'U'
The Commoner.
10
VOLUME 3, NUMBER la.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S MILWAUKEE SPEECH
'" 4 ' "
v
if
Tho Heat Trust's Farewell to Missouri.
(With Ilumblo Apologies to FiU
Grccn Ilallcck.)
You'vo played a moan trick on yours
truly, Missouri,
And hit mo a lick that has black
ened my oyo;
And though at this moment I'm mad
dor than fury,
Yot still I'm not fooling like saying
good-bye.
All round your wldo borders has been
some rich stealing,
And I have boon busy at filching
from you;
And when 1 but think what I've missed
I'm not fooling
Likq, bidding so rich a field a fond
adieu.
Oh! mock not that pang, for my,
hdart is still yearning
For only ono chance greater profits
to clear.
My heart still doth yearn ono more
trick to bo turning,
But, blamo it, you. seem to enforce
tho laws here.
Like an infant asleop on tho lap of
,lts mother
I hopod to remain but you treated
mo soro;
And my sobs and my wails I can "ne'er
hope to smother
Because, false Missouri, I am
slammed on tho floor.
Tho years may go by but my mem
ory'll cover
With tinges of sadness this suffer
ing hour; .....
And still round yow borders you bet
I will hrvor
And wait Tor tho time when you'll
bo in my power.
So hopo lingers near me, hor wildest
song breathing,
And points to a futuro day near-by
and bright
Whon in your long locks my deft fln
gors are weaving
And bumping your blamed head,
and bumping it right.
TIid Usual Way.
Just as Mr. Payrenter dozed off in
his easy chair thoro was a ring at
tho front door. Hastening into tho
hall Mr. Payrontor admitted his land
lord, who entered with a pleasant
smile and a hearty greoting.
Good evening, Mi. Payrenter," clad
to soo you."
"Glad you called," replied Mr. Pay
renter. "I was just thinking of call
ing around to see you tomorrow."
"I'vo been expecting you for sev
eral days," said the landlord, taking
tho proffered easy chair, "but as you
didn t come around I thought I'd dron
in as I wont by." '
"Glad you did. I"
"Well, hero I am. I suppose you
want some repairs mado on tho house
this spring?"
"Well, I thought you would be will
ing to fix up a little 1 in view of"
"Glad to do it; glad to' do it, Mr.
Payrontor. Always a pleasure, I as
suro you, to accommodate a good
tenant I-Iousa needs l.apering. You
have Mrs. Payrenter go down to the
well paper shop tomorrow and pick
out tho paper sho wants and I'll send
tho paperhangors right out"
"I thank you most"
"0, that's all right! Woodwork
needs Couching up, too. I'll have the
painters come out and attend to it
right away."'
"You are very kind I'm"
"Nor at all Not at all! Glad to
uo it. Better have a new set of win
dow and door screens made while
we're about It The old ones must be
in pretty bad shape."
"Yes, the"
"And while we're about it I guess
we might as well paint the house all
ever."
"It would add to its looks and
we'd"
"I'll have it attended to at once.
Lot me know what color you'd like
J) est Guess I'd better havo the
"plumbing overhauled, too."
"Well, it does need it Tho bath
room is not in the best shape, and
some of tho gas fixtures are protty
badly worn."
"Yes, I think I'D havo an entire
new and fashionable lot of fixtures put
in. I always like to keep things in
nice shape for my tenants. How's the
cellar?"
"Well, the cement is badly cracked
in some places."
"Bettor let mo look at it, I guess.
Then I can tell just what it needs and
havo a man attend to it"
"All right, we'll go down and have
a look at it," said Mr. Payrenter.
Just as Mr. Payrenter started for
tho collar ho stumbled over a chair
and fell sprawling on tho floor.
The shock woko him up.
Brain Leaks.
Salvation is free, but it costs money
to keep it
A happy home is an jar.thlv..an,ae3L,
to neavGEr4'
AT sun-faded front room carpet is a
whole lot bettor than a boyless' house.
Tho man who never makes mistakes
novor has anything by which he may
profit
" Tho heart that never aches is tho
heart that is always cold and unsym
pathetic. Solomon was a wise man, but he
foolishly neglected to tike advantage
of his opportunities.
x'ho absenco of a little baby can
make a small house as big and
gloomy as an empty cathedral.
Tho tactful husband always notices
it if his wife puts on a now dress or
combs hor hair in a now way.
Tho man who owns money is to bo
congratulated, but tho man who is
owned by money is in a bad fix.
There is no one quite so lonesome
as tho country woman who has just
moved into tho heart of a big city.
Some people are so interested in
trying to learn what hell Is that they
overlook tho duty of tryirig to find
heaven.
Tho world existed for several thou
sand years without flats, but it did not
get fairly started until the babies be
gan to make appearance.
If we wanted to express a wish for
great wisdom we would only wish for
the ability to answer all the questions
that a three-year-old child can ask.
There is something lacking in the
expression when a girl sings sad,
sweet songs about mother while the
mother is alono in tho kitchen wash
ing dishes.
Personal neatness is desirable and
necessary, but do you not know some
people who would bo better off if they
manicured their Angers a little Jess
and their intellects a little more?
