Volume 14 , Issue 32

T. Roosevelt Sounds Battle Cry - 1912

From the only independent newspaper (The Tacoma Times), in Tacoma, Washington, Tuesday, August 6, 1912, we find Teddy Roosevelt sounds his battle cry as he gets a tremendous ovation at the convention. Every seat in Chicago's coliseum was packed at 12:48 o'clock with most of its aisles filled with the wildly cheering throng of delegates. At 1:20 p.m. the volleys of hurrahs were still unchecked before Roosevelt made public the "confession of faith" on which he hopes to be a returned president in November, 1912 at the head of the "Bull Moose" party.

On 6 August 1912, Roosevelt said in his convention speech, "The old parties are husks with no real souls within. The prime need today is to face the fact that we are now in the midst of a great economic evolution. The first essential in the progressive program is the right of the people to rule. The bosses and their agents at the Chicago convention rested political debts as a legitimate political weapon. The American people and not the courts are to determine their own fundamental policy. Means are to be devised for making it easier than at present to get rid of an incompetent judge. The stick in the bark, legalism, the legalism that subordinates equity to technicality should be recognized as a potent enemy of justice. Industries must submit to such public regulation as will make it a means of life and health, not of death or inefficiency. We stand for a living wage. We are in favor of honest business, big or little. We are against crooked business, big or little. The day of the log rolling tariff must end; the tariff should approximate the difference between the cost of production in this country and abroad."   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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