Newspaper Page Text
COL ROOSEVELT (WILIS WIS on rajiiii Ex-President's Address Before the Ohio Constitutional Convention. POWER OF PEOPLE SUPREME IN EFFECT HE ADVOCATES MODI FIED FORM OF "RE- CALL." Imperative to Exerelee Proper Control and Supervision Ovor Big Well aa Small Business Interests of Waae-Worker Must Bo Looked Aftar For Gonulno Equality of Opportunity Rights of Man ot Moro Importance Than ths Rights of Propsrty Dlroot Nominations by ths Psopls Advocatsd. Columbus. Ohio, Feb. 21. In bis address before the Ohio constitutional convention, In session here, ex-President Roosevelt spoke substantially aa follows: Mr. President, and Members of the Ohio Constitutional Convention: I am profoundly sensible of the nonor you have done me In asking me to address you. You are engaged ta the fundamental work of self-gov-rnment; you are engaged in framing a constitution under and in accord ance with which the people are to get ad to do Justice and absolutely to rule themselves. No representative tody can have a higher task. To carry It through successfully there is eed to combine practical common eense of most hard-headed kind with a spirit of lofty Idealism. Without Idealism your work will be but a sor did makeshift; and without the bard lieaded co.an.un sense tbe Idealism erfii be either wasted or worse than wasted. I shall not try to speak to you of natters of detail. I cannot touch upon them all; the subject Is too vast and the time too limited; If any one of ou carea to know my views of ther . matters which I do not today discuss, 1 will gladly send him a copy of the apeechee I made In 1810, . which I think cover most of the (round. ' "1 believe In pure democracy. With itacoln. I hold that "thla country, with Ita Institutions, belongs to tbe people who Inhabit It Whenever they ahall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending It." JSff progressives believe that the peo ple have the right, the power, and the Cuty to protect themselves and their own welfare; that human rights are apreme over mil other rights; that avealth should be the servant, not the master, of the people. We believe Ahat unlesa representative govern- Sat does absolutely represent the jjeople It la not representative govern- ,-fent it fll We test e wortb- of "ail men and all measures by asking now they contribute to the welfare -of the. men, women and children of -whom thla nation Is composed. We we engaged In one of the great bat tle of tbe age-long content w aged sialnsl privilege oh behalf of the common welfare. We hold It a prime "duty of the people to tree our gov ernment from the control of money la politics. For Jblaj Tfur'pose we ad vocate, not as ends In themselves, but aa weapons In the hands of the peo all governmental devices which will make the representatives of the people more easily and certainly re sponsible to the people's will . . . Constitution and the People. 1 am emphatically a believer in constitutionalism, and becauae of this fact I no less emphatically protest 'gainst any theory that would make cf the Constitution a means of thwart 1st instead of securing the absolute sight of the people to rule themselves end to provide for their own social and Industrial well-being. All consti tutions, those of the state no less than that of the nation, are designed, aad mast be interpreted and admin istered, so as to fit human- rights. Lincoln so Interpreted and adminis tered the national Constitution Bu chanan attempted to reverse, attempt d to fit human lights to, and limit them by. the Constitut'on. - It was Vtarhanan who treated the courts as a fetish, who protested against and con demned all criticism of the Judges tor unjust and unrighteous decisions, amd upheld the Constitution as aa In artrument for the protection of priv ilege and of vested wrong. It wss XJncoln who appealed to the people m rule ft the Judges when the Judges -weni wrong, who advocated jand se cured west was iracuct.iy -use recaii of the Dred Scott decision, sod who treated the Constitution as a llvln force for righteousness. , We staad t jt sPDlring the Constitution to the i sues of today aa Lincoln applied it to tbe issuea of his day "I hold it to be the duty of every Z'. n Tract end oi every ran v. o .,..c c-r la private lu bo:a a :.m of leadership la tfcougit or i, to l'ror bonestly and f. r f h f ' ' I 'a fellow-cow' ' t " ' " -: l--t I r--' ' viae methods which under ttte Consti tution will automatically prevent ue nxinu from decldlnc for thsmsslves what governmental action they deem Just and proper. . . . Constitu-tlon-makera should make It clear be yond shadow of doubt that the people In their legislative capacity nave me power to enact Into law any measure they deem necesssry. for the, better ment of social and Industrial condi tions. The wisdom of framing any rmrtinii.r law of thla kind la a proper subject of debate; but the power of the people to enact tba law anouia not h auhiect to debate. To bold the contrary view Is to be false to the cause of the people, to ue cause oi American democracy. Aim of Good Government The enda of good govern- man in our democracv are to secure by genuine popular rule a high aver age of moral and material weu-oeiog among our cltlxens. It baa been well said that In the peat we have paid attention only to the accumulation of prosperity, and that from henceforth