A great speech by a true American to true Americans on true Americanism--that is the pith and moment of Theodore Roosevelt's address. To Roosevelt, himself a strong and healthy man, the American pioneer is the ideal of vigorous manhood; and speaking as he did, in a pioneer state, to an audience of hardy home-makers, he could not but be impressed with the magnificent illustration of progress before him and the character of the people of the northern states.

"You are," he said, "typical Americans, for you have done the great, the characteristic, the typical work of our American life. In making homes and carving out careers for yourselves and your children, you have built up America. Throughout our history the success of the home-maker has been 2but another name for the upbuilding of the nation. The men who with ax in the forest and pick in the mountains and plow on the prairies pushed to completion the dominion of our people over the American wilderness have given the definite shape to our nation. They have shown the qualities of daring, endurance, and farsightedness, of eager desire for victory and stubborn refusal to accept defeat, which go to make up the essential manliness of the American character. Above all they have recognized in practical form the fundamental law of success in American life--the law of worthy work, the law of high, resolute endeavor. We have but little room among our people for the timid, the irresolute, and the idle; and it is no less true that there is scant room in the world at large for the nation with mighty thews that dares not be great."

The marvelous development of the country has brought the people face to face with fresh tasks and new duties. Only by approaching them in the genuine pioneer spirit, with true courage and resolution, can we hope to succeed.

We could not shirk our new "world duties" if we would, nor would we disregard them if we could. But the most difficult of all problems now confronting the American people arises from the rapid centralization of wealth. Roosevelt is alive to the danger threatening from this source and is ready to adopt new policies, if need be, for the protection of the man against the dollar. His utterances upon this point are suggestive, significant, and inspiring. He said in part:

"It is not only highly desirable, but necessary that there should be legislation which shall carefully shield the interests of the workers, and which shall discriminate in favor of the honest and humane employer by removing the disadvantage under which he stands when compared with unscrupulous competitors who have no conscience, and will do right only under the fear of punishment.

"Nor can legislation stop only with what are termed labor questions. The 4vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital which have marked the development of our industrial system, create new conditions and necessitate a change from the old attitude of the state and nation toward poverty. Our interests are at bottom common; in the long run we go up or go down together. Yet more and more it is evident that the state, and if necessary, the nation has not to posses the right of supervision and control as regards the great corporations which are its creations, particularly as regards the great business combinations which derive a portion of their importance from the existence of some monopolistic tendency. The right should be exercised with caution and self-restraint; but it should exist so that it may be invoked if the need arises."

This is exactly the position of all patriotic and sane citizens upon the question of trusts. Only upon one condition can the public hostility to trusts be allayed: that the great combinations be made subject to effective 5control by the people as represented by the states and the nation. Though a multitude of trust laws have been enacted, the people realize that the last word of legislation has not yet been said and that it cannot be delayed. And the people believe that the leadership of Roosevelt offers the surest guaranty of wise and effective trust legislation. They have implicit confidence in his judgment and courage, knowing that he never flinches in the face of the enemies of the country, whether they be Mauser bullets, millionaires, or mobs. They know that he says what he means and will do what he says. His leadership would inspire the people with fresh faith in their own power and spur lawmakers to vigorous action. And they will confer the leadership upon him, no matter what party bosses may do or not do. Roosevelt is the proper choice for President in 1904, and the people will take care of his nomination and election.