Mr. Roosevelt Pays His Respects to Penrose and Archbold
Performed by Theodore Roosevelt
Recorded September 22, 1912
In this contest, we have a
right to appeal to all honest men to support us without
regard to what their political affiliations may have
been in the past. The powers that prey are united
against us. The powers that prey pay no heed to a
question of partisanships in this contest. Some of
them may, individually, prefer Mr. Wilson to Mr. Taft
and others may prefer Mr. Taft to Mr. Wilson. But
the preference for either is tepid compared to the
intensity of their animosity towards us, and their
willingness to stand by either of the other two candidates
or by anyone else, if only they can beat the Progressive
party. The reason is evident, these men, the big bosses
of the political field, the beneficiaries of privilege
in the field of industry, the men who represent that
sinister alliance between crooked politics and crooked
business, which has done more than anything else for
the corruption of American life, are united as one
man against the genuine rule of the people themselves.
The privileged classes, the representatives of special
privilege, of special interests, can always make terms
with a boss or bosses. They can make terms with the
bosses who dominate the Republican party, they can
make terms with the bosses who dominate the Democratic
party, but they cant make terms with the people.
They cant make terms with the men who honestly
and genuinely represent the popular will. The attitude
of our opponents has been well shown by the alliance
between Messrs. Penrose and Archbold. You may remember
that the other day, Senator Penrose of Pennsylvania
and Mr. Archbold of the Standard Oil Company appeared
before a senate committee to testify against me. That
is, nominally, they were to testify against me. Really,
they were testifying against Mr. Cornelius Bliss who
is dead. Mr. Bliss was the Treasurer of the Republican
National Committee during the lifetime of President
McKinley and he continued in that position until after
1904 when I ran for President. He lived for seven
years after the events as to which these two men have
testified. While he lived they never dared open their
mouths against him, but now he is dead and the two
valiant souls come forward to bear witness against
a dead man.