Grover Cleveland was regarded, each time he was elected, as radical. In Cleveland’s day, not to be in favor of highway robbery in office was regarded as proof of radicalism. That is why Cleveland’s dictum that “a public office is a public trust” attracted national attention. It was a new note. But in neither of Cleveland’s terms did he do anything to improve the condition of the American people. They were as poor when he finally left office as they were when he first took office. Moreover, there was good reason for their poverty. Cleveland never lost an opportunity to betray them. He sold bonds in secret to Mr. Morgan to the great profit of Mr. Morgan and the great loss of the American people. He hurled troops against strikers and placed thousands of deputy United States Marshals under the orders of railway managers who were trying to prevent their employees from obtaining living wages.
Benjamin Harrison was never regarded as a radical, but in 1888 he was regarded as an improvement upon Cleveland. After Harrison had done nothing for four years, Cleveland was believed to be an improvement upon Harrison. Four years more of Cleveland were enough to send him out of office with the condemnation of everybody but the grafters in both parties.
Business revived somewhat under the Presidency of McKinley, but the revival was not so much due to anything that Mr. McKinley did as it was to the fact that the time had come for the pendulum to swing back from panic to “prosperity.” Nor did the revival solve the problem of poverty. Nothing was settled because nothing was changed. Not so many men were denied the right to work, but those who worked toiled only for a “full dinner pail.” They paid all they received to live poorly. Only their employers fared wonderfully well. For them there was real prosperity.
Which brings us to Mr. Roosevelt and his Progressive party.
Mr. Roosevelt was the first President of the type that is now regarded as “radical.” He held office seven years and a half. He had “a perfectly corking time.” He did business with all of the bosses, including Hanna, Quay, Cannon, Payne, Aldrich and a host of others, but we have his word for it that his intentions were good. Maybe they were. For the sake of argument, let it be granted that they were. Let it be conceded that he believed the things he did would enable the average man to earn a living more certainly and more easily. Still, is it not a fact that the things he did failed to accomplish what he expected they would?
Is it not a fact that it is to-day more difficult for most persons to make a living than it was when Mr. Roosevelt became President?
Is not the cost of living vastly more?
Are not more millions of men out of work?
Is there not greater uncertainty with regard to continuity of employment?
Are not more men, women and children living upon the hunger line, or close to it?