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
As regards the Miller case, I have little to add to what I have
already said. In dealing with it I ask you to remember that I am
dealing purely with the relation of the Government to its employees.
I must govern my action by the laws of the land, which I am sworn to
administer, and which differentiate any case in which the Government
of the United States is a party from all other cases whatsoever. These
laws are enacted for the benefit of the whole people, and can not and
must not be construed as permitting discrimination against some of
the people. I am President of all the people of the United States,
without regard to creed, color, birthplace, occupation, or social
condition. My aim is to do equal and exact justice as among them all.
In the employment and dismissal of men in the Government service I can
no more recognize the fact that a man does or does not belong to a
union as being for or against him than I can recognize the fact that
he is a Protestant or a Catholic, a Jew or a Gentile, as being for or
against him.
In the communications sent me by various labor organizations
protesting against the retention of Miller in the Government Printing
Office, the grounds alleged are twofold: 1, that he is a non-union
man; 2, that he is not personally fit. The question of his personal
fitness is one to be settled in the routine of administrative detail,
and can not be allowed to conflict with or to complicate the larger
question of governmental discrimination for or against him or any
other man because he is or is not a member of a union. This is the
only question now before me for decision; and as to this my decision
is final.
OYSTER BAY, N. Y.
_August 6, 1903_
MY DEAR GOVERNOR DURBIN:
Permit me to thank you as an American citizen for the admirable way in
which you have vindicated the majesty of the law by your recent action
in reference to lynching. I feel, my dear sir, that you have made all
men your debtors who believe, as all far-seeing men must, that the
well-being, indeed the very existence, of the Republic depends upon
that spirit of orderly liberty under the law which is as incompatible
with mob violence as with any form of despotism. Of course mob
violence is simply one form of anarchy; and anarchy is now, as it
always has been, the handmaiden and forerunner of tyranny.
I feel that you have not only reflected honor upon the State which
for its good fortune has you as its Chief Executive, but upon the
whole nation. It is incumbent upon every man throughout this country
not only to hold up your hands in the course you have been following,
but to show his realization that the matter is one which is of vital
concern to us all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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