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
Men sincerely interested in the due protection of property, and men
sincerely interested in seeing that the just rights of labor are
guaranteed, should alike remember not only that in the long run
neither the capitalist nor the wage-worker can be helped in healthy
fashion save by helping the other; but also that to require either
side to obey the law and do its full duty toward the community is
emphatically to that side’s real interest.
There is no worse enemy of the wage-worker than the man who condones
mob violence in any shape or who preaches class hatred; and surely the
slightest acquaintance with our industrial history should teach even
the most shortsighted that the times of most suffering for our people
as a whole, the times when business is stagnant, and capital suffers
from shrinkage and gets no return from its investments, are exactly
the times of hardship, and want, and grim disaster among the poor.
If all the existing instrumentalities of wealth could be abolished,
the first and severest suffering would come among those of us who are
least well off at present. The wage-worker is well off only when the
rest of the country is well off; and he can best contribute to this
general well-being by showing sanity and a firm purpose to do justice
to others.
In his turn the capitalist who is really a conservative, the man
who has forethought as well as patriotism, should heartily welcome
every effort, legislative or otherwise, which has for its object to
secure fair dealing by capital, corporate or individual, toward the
public and toward the employee. Such laws as the franchise tax law in
this State, which the Court of Appeals recently unanimously decided
constitutional—such a law as that passed in Congress last year for
the purpose of establishing a Department of Commerce and Labor,
under which there should be a bureau to oversee and secure publicity
from the great corporations which do an interstate business—such a
law as that passed at the same time for the regulation of the great
highways of commerce so as to keep these roads clear on fair terms to
all producers in getting their goods to market—these laws are in the
interest not merely of the people as a whole, but of the propertied
classes. For in no way is the stability of property better assured
than by making it patent to our people that property bears its proper
share of the burdens of the State; that property is handled not
only in the interest of the owner, but in the interest of the whole
community.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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