Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)Roosevelt, Theodore
History
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; United States -- Politics and government -- 1901-1909
To-night I have come hither looking on either hand at the results of
the enterprises which have made Butte so great. The man who by the use
of his capital develops a great mine, the man who by the use of his
capital builds a great railroad, the man who by the use of his capital
either individually or joined with others like him does any great
legitimate business enterprise, confers a benefit, not a harm, upon
the community, and is entitled to be so regarded. He is entitled to
the protection of the law, and in return he is to be required himself
to obey the law. The law is no respecter of persons. The law is to be
administered neither for the rich man as such, nor for the poor man as
such. It is to be administered for every man, rich or poor, if he is
an honest and law-abiding citizen; and it is to be invoked against any
man, rich or poor, who violates it, without regard to which end of the
social scale he may stand at, without regard to whether his offence
takes the form of greed and cunning, or the form of physical violence;
in either case if he violates the law, the law is to be invoked
against him; and in so invoking it I have the right to challenge the
support of all good citizens and to demand the acquiescence of every
good man. I hope I will have it; but once for all I wish it understood
that even if I do not have it I shall enforce the law.
The soldiers who fought in the great Civil War fought for liberty
under, by, and through the law; and they fought to put a stop
once for all to any effort to sunder this country on the lines of
sectional hatred; therefore their memory shall be forever precious
to our people. We need to keep ever in mind that he is the worst
enemy of this country who would strive to separate its people along
the lines of section against section, of creed against creed, or of
class against class. There are two sides to that. It is a base and an
infamous thing for the man of means to act in a spirit of arrogant and
brutal disregard of right toward his fellow who has less means; and
it is no less infamous, no less base, to act in a spirit of rancor,
envy, and hatred against the man of greater means, merely because
of his greater means. If we are to preserve this Republic as it was
founded, as it was handed down to us by the men of ’61 to ’65, and as
it is and will be, we must draw the line never between section and
section, never between creed and creed, thrice never between class and
class; but along the line of conduct, the line that separates the good
citizen wherever he may be found from the bad citizen wherever he may
be found. This is not and never shall be a government of a plutocracy;
it is not and never shall be a government by a mob. It is as it has
been and as it will be, a government in which every honest man, every
decent man, be he employer or employed, wage-worker, mechanic, banker,
lawyer, farmer, be he who he may, if he acts squarely and fairly, if
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