The Topeka state journal., 1901-12-31
MORGAN ON Roosevelt It
Kansas State Printer Writes Interest
ingly of the President.

| in Washington writing occasional letters
| home to his paper. Some of his COM
ments make extremely interesting read
ing. Mr.. Morgan has always been a
| close friend of Congressman Long. but
| in the recent contest in the pension
| agency, in which Mr. Long acted large
| ly for Cyrus Leland, he took no active
part, at least on the surface
In recent letter concerning Presi-
| dent Roosevelt's manner of dealing
with appointments and the consequent
| feeling toward him on the part of some
members Of congress. Mr.. Morgan
says:
In my opinion Mr.. Roosevelt is as
| thoroughly an honest man as can be
made He knows that himself. He is
also aware that some men are not
| honest Consequently he is justidably
suspicious. No matter whether the can
dldate for position is from New YORK
or Colorado, or whether he is indOrSed
by the statesmen of Ohio or Kansas,
ne makes a personal investigation as
far as he can and if he thinks the en-
dorsers are wrong he turns them down.
regardless of whether their name is
Hanna, Platt, Quay, Foraker, or that of
a Kansas statesman. So far as / can
learn Roosevelt is absolutely impartial
in this manner, turning down friend or
foe for this reason without showing
favoritism.
THE result of this is that 7 found a
general criticism Of the president by
senators and congressman They not
only object to the turning down. but to
the manner thereof. If a senator recon-
mends a man for office it is humiliat-
ing to be told before large number of
men, Your man is thief And yet
that is what has happened, and to a
greater or less extent it has occurred
to about all the congressman and SEN
ators. The fact that it is SO general
and that they can all guy each other
and tell stories on each other about how
Roosevelt has used them, takes away
part of the sting, but there is no dis
guising the fact that the president is
making lot of men say, All right, but
my time will come and some day, If
he ever has a policy on public affairs,
he will need the support of these men
and he may not get them easily.
Il heard congressman from Illinois
tell a story indicative of congressional
feeling. He was speaking of the presi-
Oklahoma He said that in the early
days the settlers of Illinois were al
ways ready to kill an Indian, but they
never skinned the body.
But like Roosevelt. like his open,
fearless way. The Indians in congress
may get after him but I believe he can
lick them, at least as long the only
complaint they have is on patronage.
only tell of the conditions here in Wash
ington as they exist and they may ex-
plain some things that may happen in
the future Roosevelt is a politician
even If he is not always polite When
the time comes for a fight he will have
his friends organized to a finish. He is
that kind of man. He makes his fight
in his party and when defeated takes
his medicine. You never heard Roose-
velt boiling the ticket because the other
side beat him in the primaries He ac-
cepts the will of the majority, but he
always tells the m ajority what he
thinks about it. He has been honest
and he has played politics in New York.
He accepted the help of Platt and he
made his appointments largely in line
with the machine, becausaAhe knew
the machine was necessary. He is par
suing the same policy in Washington,
only he is doing it his own way.
Il was right under the gun when the
appointment of United States pension
I heard President Roosevelt declare just
what he would do, and about so other
people in the room also heard it all. The
men he was addressing were Congress-
men Long and Calderhead and National
Committeeman Mulvane. He told them
he had decided to act ON the recon-
lnendation of Senator Burton. provided
the man he should name was up to the
standard The president said: II would
like to appoint Mr. Leland because 1
know Mr.. Mckinley intended to do so.
But / have turned Mr.. Burton down on
other places and if he names a man up
to the standard for pension agent I will
appoint him. Congressman Calderhead
urged that If it were not Mr. Leland it
should at least be an old soldier, saying
the old soldiers of Kansas requested it. |
That, said the president, is up to Mr..
Burton. You will note that the presi- |
dent is good politician sometimes. He |
expressed his own preference for Mr.. |
Leland and an old soldier and left the |
responsibility of turning them down on |
the senator The president talked a |
good deal Of Kansas politics but there |
is no use of fighting the pension agent |
battle over again. That incident is !
closed.
Zone difficulty President Roosevelt |
has is that he has to follow president |
like Mckinley. Everybody loved Nc |
Kinley, even Democrats and Populists. |
A Democratic senate ratified the treaty |
with Spain largely because Mckinley |
wanted it. The sorrow for his death |
was as genuine among his opponents as |
his partiSanS. He was always gentle |
and kind. He never skinned a man. I |
have no doubt but that he was as care |
full in regard to his appointments as is /
Mr.. Roosevelt. but he went at it diff |
ferently Congressman say that when /
Mckinley turned them down on pat |
ronage he did it s a father would with /
hold a desire of his children, and that |
they felt almost as good over being
turned down by Mckinley as when en-
dorsed by Roosevelt Roosevelt is not |
gentle He is strenuous He doesn't |
mind hurting the feelings of senator. /
And these senators and congressman
think they know as much about the ap-
plicants for office in their own state as
Mr. Roosevelt does. They think they are
just as big men individually and are
sure they as honest as the presi-
dent. Therefore the atmosphere in 1
Washington is not cordial toward Mr..
Roosevelt, although the feeling is not OF
such nature as to prevent his ultimate
success. He is doubtless learning
great deal and he is man of resource.
energy, industry and honesty Such
qualities as these should bring success,
they viii do SO in most cases
better if accompanied by another viz
tue, tact