we muat pay equal attention to the proper distribution of proeperlty. This Tha onlv oroaDerlty worth having Is that which affects the maas of the people. I bold It to be our duty to see that the wage-worker, the small producer, the ordinary coua er, shall get their fair share of the benefit of business prosperity. But It either Is or ought to oe eTiu every one that business has to pros per before anybody can get any bene- fit trnm It Tharafnra I hold that be is the real progressive, that he la the genuine champion of tne peopie. wu nitMvnra in ah a tie the policy alike of the nation and of the several states so as to encourage legitimate ana honest business at the aame time that he wars againat all crookedneaa, end. injustice and unfairness ana iyrBuj in the business world (for of course we can only get bualness put on a basla of permanent prosperity wueu th. .umtnt of ininstice Is taken out of It.) This Is the reason why 1 have for ao many years Insisted, aa regaras our national government, that it Is both futile and mlachlevoua to en deavor to correct the evlla of big bus iness by an attempt to restore Busi ness" conditions as they were In the middle of the last century, before rail ways and telegraphs had rendered larger business organizations both In evitable and desirable. what la neaded la. first, the recog nition that modern bualneaa conditions have come to stay. In so far at least as these conditions mean that bualness mint ha done in lara-er units, and then the cool-beaded and resolute deter- mlnatiou to introduce an effective method of regulating big corporations so as to hetp legitimate business as an innMant tn thnrmithlv and comnletely 1 f safeguarding tbe Interests of the pec- J pie aa a whole, we are a oueinesa people. Tbe tillers of tbe soil, the aM.wnrkara tha business men i these are the three big end vitally Im- j portant divisions of our population. ' Tha welfare of each division la vitally necessary to the welfare of tbe people aa a whole. The great maas of busl-1 ness Is either- small or or moderate ' slie. The middle-sized business men . form an element of strength which Is of llterallv Incalculable value to tbe nation. Taken as a class, they are among our best citizens, mey dt not been seekers after enormous for tune thev have been moderately and Justly prosperous, by reason of dealing fairly with their customers, competi tors, and employes. The average bus-1 mess man of thla type Is, as a rule, a leading citlsen of his community, fore-' mnat in evervthlnK that tells for Its1 betterment, a man whom his neighbors , look up to and respect; ne is in no ana dangerous to his community, i Just because he Is an Integral part of his community, bone or us none anu ; flesh of Its flesh. His life libers are . Intertwined with the life fibers or nia fellow citizens. Tet nowadays many men of this kind, when they come to make necessary trade agreements with one another, find themselves In danger of becoming unwitting trans gressors of the law, and are at a loss to know what the law forbids and what It permits. Thia la all wrong. There should be a fixed governmental policy, a policy which ahall clearly de fine and punish wrong-doing, and shall give in advance full'lnformatlon to any man aa to Just what he can and Juat what be cannot legally and properly da ' v .' Control of "Big Business." Bo much for the small business man and the middle-sized business man. Now for big business. It is Impera tive to exertfee' over big misroess" a control and supervision which Is un necessary as regards small business. AU business must be conducted under the lew, and all business men, big or little, must act Justly. But a wicked big Interest Is necessarily more dan gerous to tbe community than a wicked little Interest . "Big business" la tbe past has been responsible for much of the special privilege which must be unsparingly cut out of our national Ufa t do not believe In mak ing mere site of and by luelf crimin al The mere fact of elxe, however, does unquestionably carry tha po tentiality ot such grave wrong-doing that there should be by law provision made for the strict supervision and regulation of these great industrial concerns doing an Interstate business, much as we now regulste the trans port! Son agencies which are engaged la iater-etate business. Tbe anti-trust law does good In so far aa It can be Invoked against combinations which ra!'y are monopolies or which restrict pa ioisictioa or rtJca arusciiuy raise rlca But la so far as Its workings ar r e cc.frVi. c-r as It tarea'.efis cor- -r : a Lave been guilty ct ) c-' -t U 4J5" fcsra. twarameBtal regulation ef big bust Bess wblcl Is aeeded. The nation and the atatea must cooperate In thia mat ter. Among the states that have en tered Ibis field Wisconsin has Uken a leading place. Following Senator La Follette, a number of practical work era and thinkers In Wisconsin have turned that state Into an experiment al laboratory of wlae governmental ac tion In aid o. social and Industrial jus tice. They have Initiated tha kind of progressive government which means not merely the preservation - of true democracy, but the extension of the principle of true democrscy into In dustrialism aa well as Into politics. One prime reason why the state has been so successful In this policy lies In tbe fact that it has done Jus; ice to