No individual,
46
no corporation, obeying the law has any-
thing to fear from this Administration.
During the present trouble with the
stock market I have, of course, received
countless requests and suggestions, public
and. private, that I should say or do some-
thing to ease the situation, j There is a
world-wide financial disturbance; it is felt
in the bourses of Paris and Berlin; and
British consols are lower than for a gen-
eration, while British railway securities
have also depreciated. On the New
47
York Stock Exchange the disturbance
'fe'
has been peculiarly severe. Most of it I be-
lieve to be due to matters not peculiar to the
United States, and most of the remainder
to matters wholly unconnected with any
governmental action; but it may well be
that the determination of the Government
(in which, gentlemen, it will not waver),
to punish certain malefactors of great
wealth, has been responsible for some-
thing of the trouble ; at least to the extent
of having caused these men to combine to
48
bring about as much financial stress as
possible, in order to discredit the policy
of the Government and thereby secure a
reversal of that policy, so that they may
enjoy unmolested the fruits of their own
evil-doing. That they have misled many
good people into believing that there should
be such reversal of policy is possible. If so
I am sorry; but it will not alter my attitude.
ll Once for all let me say that so far as I am
concerned, and for the eighteen months of
my Presidency that remain, there will be
49
no change in the policy we have steadily
pursued, no let up in the effort to secure
the honest observance of the law ; for I re-
gard this contest as one to determine who
shall rule this free country — the people
through their governmental agents or a
few ruthless and domineering men, whose
wealth makes them peculiarly formi-
dable, because they hide behind the
breastworks of corporate organization.
I wish there to be no mistake on this
point; it is idle to ask me not to prose-
50
cute criminals, rich or poor.
http://www.archive.org/stream/addressofpreside00roo/addressofpreside00roo_djvu.txt
LOTS MORE great stuff in this very long speech. 'Malefactors of great wealth. . .'
= new reply since forum marked as read
Welcome to DU.