The politicians of both
parties loved to keep up a continual fight about the tariff, to
distract public attention from other important subjects.
There had been disagreements in the Republican Party for a number
of years. These had gone on during the Roosevelt administration.
In the main, these struggles can be described by saying that
President Roosevelt and those who agreed with him were looking out
for the advantage of the many, and for the welfare and health of
great masses of the people. His opponents were more interested to
see that nothing checked the activities of great corporations,
railroads, and manufacturing interests. They sincerely believed
that this was the first concern of all true patriots. Roosevelt
wished every man to have a square deal, an equal chance, so far as
possible, to earn as good a living as he could. His opponents
thought that if the great business interests could only go on, as
they liked, without being annoyed by the government, they would be
able to give employment to almost everybody, and to all the
unfortunates, who were crushed in the struggle, they would give
charity.
Between these two groups there was a ceaseless fight all the years
Roosevelt was in the White House. He had been strongly approved at
the polls; many of the measures he advocated had been made laws by
Congress. So he thought, and the larger part of the Republican
Party thought, when Mr.
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