Remarks in Osceola, Iowa

It is a great pleasure to come here today and be introduced by Colonel Hepburn, who has been traveling with me throughout his district. And in departing from it and from him I wish to state my sense of obligation to him and to all the Iowa delegation for the aid they gave me last year—the invaluable aid in bringing about certain bits of legislation, non-partisan in character, which I deemed of the utmost importance; such as a wise supervision and regulation of certain great corporations, of the type popularly known as trusts, notably of those engaged in doing an interstate business—legislation which I deemed invaluable not only because of its courage, but because of its sanity, and because it does not pretend to do anything that it does not do. A promise should be kept on the stump just as much as off the stump. The worth of any promise lies in its fulfillment by action, and it was, thanks to Colonel Hepburn, thanks to the Congress, to the members of both the Senate and the House from Iowa, and their fellows, that I am able to come before you feeling that all that had been said by us as to the need of such regulation has been made good in fact. Improvements in the law have been made, better legislation has been put on the statute books, and the legislation on the statute books has been enforced with honesty and with fearlessness.