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AN INSPIRING MANIFESTATION OF TUB
f OLD MORALITIES"
I When asked at Atlanta how ho reconciled the
tariff plank of tho Saratoga platform with his
westorn tariff speeches Mr. Roosevelt said:
, "I do not reconcile them. On that part of tho
platform I must refuse to ho judged hy what tho
platform 8aid, hut must he judged by what I
myself, have said."
"When .asked for a further explanation Mr.
Roosovolt Bald:
"I have nothing more to say except that in
my speeches at Saratoga and Syracuse I said
about tho tariff and tho administration exactly
what I said in my speeches at Cincinnati, Sioux
Falls and Sioux City."
It was at Sidux Falls, September 3, that Mr.
Roosovolt mado his principal western speech dis
cussing tho tariff. Tho following extracts aro
taken from tho Associated Press report of his
speech:
"With tho present tariff, made by tho samo
methods as its predecessor and as that prede
cessor's predecessor, there Is grave dissatisfac
tion. Tho peoplo know that there are somo
things in it which are not right, and therefore
they tond to suspect the as I think more
numerous things in it which are right. They
know tho system on which it was made, tho
samo system on which its predecessors were
mado, encourages a scramble of selfish interests
to which tho all-important general interest of
the public is necessarily more or less subordi
nated. The tariff ought to be a material
issue and not a moral issue; but if instead of a
square deal we get a crooked deal, then it be
comes very emphatically a moral issue."
When 3fr. Roosevelt returned to New York
and printed this speech in the Outlook Septem
ber 17, ho inserted these words: "I think the
present tariff is better than the last and con
siderably better than the ono before the last."
He did not say this to his western audiences.
At Syracuse all that Mr. Roosevelt said about
tho tariff is contained in this sentence:
"The president of tho United States, Mr. Taft,
has served his country honorably and uprightly
in many positions as judge, aB governor of tho
Philippines, as secretary of war and now as
president for to him and congress acting with
him we owo tho creation of a tariff commission,
the adoption of maximum and minimum tariff
Jaw treaties with foreign powers, the proper
treatment of the Philippines under the tariff."
In Mr. Roosevelt's speech as temporary chair
man of the Saratoga convention his only refer
ence to the tariff was in an omnibus sentence
dealing with the record of the Taft administra
tion, in which he referred to
"The establishment of the maximum and min
imum tariff provisions' and the exceedingly able
negotiations of the Canadian and other treaties,
in accordance therewith; the inauguration of
tho policy of providing for a disinterested re
vision of tariff schedules through a high-class
commission of experts which will treat each
schedule purely on its own merits, with a view
both to protecting the consumer from excessive
prices and to securing tho American producer,
and especially the American wage-worker, what
will represent the difference of cost in produc
tion here as compared with the cost of produc
tion in countries where labor is "less liberally
rewarded." J
Tho text of the Syracuse and Saratoga
speeches in no way supports Mr. Roosevelt's
assertion that he said there "exactly what I
said" in the west.
. The Saratoga platform which Mr. Roosevelt
now seeks to repudiate was framed by a com
mittee that he as temporary chairman appoint
ed after he threw four delegates off the com
mittee who were politically objectionable to
him. Tho platform declares that "tho Payne
tariff law reduced tho average rate of duty
eleven per cent," and that "advances in the
cost of living are only the local reflection of a
tendency that is world-wide and can ,not be
truthfully said to bo duo to the present tariff."
After this platform was adopted Mr. Roose
velt mado a speech to the National Republican
League in Carnegie hall in which he said:
"There never was held in New York a con
vention more emphatically a people's convention.
Not a lobbyist, not a single representative of
a great special interest, exercised a finger
weight's influence there."
Yet out of this pure and undeflled convention
came a tariff plank which is just the kind of
tariff plank that Aldrich, Cannon, Guggenheim
or the tariff-protected trusts would have framed
a perfect piece of standpattism.
The World does not undertake to explain the
Great Roosevelt Tariff Mystery, . Perhaps the
Tribune's explanation is as good as any. The
Tribune correspondent who is traveling with
Mr. Roosevelt in the south sends the following
dispatch from Memphis:
"In amplification of Colonel Roosevelt's posi
tion on the Saratoga convention it may be said
that ho regarded that as essentially a state
convention, dealing with state rather than na
tional issues. The tariff was not discussed there.
It impressed Mr. Roosevelt as being of little
interest to the people of .New York as an issue
in the convention. Long before the convention
he had made it perfectly plain that he would
raise no objection to an indorsement of the
Taft administration, and that he would urge
no condemnation of any proposition for which
the administration had made itself responsible,
provided no efforts were made to commit the
people of New York to the indorsement of Mr.
Taft fdr 1912'
In other words, Mr. Roosevelt sold out his
'moral-issue" tariff principles on condition that
Taft bo not indorsed for 1912 and the 'way left
open for himself. What an inspiring manifesta
tion of tho "Old Moralities!" New York
World.
