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 can’t make terms with the people. They can’t 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.