The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1901-09-18
Washington Discusses Roosevelt.
What is Thought and Said of the
New President.

Washington, Sept. 16.-After the
hopeful bulletins of the first few days,
the news of President McKinley's
death was a shock almost as great as
the report of his assassination. 1t IS
hardly yet possible for the people Of
Washington to realize that his familiar
and kindly presence is gone forever
from the White House. Although the
emblems of mourning are everywhere
visible, perhaps only the state funeral
with it solemn and impressible ceremo-
nies can wholly efface the vivid mem
ory which almost everyone here has
of the President as he livedy and make
it impossible to think of him as dead.
With the incoming of the new Exc
cutive there will inevitably be many
changes in the official and social life
of the city. a hundred minor cur
rents are disturbed and thwarted by
the great event which has just taken
place. There will of course be no Off
cial gayeties during the coming sea-
son: there may be small army of
Office seekers, but this will depend
largely on the course which President
Roosevelt takes in regard to the ap-
pointments not under the civil service
law. There may also be sweeping
changes in the Cabinet.
There has seldom been so great a
contrast in the characters of two men
closely associated in official life as that
between Mckinley and Roosevelt.
Even astute political prophets are
somewhat at sea in attempting to pre-
dict the Executive actions during the
next three years. Nobody seems to be
quite sure what Roosevelt. as President.
will do about anything. In his past
career be has too often been the
apotheosis of the unexpected to make
it safe to risk too many prophecies n
his conduct now. Many people expect
that he will make radical changes on
the policy of the Administration,
but this is by no means certain.
Mckinley was careful, shrewd, per-
suasive: but he never made an enemy
if he could help it. Roosevelt is reso-
lutte, fearless, and entirely careless of
appearances or consequences. The
anomaly of the presence of these two
men on the same ticket, supporting
the same policy, is explained by the
fact that starting from opposite points,
and with opposite temperaments, they
had reached, for widely different rea-
sons, very much the same conclusions.
To take one among the many questions
of the day, that of expansion; Presl-
dent Mckinley favored expansion be-
cause he believed it to be wise from a
commercial point Of view: Roosevelt
because he saw chance for lot Of
fighting and strenuous life generally:
but they came out at the same end of
the horn. It is not necessary to antlcl-
pate that Roosevelt will depart radi-
cally from the course of the Admins
tration as now marked out, but he
will probably go over that course in
more of hurry than some of his ad-
visers think he ought to, and he may
take short cuts which will discom-
mode people. 1t is pretty we'll known
that Senator Hanna wanted Roosevelt
on the ticket because he thought it
would get the strenuous young man
out of the way; but instead of being
tucked nicely away in the sleepy re-
tirement of the Senate, Roosevelt is in
the White House. It will be interest
ing to see what Hanna can find to do
about it now.
Another person who may view the
new development with horror is Secre-
tary Long. There was a legend about
the time of the Spanish-American
war, to the effect that Mr.. Long tried
to take vacation, but before he had
been away week stories of the way
in which his Assistant Secretary was
stirring up things reached his ear, and
he had to come back in a hurry. The
question whether Long stays in the
Cabinet or not will depend partly on
the result of the SchleySampson busl-
position to play politics. If he starts
in to break up the Navy Department
ring he will probably do it, but some
of the leaders of his party will not be
pleased. And all that sort of thing
counts in working for reelection.