corporations precisely aa It baa ex acted Justice from them. . . . Not only as a matter of Juatlce, but In our own Intereat, we ahould scrupulously respect tbe rights of honest and de cent bualneaa and should encourage It where Us activities make, as they often do make, for the common good. It Is for tbe advantage of all of when business prospers. Our demand Is that big bualness give the people a square deal and that tbe people give a aquare deal to any man engaged In big business who honestly endeavors to do what Is right and proper. nn the other hand, any corporation, big or little, which has gained Its po sition by unfair methods and by In terference with tbe rights of others, which has raised prlcea or limited output in improper fashion and been guilty of demoralizing and corrupt practices, should not only be broken up, but It should be made the busi ness of some competent governmental body by constant supervision to see that it does not come together again, save .under such strict control aa to Insure tbe community againat all dan ger of a repetition of tbe bad conduct. Tbe chief trouble with big business has arisen from the fact that big business has so often refused to abide by the principle of the square deal; tbe opposition which I personally have encountered from big business has in every case arisen not because I did not give a square deal but be cause I did. Proper Governmental. Control. All business into wbich the element of monopoly In any way or degree ea ters, and where It proves In practice Impossible totally to eliminate this ele ment of monopoly, should be carefully supervised, regulated and controlled by governmental authority; and sucn control should be exercised by admin- Istratlve, rather than by Judicial, offi-1 cers. No effort should be made to de- j atroy a big corporation merely be-. cause It la big, merely becauae It has shown lueii a peculiarly emciem business Instrument. But we should not fear, If necessary, to bring tbe regulation of big corporations to the point of controlling conditions so that the wale-worker ahall have a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living, and hours or labor not so excessive as to wreck bis strength by the strain of unending toil and leave him unfit to do bia duty aa a good citizen of tha community. Where regulation by competition (which is, of course, preferable) provts Insuffi cient, we should not shrink from bringing governmental regulation to the point of control of monopoly prices If It should ever become necessary to do so, Just as In exceptional cases railway rates are now regulated. . . . We grudge no man a fortune which represents his own power and sagacity eerclsed with entire regard to the welfare of his fellows. We have only praise for the business man whose business success comes as an inci dent to doing good work for his fel lows. But we should so shape condi tions that a fortune shall be obtained only In JJonorable fashion, In such fashion that Its gaining represents benefit to the community. In a word, then, our fundamental purpose must be to secure genuine nnmv of opportunity. No man should receive a dollar unless that dol lar has been fairly earned. Every dol lar received 'should represent a dol lar's worth of aervice rendered." No watering of stocks should be permit ted; and It can be prevented, ohly by close governmental supervision of all stock Issues, so as to prevent over capitalisation. We stand for the rights ot property, but we stand, even more Jor ihe rihts ofTnian. We vul TJlect tne rignts ot tbe wealthy man, but we maintain that he holda hla wealth subject to the general right of the community to regulate Ita business use aa the public welfare requtrea. We also maintain that the nation and the several atatea have the right to regulate the terms and conditions of labor, which la the chief element of wealth, directly In the Interest of the common good. You, framers of this constitution, be careful ao to frame it iuat under it the people shall leave themselvee free to do whatever ia necessary In order to help tbe farmers of the state to get for themselves and their wlvea and children not only the t.ata nf better farming but also VUVUka - those of better business methods and better conditions of life on the farm. Moreover, shape your constitutional action ao that the people will be able thrmish their legislative bodlea. or. failing that, by direct popular vote, to nrovida workmen's compensation acta. to regulate the hours of labor for chil dren and tor women, to provide tor their safety while at work, and to pre vent overwork or work under hygienic or unaafe condition. To 6eure Best Results. . Bo much for the ends of govern ment; and I festve, of course, merely ftketcbed'ia out'ine what t!ie enda should be. Now for the mscfetnery by afctc tfcrse f!!e Rr to s'J,??p4; coent preteal ta work out la detail the methods of achieving your purposee. Let me at the outset urge upon you to remember that bile machinery ta important. It Is easy to overestimate Its Importance; and. moreover, that each community baa the absolute right to determine for Itaelf what that ma chinery shall be. subject only to the fundamental law ot the nation as ex pressed In tbe Constitution ot the Uni ted States. ... in the first place, I believe in the short ballot Vou can not get good aervice from the publlo