During his tour down the Mississippi River Mr. Roosevelt has
again explained his attitude towards the Trusts. "Our Government," said Mr. Roosevelt, according to Reuter's report, " is a Government of liberty, but it is a Govern- ment of that orderly liberty which comes by and through the honest enforcement of obedience to the law. At intervals during the past few months an appeal has been made to me not to enforce the law against certain wrong. doers of great wealth, because to do so would interfere with the business prosperity of the country under the effects of that kind of fright which, when it is sufficiently acute, we call panic. This appeal has been made to me even by men who ordinarily behave as decent citizens. One newspaper, which itself strongly advanced this view, gave prominence to a statement by a certain man of great wealth to the effect that the so-called financial weakness was entirely due to the admitted intention of the President to punish large moneyed interests which had transgressed the law. I do not admit that this has been the main cause of any business troubles which we have had, but it is possible that it may have been a contributory cause. If so, friends, so far as I am con- cerned, it must be accepted as a disagreeable but unavoidable feature in the course of the policy which, so long as I am President, will not be changed. If righteousness conflicts with the fancied needs of business, then the latter must go to the wall." Those are characteristic words, and we shall not be surprised if Mr. Roosevelt's courage has the usual result of turning enemies into friends and hostility into loyal support.
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