The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-24
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ROOSEVELT'S SMALLNESS.

Gov. Roosevelt signa1izes his withdraw
al from his present office by an act Of
daring political partisanship. His remov-
al of the district attorney of New
York city can be put on no other ground
whatever. He simply finds himself pos
sessed of the power to remove Mr.. Gar
diner and. he. exercises it. He exercises
it, too. on the strength of the reports
of partisan newspapers, some of which
have lost all semblance of fairness or
decency in their attacks on Tammany
officials.
1t Will not matter very much to any
one save the wronged official that he is
deprived of his once Tammany. at
which the blow is aimed, will doubtless
survive it. The. publjc. vii. be no doubt
quite as we'll served by the new appointee
of Gov. Roosevelt as it has been. The
next city election in New York will i'll
all probability. restore the office to the
control Of those whom the public, rather
than any state executive, expresses pref
relied upon to adjust the palpable injus-
tice wrought by an official whom the
public have had some reason at least for
believing to be above such petty political
malevolence If he should find the people
of New York city. at their next election
restoring Col Gardiner to his Office no
doubt Vice President Roosevelt will be
able to swallow TIE public rebuke which
will be involved.
The incident offers splendid iHustra-
ton of the length to which unbridled
partisanship can drive responsible men.
The removal is made, according to the
governors memorandum, because Col.
Gardiner in a published interview gave
his sanction to the expression of Mr..
Croker and Chief OF Police Degery re-
garding what citizens should do in
certain contingencies to protect them
selves in the free exercise OF their right
Of franchise. A body appointed by staee
authority had shown it's readiness to deter
men Of known Democratic attachments
from casting their votes, in the recent
election, just as years ago. in the same
city, the federal authorities undertook the
same work. John I. Davenport is not
yet forgotten by New York Democrats,
nor do they forget that the state
Republican machine has been un-
tir.ng in its efforts to control the
politics .-..of The. great metropolis
If Mr.. Croker, or the chief of police Or,
the district attorney thought proper 10
warn the public and to advise them to
oppose force with force, rather than be
deprived of their right TO vote by par
usan officials. there is no man who knows
anything about New York POI ties.
unless he IS Violent opponent of Dem
ocratic control, that will not say that
they were fully justified.
To urge, as Gov. Roosevelt does, that
these gentlemen were influenced by a de-
termination to create riot and disorder
or to promote corruption at the polls
is too far-fetched even fer bitter par
tisan such as he is. The advancement
of such view as justi1cation-for remov-
ing responsible official from Office by
an official of the opposite political party
is really too small an undertaking to
expect at the hands of any state execu-
tive no matter how bitter a partisan lie
might be.
Democrats are every day confronted
by such exhibitions of party bitterness
as this, performed in the name of the
public welfare; but they seem to learn
very little from strcff experiences, at least
in the direction of teaching them to act
in concert with each other in public con-
Germs