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Show ' v ., ' ELOQUENCE OF ROOSEVELT. ' , That was an epoch-making speech delivered by Theodore Roose- -wilt iu Chicago last night. The speaker was aided by the inspira- , -' tion of a great theme and a highly responsive audience. Roosevelt stoodvoicing a protest against the accumulated evils of thirty years of thievery, trickery and treachery in American politics and those within the reach of his voice responded with cheers of approbation, f and that greater audience, the readers of the newspapers who today I, are drinking in the flow of ideas from the fountain head of truth, j . are regretting only one thing that it were n6t possible for them Ly to have been present to swell the volume of the cheers. I Summing up, Roosevelt in his "protest against the corruptors of I American politics, said: SL 7hA ,,ff1erence between us and our present day opponents is as old as W civilized history. In every groat crisis of the kind we face today we find ft arrayed on one side the men who with fervor and broad sympathy and lofty & idealism stand for the forward movement, the men who stand for the uplift and betterment of mankind and who have faith in the people, and over aga nst them the men of restricted vision and contracted sympathy, whose I souls are not stirred by the wrongs of others. Side bv fllde with the latter $ appear the other men who lack all intensity of conviction, who care only for the pleasure of the day; and also thOBe other men who distrust the people, who it dishonest wish to exploit them, and who if honest bo dis- believe in the power of the people to bring about wholesome reform that every appeal to popular conBcionce and popular intelligence fills them with t angry terror. According to their own lights, these men- are often very ? respectable, very worthy. But they live on a plane of low ideals. In the atmosphere they create impostors flourish and leadership comes to be . thought of ony as success in making money, and tho vision of hcave becomes a sordid vision, and all that is highest and purest in human nature ( Is laughed at, and honesty is bought and sold In the market place. Opposed undyingly to these men are tho men of faith and vision the men to whom love of righteousness burns like a flaming fire, who spurn lives of soft and srlflsh ease of slothful. aolf-Indulgonco. who scorn to think only of .pleasure for themselves, who feel for and bollovo in their fellows, whoso high fealty is reserved for all that Is good, that Is Just, thai Is honorablo By their very nature these men are bound to battle for the truth and the right. They do not address themselves only to the cultured and exclusive ex-clusive few. Thoy prize diameter even more than intellect They know Well that conscience Is not tho privilege merely of the men of wealth and cultivation and thoy make their appeal to all men allko In tho name of the great fundamental qualities, and qualities that every man should have, the qualities of generosity and unselfishness of fearless honesty and high courage. , , ... Wc, who war agalnBt privilege, pay heed to no outworn systom of pbllos-ophv. pbllos-ophv. We demand of our leaders today understanding or and sympathy witli the living and tho vital needs of those In the commuuity whoso ncoas are greatest. Wo are against privilege In every form. We believe In striking strik-ing down every bulwaik or privilege. Above all avc arc against the evil alliance of special privilege in business with special business In politics. Wo believe in giving tho people a free hand to work in efficient fashion for true Justice. To the big man and to the llttlo man, In all the relations of life, we pledge justice and fair dealing. A period of change Is upon us. Our opponents, the men of reaction, ask us to stand still. But we could not stand still If we would; we must olthor go forward or go bnckward. Never was the need more Imperative than now for men of vision who aro also men of action. Disaster is ahead of us if we trust to the leadership of men whose souls are seared ana whose eves are blinded, men of cold heart and narrow mind, who bellevo we can find safety in dull timidity and dull inaction. The unrest cannot bo quieted by ingenious trickery of those who profess to advance by merely marking lime, or who seek to drown the cry for Justice by loud and Insincere Insin-cere clamor about lSBiies that aro false and iBBUes that are dead. Tho trumpets sound the advance, and their appeal cannot bo drowned by repeating re-peating the war cries of bygone battles, tho victorious shouts of vanished hosts. Here in this city of the state of Lincoln I can set forth the principles prin-ciples for which wc stand todoy In tho words which Lincoln used fifty-four years ago, when in speaking of the then phase of the eternal struggle between privilege and justice between the rights of the many and the special interest of tho few, ho said: "That is tho real Ibbuc. That is the Issue which will continue in this country when theBe poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent It is the eternal struggle between two principles right and wrong throughout tho world. They aro the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time. Tho one Is the common right of humanity human-ity the other the divine right of kings. It 1b the same principle in whatever what-ever shape it dovolops Itself. It 1b the same spirit that says. 