fr ' "TEft EyWWMiy .1WNH) JWff 'jtw -gwnpwqpr'iy'
'"'nTM'Wi
SEPTEMBER 18, 1910
run tho government Itself. Tho very men who
would suffer tho most from tho enforcement of
law are tho ones who seem to ho most troubled.
They aTe not afraid that I will encourage lawless
ness, but they know that, if I am elected, tho
trusts will not select the attorney general."
Mr. Roosevelt said: "There is a widespread
belief among our people that under the methods
of making tariff which have hitherto obtained tho
special interests aro too influential. Probably
this is true of both the big interests and tho
little interests. These methods have put a
premium on selfishness, and naturally tho sel
. fish big interests have got more than the selfish
small interests."
. The democratic national platform for 1908
said: "We welcome tho belated promise of
tariff reform now offered by the republican
party in tardy recognition of the righteousness
of tho democratic position on this question; but
the people can not safely entrust the execution
of this important work to a party which is so
deeply obligated to the highly protected inter
ests as is tho republican party. Wo call atten
tion to the significant fact that tho promised
relief was postponed until after tho coming elec
tion an election to succeed in which the repub
lican party must have tho same support fronj.
tho beneficiaries of tho high protective taTiff as
it has a'lways heretofore received from them;
and to tho further fact that during years of un
interrupted power, no action whatever has been
taken by the republican congress to correct tho
admittedly existing tariff iniquities."
Mr. Roosevelt said: "Therefore I believe in
a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in
another tax, which is far more easily collected
and far more effective, a graduated inheritance
tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against
evasion and increasing rapidly in amount with
the sizo of the estate."
The democratic national platform for 1908
said: "We favor an income tax as part of our
revenue system, and we urge the submission
of a constitutional amendment specifically au
thorizing congress to levy and collect a tax upon
individual and corporate incomes to the end that
wealth may bear its proportionate share of the
burdens of tho federal government." In 1894
Mr. Bryan closed the debate on the income tax
in tho house of representatives and democratic
speeches, editorials and platforms have been
filled with, demands for the income tax.
Mr. Hoosevelt said: "The natural resources
must' bo used for the benefit of all our people
and not monopolized' for the benefit of the few.
That is one of the fundamental reasons why tho
special interests must bo driven out of politics."
The democratic national platform for 1908
said: "The establishment of rules and regula
tions, if any such aro necessary, in relation to
freo grazing lands upon the public lands out
side of forest or other reservations, until the
same shall eventually be disposed of, should bo
left to the people of the states respectively in
which lands may be situated.. We repeat the
demand for internal development and for the
conservation of our natural resources, contained
in previous platforms, the enforcement of which
Mr. Roosevelt has vainly sought from a reluctant
party; and to that end, we insist upon the preser
vation, protection and replacement of needed for
ests, tho preservation of the public domain for
homeseekers, the protection of the national re
sources in timber, coal,, iron and oil against mon
opolistic control, the development of our water
ways for navigation and every other useful pur
pose, including the irrigation of arid lands, tho
reclamation of swamp lands, tho clarification of
streams, the development of water power and the
preservation of electric power generated by this
natural force from tho control of monopoly, and
to such end we urge tho exercise of all powers,
national, state and municipal, both separately
and in co-operation. We insist upon a policy
of administration of our forest reserves which
shall relieve it of the abuses which have arisen
thereunder and which shall, as far as practicable,
conform to tho police regulations of the several
states whero they ate located, which shall en
able homesteaders as of right to occupy and
acquiro title to all portions thereof which aro
especially adapted to agriculture and which
shall furnish a' system of timber sales available
as well to the private citizen as to the larger
manufacturer and consumer."
Mr. Roosevelt said: "There must remain no
neutral ground to serve as a refuge for law
breakers, aud especially for lawbreakers of
great wealth, who can hire tho vulpine legal
cunning which will teach them how to avoid
both jurisdictions. It is a misfortune when tho
national legislature fails to do its duty in pro
viding a national remedy, so that the only na
tional activity is the purely negative activity of
The Commoner.
tho Judiciary in forbidding tho state to exerciso
power in tho promises."