TIMELY QUOTATIONS
Dr. G. G. Brock, Sheldon, Iowa. It has been
said by one humorously inclined, that the Amer
ican people are a nation of "forgitters." Lest
wo forget, let us recall a quotation which has
no chance on earth to become Immortal, for
it was based, I believe, on willful falsehood. I
refer to a statement directed to Mr. Bryan by
Theodore Roosevelt in their newspaper contro
versy during our last presidential campaign, viz:
"I verily believe the trusts are supporting you
in this campaign." Having this quotation in
mind, I have wondered if Mr. Roosevelt xlid not
feel out of place while attending in Paris, a ses
sion of the Academy of Moral and Political
Sciences, even though he were entitled to wear
the green brocaded uniform of an academician?
Maggie Mullin, Sheldon, Iowa. I am enclos
ing several quotations for publication in your
"Timely Quotations" column:
"Once to every man and nation, , . .
Comes the moment to decide
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood,
For the good or evil side; ' .
Then it is, the brave man chooses,
While the coward stands aside,
Doubting, in his abject spirit,
Till his Lord is crucified,
And thevm'ultitude make virtue of that Faith
They had denied."
From "The Crisis," by J. R. Lowell. -
.. "I live for those who love me;
Whose hearts are kind and true;
For the Heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too;
For the cause that lacks, assistance;
For tho wrongs that need resistance;
For the future in the distance; -
And the good that I can do."
From "What I Live For," by Rev. J. L. Banks.
"Ill fares the land,
To hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
Princes or kings may flourish or may fade;
A breath can make them,
As a breath has made;
But a strong peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed,
Can never be supplied."
"The Deserted Village," Oliver Goldsmith.
VOLUME 10, NUMBER 41
titled "The Green Bag," in which speakinE of
those who serve tyranny and weigh the advan
tages or success in the legal profession against
their souIb says:
"They, too,, the tyrant serve,
Who skilled to snaro the feet of justice in tho
toils of law,
Stand ready to oppress the weaker still,
And right' or wrong will vindicate for gold."
I respectfully call your attention to tho quo
tation, thinking that some time1 you may have
the opportunity of using it to advantage.
J. J. Fultz, Mt. Vernon, O. I send the-following
for your column of quotations words
by Pericles, consul for Greek republic, 430 years
B. C.:- "That country which in its public ca
pacity is successful confers more benefit on in
dividuals than one which is prosperous as re
gards its particular citizens (millionaires) while
collectively it comes to ruin. For though a man
is individually prosperous, yet if his country
is ruined, he none the less shares in its destruc-
tion; whereas, if he is unfortunate in a coun
try that is fortunate, he haB a much better hope
of escaping his danger."
M. M. Riley, Bessemer, Mich. In listening
to Mr. Bryan's lecture at Ironwood, Michigan,
on "The Price of a Soul," I was much interest
ed in the comment as to duties of the legal
-fraternity and I respectfully invito your atten
tion to a quotation from Shelly in the poem en-
R. K. Phillips, Weatherford, Texas. I think
the following quotation contains one of the finest
thoughts in all literature. Will you kindly re
print it and oblige:
"111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them as a breath has made
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied."
Hal P. Floyd, Georgetown, Pa'. Having' read
many beautiful poems in your .paper, I give you
the enclosed poem which I have in my scrap
book; it is one that appeals to me very much,
and there may be some of your readers who
would like to drink its simple virtues. I can
not give the name of the author:
How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armor is his honest thought
And simple truth his utmost skill!
Whose passions not his masters are,
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Untied unto the world by care of public fame, or
private breath; J
Whq envies none that chance doth raise
Nor vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise;
Noi& rules of state, but rules of good:
Who has his life from rumors- freed,
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great;
Who God doth late and early pray more of His
grace
"Than gifts to lend; and entertains' the'harmless
day
With a religious book or friend;
This man is freed from servile bands of hope to
rise, or
Fear to fallr Lord of himself, though not of
lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.
PRAYER
It is not prayer when with our tongues we say
"We love Thy laws, Oh Lord; and pray Theo
guard
Our hearts from harm and feet from slipp'ry
way;"
Then straight seek out sin's paths His laws have
barred.
It is not prayer to fold our hands and ask
Our God to shield us from our human laws
That bind our children to soul-wracking task;
Ours is the crime; ours to remove the cause.
His sun and showers our yearly harvests bring;
His days are filled with plenteous reward;
To greed and crime our lavs His blessings fling,
And hunger bar from bread, with legal sword.
Prayer is the work our busy hands have wrought
Not the weak words our lips have feebly said;
Prayer is the act that bane or blessing brought;
Words without deeds are profitless and dead.
Would you pray truly? Break the barriers down
That fence earth's soil from hungry toilers'
needs.
Fear neither human law, nor human frown
That mock God's laws. Prayers are not words,
but deeds.
Will Atkinson in San Francisco Star.
00
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