Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1907 — SPEAKS AT KEOKUK. [ARTICLE]

SPEAKS AT KEOKUK.

ROOSEVELT INSISTS THERE IS , BUT ONE LAW FOR ALL. Tells lowan* Common Good Must Come Ahead of Financier's Wi* he* —Favors Improving Water Ways to Give Cheap Transportation.

The great movement for a deep waterway from Chicago to the gulf was given, new impetus when President Roosevelt arrived in Keokuk, made an address and embarked on a steamboat for the trip to St. Louis. From there he wout to Memphis, where be addressed the delegates to the Deep Waterways convention. The President was introduced by Gov. Cummins of. lowa. Mr. Roosevelt said, in part:

Lbelieve so implicitly In tire future of our people, because I believe that the avverage American citizen will no mor.e tolerate government by a mob than-fie wilt tolerate government by a plutocracy ; that be desires to see justice .done and justice exacted from rich man and poor man alike. We are not trying to favor any man at the expense of his fellows. We are trying to shape things so that as far aa each man shall have a fair chance In life; so that be shall" have, so far as by law this can be accomplished, the chance to show the stuff that there is in him. Therefore we need wise laws, and we need to have them resolutely-administered. v. At intervals during the last few months the appeal has been made to me not to enforce the law against certain wrongdoers of great wealth because to do So would interfere with the business prosperity of the country-. Under the effects of that kind of fright, which when sufficiently acute we call panic, this appeal has been made to me even by men who ordinarily behave as decent citizens. I “do not admit that this has been the main cause of any business troubles we have had, but It Is possible that It' has been a contributory cause. If so, friends, as far as I am concerned it must be accepted as. a disagreeable but unavoidable feature in a course of policy which as long as I am President will not be changed. Ia each case the answer must be that we earnestly hope and believe that there will be no permanent damage to business I from the movement, but that If righteousness conflicts with the fancied needs of business, then the latter must go to the wall. m 3 . If a man does well. If he acts honestly, he has nothing to fear from this administration. But so far as In me lies the corrupt politician, great or small, the private citizen who transgresses the law —be he rich or poor—shall he brought before the Impartial justice of a court. I feel that we cannot have too many highroads and that in addition to the Iron highroads of our railway system we should also utllize the great river highways whtclr have been given us by nature. From a variety of causes these highways have in many parts of the country been almost abandoned. This is not healthy. Our people, and especially the representatives of the people In the national congress, should give their most careful attention to this subject We should be prepared to put the nation collectively back of the movement to Improve them for the nation's use. Our knowledge at this time Is not such as to permit me to go Into details or to say definitely just what the nation should do; but most assuredly our great navigable rivers are national assets Just as much as our great seacoast harbors. = Exactly as It is for the Interest of aIL the country that our great harbors should he fitted to receive In safety the largest vessels of the merchant fleets of the world, so by deepening and otherwise our rivers should he fitted to bearthetr part In the movement of our merchandise, and - this Is especially true of the Mississippi and its tributaries, which drain the immense and prosperous region which makes In very fact the heart of our nation; the basin of the great lakes being already united with the basin of the Mississippi and both regions being Identical in their products and interests. Waterways are peculiarly fitted for the transportation of the bulky commodities which come from the soil or under the soil, and no other part of our country is as fruitful as Is this in such commodities.

At present the ordinary farmer holds his own in the land as against any possible representative of the landlord class of farmer—that Is, of the men who would own vast estates—because the ordinary farmer unites his capital, his labor and his brains with the making of a permanent family home, and thus can afford to hold his land at a value at which it cannot be held by the capitalist, who would have to run it by leasing it or .by cultivating it at arm's length with hired labor. “There is one thing I put next to a good citizen,” said the President, “and that is a good mother. lam pleased to see the ~ A number of war veterans had met the President at the station and marched in the parade to the park, and to these wearers of the blue the President also paid a compliment, saying: “I am particularly glad to be welcomed by the veterans.” President Roosevelt interposed several remarks into his address. He touched on the subject hf undesirable citizens briefly, saying: “You will remember that a year ago I expressed my opinion of certain undesirable citizens and I stand by what I said.” He added that he would always condemn the man that incites to murder and would demand punishment for that offense, as he would for the crimes of the corporation criminals. At the conclusion of his address the President was presented with a goldheaded cane by the negroes of Keokuk.