In his address before tho governors' con
ference at tho Whito Houso, Mr. Bryan said:
"I am a strict constructionist, if that means to
believe that federal government is ono of dole
gated powers and that constitutional limitations
should be carefully observed. I am jealous of
any encroachment upon the righto of tho state,
believing that the states aro as indestructiblo
as the union Is indissoluble. It is, however, en
tirely consistent with this theory to believe, as
I do believo, that it is just as Imperative that
tho general government shall discharge tho
duties delegated to it, as It is that
the states shall exerciso tho powers re
served to them. There is no twilight zono be
tween the nation and tho state, in which ex
ploiting interests can tako rofugo from both,
and my observation Is that most not all, but
most of the contentions over tho lino botween
nation and state are traceable to predatory cor
porations which aro trying to shield themselves
from deservod punishment, or endeavoring to
prevent needed restraining legislation."
Mr. Roosevelt said: "Wo are face to face
with new conceptions of tho relations of prop
erty to human welfare, chiefly because certain
advocates of tho rights of property as against
tho rights of men have been pushing their claims
too far. The man who wrongly hold3 that every
human right is secondary to his profit must now
givo way to tho advocates of human welfare,
who rightly maintains that every man holds his
property subject to tho general right of the com
munity to regulate its use to whatever degreo
tho public welfare may require it."
' In his speech, delivered at Madison Square,
, New .York, in 1906, Mr. Bryan said: "Tho
democratic party Is not the enemy of property
or of property rights; it is, on tho contrary,
the best defender, of both, becauso it defends
, human rights, and human rights aro tho only
i foundation upon which property and property
Tights can rest securely. Tho democratic party
does not menace a single dollar legitimately ac
cumulated; on tho contrary, it insists upon tho
protection of rich and poor alike in the en
joyment of that which they have honestly earned.
Tho democratic party does not discourage
thrift, but on tho contrary stimulates each in
dividual to the highest endeavor by assuring
him that ho will not be deprived of tho fruits
of his toil. If we can but repeal tho laws which
enable men to reap whore they have not sown
laws which enable them to garner Into their
overflowing barns tho harvests that belong to
others no one will be able to accumulate
enough to make his fortune dangerous to tho
country. Special privilege and tho use of the
taxing power for private gain these are tho
twin pillars upon which plutocracy rests. To
tako away these supports and to elevate tho
beneficiaries of special legislation to the piano
of honest effort ought- to be the purpose of our
party. And who can suffer injury by just taxa
tion, Impartial laws and the application of tho
Jeffersonian doctrine of equal rights to all and
special privileges to none? Only those whoso
accumulations aro stained with dishonesty and
whose immoral methods have given them a dis
torted view of business, of society and govern
ment. Accumulating by conscious frauds more
money than they can use upon themselves, wise
ly distribute or safely leave to their children,
these denounce as public enemies all -who ques
tion their methods or throw a light upon their
crimes."
Mr. Roosevelt said: "I am far from under
estimating -the importance of dividends, but I
rank dividends below human character. I know
well that the reformers must not bring upon
tho people economic ruin, or the reforms them
selves will go down in tho ruin. But wo must
bo ready to face temporary disaster whether
or not brought on by those who will war against
us to tho knife. Those who oppose all reform
will do well to remember that ruin In its worst
form is Inevitable if our national life brings us
nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few
and the triumph in both politics and business
of a sordid and selfish materialism."