'You toll and work and earn bread .and I will cat It.' No matter in what shape it comc, whether from the mouth of a king who best rides the people of his own nation and Uvea from the fruit of their labor, or from one race of man a an apology for enslaving another race, It is the same tyrannical prln- clulc " Were Lincoln alive today, he would add that It Is alHO the same principle prin-ciple which Is now at stake when we fight on behalf of-tho many against the oppressor In modern IndUBtry, whether the abuBe of special privilege bo by a man whose wealth is great or little, whether by the multimillionaire owner of rail was s and mines and factories, who forgets his duties to thoao who earn IiIb broad whllo earning their own, or by the owner of the foul Utile sweatshops who coins dollars from the excessivo and underpaid nbor of haggard women. We who stand for the cause of progress are fighting to make this countrv a better place to live in for those who have been harshly treated bv fate: and ir wo succeed it will really be a better placo for those who are alreadv well off None of us can really prosper permanently If by abuses our fellows are debased and degraded, if they are ground down and forced to Hvo starved and sordid lives so that the.r souls are crippled like their bodies, and tho flue edgp of tholr everj- reeling blunted We ask that those of our people to whom fate haB been kind, shall remember that each s lils brotheA keeper, and that all of us whose veins thrill with abound Hng vigor shall feel our obligation to the less fortunate who work wearily beside us in the strain and fltresR of our eager modern lire. Friends here In Chicago at this time, you have a great task before on. I wiah you to realise deep In your hearts that you are not merely facing a crisis in the history of a party. You aro facing a crisis n the history of a nation: and what you do will havo an appreciable effect throughout tne world at large. Hero in America we, the people, have a continent on which to work out our destiny, and our faltb 1b great that our men and women are f?t to face the mighty days. Nowhere else In all the world Is there such a chance tor tho triumph on a giggantlc scale of tho great cause of democratic demo-cratic and popular government. ht..,i If we fall, the failure will be lamentable, and our heads will bo bowed with shame; for not only shall we fall for oursclveit. but our failure w 1 wreck thofond desires of all throughout tho world who look toward us with The fonc? hope that here in this great republic It shall be proved Torn ocean to ocean that the people can rule themselves, and thus ruling can gain lib-erty lib-erty for and do justlco both to themselves and lo others We who stand for the cause of the uplift of humanity aro pledged :o eternal war against wrong, whether by the few or by tho many, by u plutocracy plu-tocracy or by a mob. .., r We believe that thla country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to lvvo in unless wc make It a reasorably good place for all of ub to live in. The son of all of us will pay in the future if wo of the present do not do justice to all In the present. Our cause is the cause of justice for all, in the Interest of all. Tho present contest is but a phase of .he larger struggle. Assuredly, tho fiRht will go on whether we win or lose, Mi wlH bo a sore disaster to lose What happens to me Is not of the sUghtest consequence; I am to be used, as In a doubtful battle any man Is used, to bis hurt or not, so long as he Is useful, and Is .then cast aside or left o die. I wish you to feel this. I mean It: and i snail need no sympathy sym-pathy when you are through with me, for this fight s far too great to permit per-mit us to concern ourselves about any one man's wolfarn If we are true to ourselves by putting far above our own Interests the triumph of the high cause for v.hlch we battle, we shall not lose. It ou id be far better to fail honorably for tho cause wc champion than It ould be to win bv foul methods, the foul victory for which our opponents nope But the victoo shall be ours, and it shall be won as we have alreadv won so many victories, by clean and honest righting for the loUIest or Jauses? We fight In honorable fashion for the good of mankind, foar ess of the future, unheeding of our ImlKdnal fes with unflinching heans and undlmmed eyes: we stand at Armageddon, and we battle Tor tho Lord. |