servant If you cannot aee him. and there la no more effective way of bid ing him than by mixing him up with a multitude of others ao that they are none of them Important enough to catch the eye of the average, worka day citizen. The profeaalonal politi cian and the- professional lobbyist thrive most rankly under a syatem which provides a multitude of elec tive officers, of such divided responsi bility and of such obscurity that the public knows, and can know, but little as to their dutlea and the way they perform them. Tbe people have noth ing whatever to fear from giving any public servant power so long as they retain their own power to hold him accountable for hla uBe of the power they have delegated to him. I believe in providing for direct nom inations by the people. Including there in direct preferential primaries fur tne election of delegates to the national nominating conventions. I believe In the election of United States senators by direct vote. Just aa actual experience convinced our people that prealdents should be elected (aa they now are in practice, although not in theory) by direct vote of the people inatead of by direct vote through an untrammeled electoral col lege, so actual, experience has con vinced us that ienators should be elected by direct vote of the people instead of indirectly through tbe vari ous legislatures. I believe In the initiative and the referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government but to correct It whenever It becomes misrepresent tive. Hera egaln I am concerned not with theories but with actual facta. If In any state the peo ple are themselves satisfied with their preaent representative system, then it la of course their right to keep that system unchanged; and It is nobody's business but theirs. But In r.ctual practice It has been found In very many states that legislative bodies have not been responsive to tbe popu lar will. Therefore I believe that the state should provide for the possibility of direct popular action in order to make good such legislative failure. Wisconsin Method Praised. in a recant aneech Governor McQov- am of Wisconsin baa described the plan which baa been tbere adopted. Under thla plan the effort to ooiain ),. law la flrat to be made through the legislature, the bill being pushed as far as It will go; so tnat tne ueiaus nf tha nrbnosed measure may be threshed over In actual legislative de bate. This gives opportunity to per fect It In form and Invites public .n.tinY Then. If the legislature falls to enact It, It can be enacted by the people on their 'own initiative, taaen at leaet four months before election. Moreover, where possible, the question actually to be voted on by the people should be made aa simple as possible. In short, I believe that the Initiative and referendum should be used not as substitutes for representative govern ment, but as methods of making such government really representative. Give the legislature an entirely free hand; and then provide by the Initia tive and referendum that the people shall have power to reverse or Bup plement the work of the legislature ahould It ever become necessary. As to the recall, I do not believe that there is any great necessity for it as regards short-term elective of ficers. On abstract grounds I was originally inclined to be hostile to It. I know of one case where It was ac tually used with mischievous results On the other hand. In three cases In municipalities on the Pacific coast which have come to my knowledge It was used with excellent results. I believe It should be generally pro vided, but with uch reatrictlons as will make It available only when there Is a widespread and genuine publl feeling among a majority of tho voters. There rema'lna the' Question of tbe recall of. Judges. One of the ablest Jurists In the United States, a veteran In service to the people, recently wrote me as follows bn this subject: "There are two causes of the agi tation for the recall as applied to judges. First, tbe administration of Justice hae withdrawn from life and become artificial and technical. The recall Is not so much a recall of Judges from office as It Is a recall of the ad ministration of justice back to life, so that it ahall become, aa It ought to be. the most efficient of all agencies for making this earth a better place to live In. Judges have Bet their rules above life. Like the Pharisees of old, they said, 'The people be accureed, they know not the law (that Is our rule). Courts have repeatedly defeat ed the aroused moral sentiment of a whole commonwealth. Take the ex ample of the St Louis boodlers. Their guilt waa plain, and In the main con fessed. The whole state waa aroused and outraged. By an Instinct that goea to the very foundation of all so cial order they demanded that the guilty be punished. Tbe boodlers were convicted, but the supreme court of Missouri, never questioning their gtiin. set tfceir conviction aside upon purely technical grounds. The aame tM: i cc"rr"l ii CaV.ort!a. It la to l tl J -": "Second, by tbe abuse of tbe power to declare laws unconstitutional tbe courts have become a lawmaklrg. In stead of a law-enforcing, agency. Here again the settled will or so rlatv tn correct confessed evils hs been set at naught by those who place metaphy.lcs above lire, n i the courts, not the constitutions, that are at