In a Commoner editorial Mr. Bryan said:
"The people have nothing to fear from open
enemies. The man who boldly proclaims a prin
ciple, no matter what it may be, can do but
little injury. No amount of intellect, learning
or eloquence can make him dangerous. As Jef
ferson has expressed it, 'Error of opinion may
bo tolerated where reason is left freo to combat
it.' Truth grows in the open field; the sunshine
nourishes and strengthens it. It Is secret in
fluence which is constantly corrupting govern
, ment and securing special privileges for tho
few at tho expense of the many. The man who
advocates a thing which ho bollovcs to bo good
for tho pcoplo as a wholo has no reason to con
coal his purpose; but tho man who trios to
socuro "an advantago which ho knows to bo
beneficial to somo clans or combination bJt
hurtful to tho public, naturally and necessarily
employs stealth. Would tho directors of a rail
road company adopt and publish a resolution
designating their favorite candidate for the legis
lature, congress, tho senate or tho bench? Would
thoy candidly cot forth why they wanted him
and what they expected of him after thoy got
him? And yot it is well known 'that railroads
often tako an activo part In tho selection of
public officials. Would tho directors of a trust
ndopt and publish a resolution naming the presi
dential candidate thoy would support and an
nouncing tho contribution they would mako to
tho campaign fund? And yot It Is certain that
tho trusts have in the pnst Interested them
selves in campaigns. Etornal vigilance is tho
price of protection against had laws and mis
rule as well as tho prlco of liborty. Slnco laws
aro made, construed and enforced by public offi
cials, It is necessary that great caro should bo
exorcised in tho selection of them In order that
thoy, when selected, shall guard tho interests
of tho wholo people and not bo the more agents
of somo corporation."
Mr. Roosevelt said: "Ono of the fundamental
necessities in a representative government such
as ours Is to mako certain that the men to whom
tho people delegato their power shall servo tho
peoplo by whom thoy aro elected, and not tho
special interests."
In a Commonor editorial Mr. Bryan said:
"There Is an issuo more fundamental than cither
tho triiBt Issue, or tho tariff Issuo, or tho rail
road issue, and it is involved in all of theso
Issues, and this larger and more fundamental
issuo is this: Shall tho government bo admin
istered by tho peoplo in tho interest of tho wholo
peoplo, or shall It bo administered for tho bene
fit of a few and by those whom tho few, through
coercion and tho corruption of politics, olovato
to power, Shall tho peoplo rule is an Issuo
which all pcoplo can understand. Shall this bo
a people's government or a government of syndi
cates, by syndicates and for syndicates? This
Is a question that demands attention. Tho
trusts have made tho government a government
of a few, and for a few, just as tho beneficiaries
of the tariff have subordinated tho wolfaro of
eighty millions of peoplo to the pecuniary in
terests of a comparatively few who aro engaged
in protected Industries. Tho paramount Jssuo,
therefore, is tho protection of all of the peoplo
who deslro equal rights from tho few who de
mand special privileges, and this issuo Is pre
sented in every question which Is before tho
public or is likely to come before the public."
"ROOSEVELT'S POLICIES"
Tho San Francisco Star prints tho following:
Sixteen years ago William Jennings Bryan
mildly criticised a certain decision of tho su
preme court. "The Interests" forthwith dubbed
Bryan, a vilifier of tho courts and a dangerous
man.
On Monday, Theodore Roosevelt, speaking at
Denver, took occasion to point to a number of
"unfortunate decisions," and to enter protest
more strenuous and more positive than any
criticism that ever Bryan uttered.
Roosevelt, a little more radical and a littlo
less sound, has on this Important question
landed exactly where Bryan was a decade and a
half ago. In his Denver speech, Roosevelt took
up tho decision in tho Knight sugar trust case.
Of tho case the ex-president said:
"In that tho supremo court of tho United
States, under cover of what a man whoso in
terest is chiefly In sano constructive steward
ship can only call a highly technical legal
subtlety, handed down a decision which ren
dered it exceedingly difficult for tho nation
effectively to control tho use of masses of cor
porate capital in Interstate business, as tho na
tion obviously was tho solo power that could
exerciso this control (for it. was quite beyond
tho power of any ono state). This was really a
decision rendering it exceedingly difficult for
tho peoplo to devlso any method of controlling
and regulating the business use of great capital
in interstate commerce. It was a decision nom
inally against national rights, but really against
popular rights."
Roosevelt was scarcely less caustic in his
criticism of the New York bakeshop case. Tho
decision in this case declared unconstitutional
tho New York law requiring baKeshops to main
tain hygienic conditions. After showing that
New York stato alone could deal with this prob
lem, and that the unhygienic conditions told
against the bakeshop workers as well as against
m
m
