Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-09-26
wAsHINaroN LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent

From our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Sept. %, 1901.
The news that President Roosevelt will
retain the present Cabinet intact came as
of a surprise to the country in
general. Perhaps no change which he
could have made would have surprised the
public as much as this unlooked-for con-
servatism. But it is an old story, as
regards Roosevelt, that the only thing
you can really expect of him is the I'M
expected.
1t is no secret that Platt and Hanna
were doing considerable squirming for a
few days after they realized that the man
whom they had shelved as Vice President
was really headed for the White House.
They did not like it. They were afraid of
him, and they are still, but in modified
way. They realize that Roosevelt is going
to do what he says he will, and they have
that much to build on, but whether he will
do it in the way in which they want him
to is another question. When he says he
is going head first through plate glass
window, the window had better be in
sured, and some of the enterprises in which
these two sapient gentlemen are engaged
are of the nature of conservatory. They
llollB iluubul1CO lliuCl SsltAooj
and that sort of thing. 1t would not be
nice if the Rough Rider should put his
boot through the shelter of the shipping
subsidies. Hanna says he will not, but
maybe the wish is father to the thought.
1t is known that Roosevelt is very much
interested in the upbuildmg OF the Mer-
chant Marine, and particularly that OF the
Navy He wishes to unite the countries OF
the two Americas by commercial links.
The question is whether he can join the
two wings of his own party so that they
will flap in unison and take him where he
wants to go. President Mckinley never
exactly said anything in favor OF subsid-
les, but then, he never said anything
against them. Roosevelt never was neu-
trail in his life. He reminds one OF re-
mark of one of the characters in Tourgee's
once famous novel, IA FOOLS Errand. y
sold men generally get the credit for all
the conservatism in the world, but it Is a
mistake. A young man backs just as hard
as he pulls. If he is opposed to a thing he
fights it tooth and nail" Roosevelt is
only forty-two, and that is the kind OF a
conservative he will be when he is one at
ALL
The very exuberance of the utterances OF
various Republican Senators as to the
confidence they have in Roosevelt, since
his decision to retain the members OF the
present Cabinet, is little suspicious. 1t
indicates that they have been scared and
now are treasured.
Another thing which should not be over
looked is that Rooseyelt's principal friends
and supporters have not yet come on the
scene. It is thought that when Senator
Lodge comes back from Europe there may
be change in the existing situation.
There is no doubt that Roosevelt will be
strenuous in some direction. 1t is said that
he will favor not only a large navy but a
standing army of strength equal to that
provided under the reorganization act of
last Winter. Whether the army can be
enlarged indefinitely without interfering
with the welfare of the people as whole
is one of the questions not yet settled.
We are not ready for any such ideals OF
military service as those which prevail in
Europe, and it is doubtful if we really
want to be. Another place in which there
is likely to be some shaking up is the
secret service. President Roosevelt has
been collecting testimony about the per-
Torrance OF the secret service men at
Buffalo, and it is stated that he regards
them with contempt, as lot of incompe-
tents and will make some radical changes
in that branch of the government very soon.
In this connection there is a little story
about Josiah Flynt the tramp detective,
which is interesting. Flynt, as most
people know, is college-bred man who
has been knocking about in the disguise of
a hobo for the last ten or fifteen years,
s-fo oi, and
criminal classes, and is possibly the best
authority in the country on this subject
He published an article sometime ago which
was a terrible arraignment OF the New
York detective force and the New York
people were mad. They said they would
show him that he could not talk in that
way about the police of a great city. For
two days they hunted for him. At the end
of that time he strolled into the front
Office" talked with the chief about an
irrelevant matter, and asked incidentally,
'ihave they caught that man Flynt yet ?'
He was RECALLED with unvarnished opinions
of himself and strolled out again in state
of inward amusement. They have not
caught him yet. The fact is that the
detective and the secret service men are not
as sharp as the criminal, and until they
are-until men who are resourceful, shrewd
and incorruptible, make up these forces,
the criminal will have about as good time
as he does now.
1t was stated by some correspondents that
Roosevelt had positively said that he would
not be candidate for the Presidency in
1904. He has denied this interview point
blank, but he admits that what he really
said was something like this: That while
he was Vice President he had considered
such candidacy and begun to work for it,
but since the tragic event which made him
President he could not make any personal
canvass for the nomination. Anybody can
see that. But it is thought that he would
not refuse to take the candidacy if it should
happen to be offered to him, and that is as
far as it is proper for him to go at this early
stage Of affairs.
An interesting statement which President
Roosevelt made on Saturday morning to
Senator Pritchard. of N. c., Representative
Kluttz, of the same State and Representa-
tive Gibson, of Tenn, was this:
81 am going to be President of the
United States, and not Of any section. j
don't care that with snap of his fngers)
for sections or sectional lines"
He also said something of the same sort
to Senator Money, of Mississippi, and Hon.
Livingston, of Ca, adding that he was
half Southern by blood and that having
lived in the West he hoped he might
represent all sections.