of common defense, swung open the closed gateway of the Isthmus, strengthened the Monroe doctrine, ended the Alaskan boundary dispute, protected the Integrity of China, opened wider its doors of trade, advanced the principle of arbitration and promoted peace among the nations. The better a man is, the less ready is be to suspect dishonesty In others. —Cicero.