fauX It is only by tbe process which James Rusaell Lowei!. wne anawering the- critics of Lincoln, called 'pettifogging the constltutlonr that constitutions which were de signed to protect society can thus be tnA ,t Atat tha nommOU gOOd. Here sgain the recall la a recall of the administration or justice from academical refinements to social service." There is one kind of. recall in which I very earneatly believe, and tha Immediate adoption of which I urge. There are sound reaeona for being cautioue about the recall of good Judge who has rendered an un wise and Improper decision. Every public servant, no matter bow valua ble, and not omitting Washington or Lincoln or Marahall. at times makeB mistakes. Therefore we should be cautious about recallirg the Judge, and we should be cautious about In terfering In any way with tbe Judge in decisions which he makea in the ordi nary couree aa between Individuals. But when a Judge decidea a constitu tional question, when he decides what the people as a whole can or cannot do, the people should have the right to recall that decision If they think it wrong. We should hold the Judiciary in all respect; but It Is both absurd and degrading to make a fetish of Judge or of any one else. Lincoln actually applied In suc cessful fashion the principle of the recall in the Dred Scott case. He de nounced the Supreme court for that iniquitous decision in language much stronger than I have ever used In criticizing any court and appealed to the people to recall the decision the word "recall" In this connection was not then known, but the phrase ex actly describes what he advocated. He was successful, the people took his view, and the decision was practical ly recal'ed. It became a dead letter without the need of any constitutional amendment. Tha Law and the State. Under our federal system the rem edy for a wrong such as Abraham Lincoln deecribed la difficult But the remedy is not difficult In a state. What the Supreme court of the na tion decides to be law binds both the national and the state courts and all the people within the boundaries of the najpon. But tbe decision of a state court on a constitutional ques tion should be subject to revision by the people of the state. Again and again In tbe past Justice baa been scandalously obstructed , by state courts declaring Btate laws In con flict with the Federal Constitution, although the Supreme court of the na tion had even decided in a contrary when the supreme court of tha state declares a given statute un constitutional because in connici wuu the etate or the National Constitution, Its opinion should be subject to re vision by the people themselves. Such an opinion ought always to be treated with great respect by the peo ple, and unquestionably in the major ity of cases would be accepted and followed by them. But actual ex perience has shown the vital need of the people reserving to themselves the right to pass upon such opinion. If it is Bustained well and good. If not, then the popular verdict is to be accepted as final, the decision Is to be treated as reversed, and the con struction of the Constitution definite ly decided subject only to action by the Supreme court of the United States. Many eminent lawyers who more or less frankly disbelieve In our' entire American system of government for, by. and of tha people violently an tagonize this proposal. They believe, and Bometlmes assert, that the Amer ican people are not fitted for popular government and that It Is necessary to keep the Judiciary "Independent of the majority or of all the people;" that there must be no appeal to tbe people from the decision of a court tn any case; and that therefore tbe judges are to be established as sover eign rulers over the people. I take absolute Issue with ail those who hold anch a position. I regard it aa a com plete" negation of oitr V.,rie nrybtm of government; and If It became the dominant position In this country, it would mean tbe absolute upsetting of both tbe rights and the rule of the people. . If the American people are not fit for popular government, and If they should of right be the servants and not the masters of the men whom they themselves put In office, then Uncoln's work ' waa wasted and the whole system of government upon which this great democratic republic rests Is a failure. I believe, on the contrary, with all my heart that the American people are fit for complete self-government, and that, in apite of all our failings and shortcomings, we of this republic have more nearly real ized than any other people on earth the ideal of justice attained through genuine popular rule. , People Fundamentally Right. I do not say that the people are In fallible But I do say that our whole history shows that the American peo ple are more often sound In their de cisions than la tbe case wita any or the governmental bodies to whom, for their convenience, they have dele gated portions of their power. If this Is not so, then tbere is no Justification for the existence of our government; and if it la so, then tbere Is no JusU C'sJon for refusing to give tie peo !' i C r l, rrt r.i-;'y te r?