Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-10-04

he expects by the end of his three or
four years in office 10 bring this to a
definite and final solution. 4 better
statement of his views would doubtless
be that in the course of four years the
Filfpinos can be carried a long distance
forward on their way toward self gov
ernment 1t is inconccivable that
man of Mr.. RooseveltS moral type
would favor the retention of colonies
merely for the sake of retaining them
If majorities both of the colonists and
of the citizens of the parent country
frankly desired separation. 1t is
equally out of the question for any one
who knows the workings Of his mind
10 suppose him in favor of turning such
people as the Filipinos loose upon
the sisterhood of nations till they have
been instructed in the ways of self gov
erning commonwealth. He would tell
you that lie is never an oppressor. NJ
ways n civilizer, but he would hardly
judge a people capable of passing in
diligently upon the question of their
permanent future form of government
till they had tasted and tested what he
regards as the ideal form.
What will be our new presidents at
titude toward criticism? That will de-
pend upon it's motive and its method.
He has never had any quarrel with the
critics who attack his opinions or his
politics or his mode of putting those
policies in force. provided only that
they tell the truth about him and alb
stain from imputing to him dishonor-
able motive. No one has relished more
keenly than he the SatireS and cartoons
in which he has figured ever since he
came into national prominence, but
when writer or artist has aSsailcd his
honesty or tried to throw suspicion
upon his wOrthiness of purpose all the
warlike impulses within him have
sought expression at the surface. His
enemy may condemn his projects as
foolish his logic as Juvenile his APP
pearance words and manners as ludi-
crous. and he is ready To shake hands
and break bread with the censor five
minutes later, but the man who hints
that he is a hypocrite or Il rogue finds
n very ugly and quite indispensable an
tagonist in him from that day forth.
Mr. Roosevelt is II democrat with 4
small ii" 1t will surprise 10 one To
see him in Il few weeks walking the
streets of Washi-- IN as freely as
Lincoln and Grant did. He has al
ways lived his own life and chosen his
own friends in defiance of the carpers.
Some persons have accused him of be-
ing theatrical in his methods. If this
charge be true, the tendency is as nat
ural in him as his sense of humor. and
that is simply irrepressible. He is
certainly not without sharp eye for
IL. Int nf
shows itself in some isolated act de
signed to convey a lesson than in one
which is merely incidental to his gen
eral course of conduct. \ typical in
stance occurred when DIR. Ahlwardt,
the anti-Semitic agitator from Berlin.
visited New York i'm 1895. Mr.. RooSe-
welt was then police commissioner, and
not a few OF the New York anti
Scmites came TO him in alarm lest the
Jews should arise and mob the orator
ON the night of his first address. The
response was To select
from the whole police force Il squad of
Hebrews whose physiognomy bespoke
their race most cOnspicuously. These
officers he placed in charge of the hall |
where Ahlwardt was To appear, with
a reminder that in this country of free
speech they could show their good citi-
in no more striking manner
than by protecting the very man who
had come TO hurl contempt and abuse
at their people. The effect OF this bit
of comedy. worthy of Gilbert. was to
make Ahlwardt ridiculous and cause
his whole crusade to fall pitifully fiat.
There has been some curiosity among
the politicians 10 know who is going to
run" the new administration. Some
have been unkind enough i'm their feel !
ing toward Senator Lodge To suggest !,
that lie might attempt the task. Obvi- .
Ously they know neither their proposed
runner nor his ''runnee" Three years
from now they will probably wake up
TO the fact that the Roosevelt admin
has been run throughout by Il
man named Theodore Roosevelt.