Thoro are a lot of people willing- to
go to church and sing "Tolling On"
and "Work for tho Night Is Coming"
if the pew cushions are soft enough
and tho preacher guarantees not to
preach over twenty-fivo minutes
In his speech at the Plankinton
house, Milwaukee, Wis., Friday even
ing, April 3 President Rosevojt de
voted himself exclusively to the. ques
tion of trusts, toiling what has been
accomplished during his administra
tion. . His speech in full as reported
by the Chicago Chronicle is as fal
lows: "Mr. Toastmaster, Gentlemen: 'To
day I wish to speak to you on the
question of the control and regulation
of those great corporations which are
popularly, although rather vaguely,
known as trusts; dealing mostly with
what has actually been accomplished
in the way of legislation and in tho
way of enforcement of legislation dur
ing the past eighteen months, the per
iod covering tho two sessions of the
Fifty-seventh congress. At the outset
I shall ask you to remember that I do
not approach the subject either from
tho standpoint of those who speak of
thomselves as anti-trust or anti-cor
poration people, nor yet from the
standpoint of those who are fond of
denying the existence of evils in tho
trusts or who apparently proceed upon
the assumption that if a corporation
is large enough it can do no wrong.
"I think I speak for the great ma
jority of the American people when I
say that we are not in the least against
wealth as such, whether individual or
corporate; that wo merely desire to
see any abuse of corporate or com
bined wealth corrected and remedied;
that we do not desire the abolition or
destruction of big corporations, but,
on the contrary, recognize them as be
ing in many cases efficient economic
instruments, the results of an inevit
able" process . of, economic evolution,
and only desire to see them regulated
and controlled so far as may be nec
essary to subserve, the public good.
We should be false to the principles
of our government if wo discriminated
either by legislation or administra
tion, either for or against a man he
cause of either his wealth or his pov
erty. There is no proper place in our
socioty either for the rich man who
uses the power conferred by his
riches to enable him to oppress and
wrong his neighbors, nor yet for the
demagogic agitator who, instead of
attacking abuses as all abuses should
be attacked wherever found, attacks
property, attacks prosperity, attacks
men of wealth, as such, whether they
be good or bad; attacks corporations,
whether they do well or ill, and seeks
in a spirit of ignorant rancor to over
throw the very foundations upon
which rest our national well-being.
"In consequence of the extraordi
nary industrial changes of the last
half century, and notably of the last
two or three decades, changes due
mainly to the rapidity and complexity
of our industrial growth, wo are con
fronted with problems which in their
present shape were unknown to our
forefathers. Our great prosperity,
with its accompanying concentration
of population and of wealth, its ex
treme specialization of faculties and
its development of giant industrial
leaders has brought much good and
some evil, and it is as foblish to ig
nore the good as willfully to blind our
selves to the evil.
"The evil has been partly tho in
evitable accompaniment of the social
changes, and where this is the case
it can bo cured neither by law nor
by the administration of tho law the
only remedy lying in the slow chance
of character and economic environ
ment But for a portion of tho evil
at least, wo think that remedies can
be found. We know well the danger
of false -remedies and we are asahUr
all violent, radical and unwise change
But wo believe .that by proceeding
slowly, yet resolutely, with good
sense and moderation and also with a
firm determination not to be swerved
from our course either by foolish
clamor or by any base or sinister in
fluence wo' 'can accomplish .-much for
the betterment of condftldns.
"Nearly two years ago, Speaking at
tho stale fair in Minnesota, I, said:
"'It is probably true'that; the largo
majority of tho fortunes that now .ex
ist in this country have been amassed,
not by injuring our people, but as an
incident to the conferring of great
benefits upon the community, and
this, no matter what may have been
the conscious purpose of those amass
ing them; There is but the scantiest
justification J:or most of the outcry
against tho men of wealth as such,
and it ought to be unnecessary to stato
that any appeal which directly or in
directly leads to suspicion anu" hatred
among ourselves, which tends to limit
opportunity, and therefore to shut
the door of success against poor' men
of talent, and, finally, which entails
the possibility of lawlessness and vio
lence, is an attack upon the funda
mental properties of American citi
zenship. .Our .interests are at bottom
common; in the long run we go up or
go down together. Yet more and more
it is evident that the state, and if
necessary the nation, has got to pos
sess the right of supervision and con
trol as regards the great corporations
which are its creatures; particularly
as regards the great business combi
nations which derive a portion of
their importance from' 'the ' existence
of some monopolistic tendency. The
right should be exercised with cau
tion and self-restraint; but it should
exist, so that it may be invoked if the
need arises.'
"Last fall in spealdng at Cincin
nati I said:
" 'The necessary supervision and
control, in which I firmly' believe as
the only method of eliminating the
real evils of the trusts, must come
through wisely and cautiously framed
legislation, which shall aim in the
first place to give definite control- to
some sovereign over the great corpor
ations, and which shall be followed,
when once this power has been con
ferred, by a system giving to the
government the full knowledge which
is the essential for satisfactory ac
tion. Then, when this knowledge
one of the essential features of which,
is proper publicity has been gained,
what further steps of any hind are
necessary can be taken with the con
fidence born of the possession of pow
er to deal with the subject, and of a
thorough knowledge of what should
and can bo done in the matter. Wo
need additional power and wo need
knowledge. . . . Such legislation
whether obtainable now or obtain
able only after a constitutional
amendment should provide- for a
feature of which at first should b3
publicity; that is, the making public,
Doth to the government authorities
and to the people at large, the essen
tial facts in which the public is con
cerned. This would give us exact
knowledge of many points which are
now nrt only in doubt, but the sub
ject of fierce controversy. Moreover,
the mere fact of the publication would
?.ur S0orae ery grave evils, for. the
light of day is a deterrent to wrong
aping. It would doubtless disclos
other evils with which, for the time
oeing, we could devise no way to
grapple. Finally, it would disclose
others which could bo grappled with
tion 'C by fUFther Relative , ac-
lOrtfV111 messaee to congress for
1901 I said:
Jl lu tho Interest of the whole peo-
fiStJ ?"? should without inter
fering with the power of the states in
the matter, itaftif nid o0m, ,.
of supervision and regulation oyer aU
,.J
zSffiSl
T(fr.,Adip'tYmfr
