The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-09-28

pfOuu Ol Uur utl6Rd UlOu III SOUBfSSS, anu
It's influence In the constructive measures
OF Republican administration. We pos
SIS unusual executive ability and courage
in Governor Black. A protective tariff,
sound money-the gold standard the re-
tirement of the Government from the
banking business and state issues are just
as important as ever. Until three months
ago to succeed we would have had to sat
isfy the voters of the soundness and wis
dom of our position on these questions.
The cardinal principles of Republican
policy will be the platform of this canvass
and of future ones. But at this juncture
the people have temporarily put every
thing else aside and are applying their
whole thought to the war with Spain and
it's consequences. We believe that they
think and will vote that our war with
Spain was just and righteous. We can
not yet say that Am erican constituencies
have settled convictions on territorial ex-
pansion and the government of distant
islands and alien races. We can say that
Republican opinion glories in our victories
and follows the flag
The resistless logic of events overcomes
all other considerations and impels me to
present the name of, as 1T will persuade
you to nominate as our candidate for
Governor of the State of New York
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. If he were
only the hero of brilliant charge on the
UdUUlSu6lu. anu bu0T0 WAS uOUQlug 6lSo
which fitted him for this high place,
would not put him in nomination. But
Colonel Roosevelt has shown conspio nous
ability in the public service for ten years.
He was soldier three months. 1t is not
time which tells with an executive mind
and restless energy like Roosevelt's but
opportunity. Give him the chance and
he leads to victory. He has held two
positions which generally ruin the holder
of them with politicians and the unthink-
ling. One was Civil Service Commits
sioner and the other Police Commissioner
| of New York City. So long as the public
did not understand him there was plenty
| of lur1d language and crashing of teeth.
| The people are always just in the end.
Let them know everything that can be
said about man and see all that the
searchlight of publicity will reveal and
| their verdict is the truth. When the
smoke had cleared away from the batter
| les of abuse they saw the untouched and
| unframed figure of a public spirited.
broad minded and courageous officer, who
understood official responsibility to mea n
the performance without fear or favor OF
the work he had promised to do and obedi
ence to the laws he had sworn to support.
The missiles from those batteries1 flew by
him as innocuously as did the bullets from
the Spanish Mausers on the hill of San
Juan. General Grant said, when Presi-
UGnU, bQdU Uu6 OIlAy way w ccooAo pdO AC-
peal of an obnoxious law is to enforce it,
and that to refuse to obey it Is to bring
all law into contempt. Roosevelt adored
General Grant. He did not make any of
these laws They were the work of both
Republican and Democratic Legislatures.
| If Roosevelt had been Governor many of
them would have died by his veto.
When he became Assistant Secretary of
the Navy be was in a sphere more CON-
genial to his genius and abilities. He Is
a better soldier than he is a policeman.
Life on the plains had broadend his vision
and inyigorated his youth. Successful
excursions into the literature of the ranch
and the hunting for big game had opened
up for him the present resources and
boundless possibilities of the United
States. He was fortunately under the
most accomplished, able, generous and
indulgent chief in Secretary Long. A
small man would have been jealous of this
dynamite bundle of brains, nerves,
energy and initiative, but our distin-
guished Secretary gave full scope to his
brilliant Assistant. The country owes
much to him for the efficiency and splbn.
did condition of our navy. The Congress
sional economist has always put his knife
| deep in the naval appropriations. He
| will not do SC any more. The Navy De-
partment has always been compelled to
| enforce on the commanders Of itssmen-of-
and powder. The permanent staff said to
| Roosevelt one day: dewey is wasting
an unnecessary amount of powder in
| firing his big guns" 'sLet him shoot
away" said the Assistant Secretary,
'that is what the powder is for II
| there had been no war, some Jerry Simp.
son would have moved an inquiry into
the extravaganza of the Navy Department
in burning up the property of the United
States, and upon Roosevelt might have
rested the condemnation of Congress-
ionaI Committee. But the waste was
magnificent economy in producing the
superb craftsmanship of the gunners on
our waLsnips at Manila and Santiago.
The wife of Cabinet officer told me
that when Assistant Secretary Roosevelt
announced that he had determined to
resign and raise regiment for the war,
some of the ladies in the Administration
circle thought it their duty to demonstrate
with him. They said: me Roosevelt,
YOU have six children, the youngest few
months old, ard the eldest not yet in the
teens. While the country is full of young
men who have no such responsibilities,
and are eager to enlist, you have no right
to leave the burden upon your wife OF
the care, support and bringing up of that
family" Rooseyelt's answer was a
Roosevelt answer: II have done as much
as any one to bring on this war because
| pOll0FCu III luusb GUILE, anu UAO SOO-1oA VAC
| better and now that war is declared, L
have no right to ask others to do the fight
| ing and stay at home myself"
| The regiment of Rough Riders was AZ
original American suggestion, to demon
| strate that patriotism and indomitable
courage are common to all conditions of
American life. The same great qualities
are found under the SLOUGH hat of the
cowboy and the elegant imported tile of
New York's gilded youth Their man
nerisms are the yeneers of the West and
the East; their manhood is the same.
| In that hot and psst-cursed climate of
summer Cuba officers had opportunities
for protection from miasma and fever
which were not possible for the men.
But the Rough Riders endured no hard
ships nor dangers which were not shared
by their Colonel He helped them dig
the ditches he stood beside them in the
deadly dampness OF tina trenches. No
f9ored tent for him if his comrades must
sleep on the ground and under the sky.
In that world-famed charge of the Rough
Riders through the hail of shot and up
the hill of San Juan, their Colonel was
hundred feet in advance. The bullets