The Governor’s Gamble: McBride Pledges War on Corporate Corruption

M'BRIDE PLEASED With Enforcement Given by Roosevelt In His Fight for a Railway Commission and Just Taxation of Corporations.

The Spokesman-Review says: "If any breaker of party pledges and party platforms can extract a solitary grain of comfort from the speeches made by President Roosevelt in this state, he is welcome to it."

This declaration was made by Governor McBride, who spent the day in the city, and left on the afternoon train for Walla Walla, where he will visit the state penitentiary. The governor discussed President Roosevelt's speeches at some length, with particular reference to that portion of his Spokane speech which dealt with the enforcement of the law against the wealthy as well as against the poor.

"The doctrine enunciated by the president," said the governor, "that all men are equal before the law, that the law should be enforced without respect to the worldly position of those who violate it, is a doctrine which strikes a responsive chord in me. It is one of the cardinal tenets of the republican party of Washington, in its last state convention, set its face against that evil. The step then taken by the republican party will not be retraced; unworthy representatives of the party may thwart its will for a time, but in the end the evil will be eradicated."

Keynote of Roosevelt's Speeches.

The keynote of the president's speeches," continued Governor McBride, "is that character and integrity in the individual citizen constitute the bulwark of the state. The president believes that promises made to the people should be fulfilled in letter and in spirit; he believes in public as well as private honesty; he has no patience with trimmers and time-servers. He has the highest admiration for men who think and act for themselves, and who wear the collar [of individual or corporation]. He is that kind of man himself.

"The president has an utter abhorrence of naivete and political corruption. Himself the highest type of American citizenship, his ideals of what constitutes the duty of a citizen and an official are equally high.

"President Roosevelt will be renominated and re-elected. He is the overwhelming choice of the rank and file of his party, and those politicians who are opposed to him, in my judgment, lack the nerve to oppose him when the time comes. The corporate influences which he has antagonized by his unflinching insistence upon the integrity and preservation of the law will try stealthily to defeat him, but his grip on the minds and hearts of the people is too strong for them to overcome."

His Talks With Roosevelt.

By reason of being an invited guest on over the state on the president's special train, the governor had a greater opportunity for private conversation with the president than any other man had. He refused to discuss any of the things which he and the president talked about, but in response to a direct question said:

"The president and myself did not talk of state politics. In the main I imagine he has a pretty clear understanding of how issues have been drawn in this state, but the occasion for his visit was no time to discuss factional matters."

Fight In This State.

Asked as to the railroad commission fight in this state the governor said:

"I intend to keep up the fight for the principles enunciated in the last republican platform with all the ability and force at my command. I do not propose to falter or hesitate. In the long run those principles will triumph. My own efforts will not cease until the pledge made by the republican party to the people is redeemed to its fullest extent; but it is a work in which every loyal republican [should engage]."

"What of your own political future?" the governor was asked.

That is not worth discussing," was the reply. "The cause in which we are enlisted is higher than the ambitions of any man or set of men. To my own political future I have given little thought."

Governor McBride was entertained at the Spokane club Tuesday night by ex-Senator George Turner and Frank T. Post. He was also Senator Turner's guest at luncheon at the club yesterday. The governor had many callers at his hotel.