- '---J, 1 A decision rendered but months ago by tbe court of appeale of my own Btate. Ihe atata of New York, declared unconstitutional tha workmen's compensation act In their decision the Judgee admitted tha mnf and the suffering caused by tha practices againat which tha law waa . ... a -. I. - aimed. Tney aamiuea lilted nations bad abollehed . theaa wrongs and practices. But they took the ground that the Constitution of tba United States, instead of being an inatmmant to secure Justice, had been Ingeniously devised absolutely to pre vent Justice. They Insisted that tha clause In tbe Constitution which tor bade tha taking of property without due process of law forbade tbe effort which bad been made In tbe law to 1 distribute among all the partners In an enterprise tbe effects of the In juries to life or limb of a wage-work- r. In other words, they insisted thst tbe Constitution bad permanent cursed our people with Impotence to right wrong, and bad perpetuated a cruel iniquity; for cruel iniquity la not too harsh a term to use In describing tbe law which, in tha event of such an accident, binds the whole burden of crippling disaster on the shoulders least able to bear It the shoulders of tbe crippled man himself, or the dead, man's helpless wife and children. No anarchist orator, raving against tha Constitution, ever framed an indict ment to It so severe aa these worthy and well-meaning Judgea must be held to have framed If their reasoning be accepted as true. But, ae a matter of fact their reasoning was unsound, and waa as repugn ant-to every sound defender of the Constitution as to every believer In Justice and rlght In effect, their decision ' waa that we could not remedy these wrongs unless we amended me -u-i stltutlon (not the constitution of the ' state, but the Constitution of the na , tion) by saying that property could be taken without due process of law! It , seems Incredible that any one should i be willing to take such. a position. . It i la a position that has been condemned j over and over again by the wisest and i most far-eeelng courts. In its essence i. h tha decision Of state courts in states like waamngion and Iowa, and by the Supreme court of the nation in a case but a few weeks old. According to one of the highest Judges then and now on the Supreme court of the nation, we had lived for a hundred years under a Constitution which permitted a national Incoma until auddenlv bv one vote the Supreme court reversed Its previous ' decisions for a century, and said that ; for a century we had been living under ' a wrong interpretation of the Constltu ! tion (that 18, under a wrong Constitu tion), and therefore In effect estab- llabed a new Constitution which wo are now laboriously trying to amend I . if Kaok tn the Constitu- BU ae iu - tion that for a hundre-i year a every body. Including the Supreme court, thought It to be. When I was presi dent, we passed a National Workmen'a Compensation act. Under it a rail way man named Howard. I think, waa killed in Tennesaee, and his widow sued for damages. Congress had done all It could to provide the right, but the court stepped In and decreed that congress bad failed. Three of the Judges took the extreme position that "there was no way in which congreaa could secure the helpless wiaow ana 'children against suffering, and that ' the man's blood and the blood or all I similar men when Bpllled should for ! ever cry aloud in vain for Justice. This seems a strong statement, but ' it is far less strong than the actual ' facts; and I have difficulty in making with any degree of modification. The nine Justices of the Supreme court on this question split into five fragments. One man, ex Justice Moody, in his opinion stated the case in its broadest way and de manded Juatice for Howard, on grounds that would have meant that In all similar cases thereafter justice and not Injustice should be done. Yet the court, by a majority of one. de cided aa I do not for one moment be lieve the court would now decide, and not only perpetuated a lamentable in Juatice in the caae of the man himself, but set a standard of lnjuatlce for all similar cases. Here again I ask you not to think of the mere legal formal lam, but to think of (he grjat im mutable principles of Justice, the great immutable principles of right ani,wron. and .to .der wh-r meSusto ilen depeiAInSrlhelr live libood, and to the women and chil dren dependent upon these men. when the courts of the land deny them the Justice to which they are entitled. Now. gentlemen. In closing, and In thanking you for your courtesy, let ma add one word. . Keep clearly In view what are the fundamental ends ot government. I hope that not only you and I but all our people may ever remember that while good lawa are necessary, while it is necessary to bave the right kind of governmental machinery, yet that the all-Important matter Is to have the right kind ot man behind the law. A good Consti tution, and good lawa under the Con BtltuUon, and fearless and upright of ficials to ' administer the . laws all these ar: necessary; but the prime re qulsite in our national life is, and must always be, the possession by tha aver age citizen of tho right kind of char acter.. Our aim must be tbe moral! -tlon of the Individual, of the govern ment of the people as a whole. We desire the moralizatlon not only of political conditions but of industrial conditions, so that every force in the community. Individual and collective,' may be directed toward securing for tie svertge man, and avers-" worenn, a t'-vr an.1 t'rr rl f . 11