Factors for good government

Title

Creator

Roosevelt, Theodore

Language

English

Year

1966

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

A great American President discusses the evil of money in politics and the need for honesty and sound law for the citizen.

Fulltext

■ A great American President discusses the evil of money in politics and the need for honesty and sound law for the citizen. FACTORS FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT I believe in shaping the ends of government to pro tect property as well as hu man welfare. Normally, and in the long run, the ends are the same; but whenever the alternative must be faced, I am for men and not for pro perty. . . 1 am far from underesti mating the importance of dividends; but 1 rank divi dends below human charac ter. Again, I do not have any sympathy with the re former who says he does not care for dividends. Of course, economic welfare is necessary for a man must pull his own weight and be able to sup port his family. I know well that the reformers must not bring upon the people eco nomic ruin, or the reforms themselves will go down in the ruin. But we must be ready to face temporary disas ter, whether or not brought on by those who will war against us to the knife. Those who oppose all reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a sor did and selfish materialism. If our political institutions were perfect, they would ab solutely prevent the political domination of money in any part of our affairs. We need to make our political repre sentatives more quickly and sensitively responsible to the people whose servants they are. More direct action by the people in their own af fairs under proper safeguards is vitally necessary. The di rect primary is a step in this direction, if it is associated with a corrupt practices act effective to prevent the ad vantage of the man willing recklessly and unscrupulous ly to spend money over his more honest competitor. It is particularly important that all money received or expend ed for campaign purposes should be publicly accounted March 1966 29 for, not only after election, but before election as well. Political action must be made simpler, easier, and freer from confusion for every citi zen. I believe that the prompt removal of unfaith ful or incompetent public servants should be made easy and sure in whatever may ex perience shall show to be most expedient in any given class of cases. One of the fundamental necessities in a representative government such as ours is to make certain that the men to whom the people delegate their power shall serve the people by whom they are elected, and not the special interests. I believe that every national officer, elected or appointed, should be forbid den to perform any service or receive any compensation, direttly or indirectly, from interstate corporations; and a similar provision could not fail to be useful within the states. The object of government is the welfare of the people. The material progress and prosperity of a nation are de sirable chiefly so far as they lead to the moral and ma terial welfare of all citizens. Just in proportion as the average man and woman are honest, capable of sound judgment and high ideals, active in public affairs — but, first of all, sound in their home life, and the father and mother of healthy children whom they bring out well — just so far, and no further, we may count our civilization a success. We must have — I believe we have already — a genuine and permanent moral awakening, without which no wisdom of legisla tion or administration really means anything; and, on the other hand, we must try to secure the social and econo mic legislation without which any improvement due to purely moral agitation is ne cessarily evanescent. . . No matter how honest and de cent we are in our private lives, if we do not have the right kind of law and the right kind of administration of the law we cannot go for ward as a nation. That is imperative; but it must be an addition to, and not a substitution for, the quali ties that make up good citi zens. In the last analysis the most important elements in any man's career must be the sum of those qualities which, in the aggregate, we speak 30 Panorama of as character. If he has not got it, then no law that the wit of man can devise, no administration of the law by the boldest and strongest executive, will avail to help him. We must have the right kind of character — character that makes a man, first of all, a good man in the home, a good father, a good husband — that makes a man a good neighbor. You must have that, and then, in addition, you must have the kind of law and the kind of administration of the law which will give to those qua lities in the private citizen the best possible chance for development. The prime problem of our nation is to get the right type of good citizenship, and, to get it, we must have progress, and our public men fnust be genuine ly progressive. — By Theo dore Roosevelt. LONGEVITY Fontenelle was continually being told by his doctors that what he liked to eat was bad for him. Toward the end of his life, one warned him that he must give up coffee, explaining at great length in the most appalling medical terms, that it was ■slow,poison and would eventually ruin his system. In a tone of deep conviction the nonagenarian re plied, “Doctor, I am inclined to agree with you that it is a slow poison — very slow, for I have been drinking it for the past 80 years.” Coffee-lovers may derive some comfort from the fact that Fontenelle came within a. month of living to be a hundred years old. March 1966 31

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