The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-03
.IMPALES BURTON.
VIM. Allen White Writes of
Past Events.
Brilliant Article on Roosevelt in
Saturday Evening Post.
TRICK OF A KANSAN.
Demanded Roosevelt Accept
Vice Presidential Nomination.
Asserts That Had ssVaIue Re-
ceived In Breaches Pocket"

under which William Allen White. of
the Emporia Gazette writes of the head
of the nation n the current number of
the Saturday Evening Post, which is on
sale at the news stands today. 1t is
the record of a man who has tried to
run his office just about as the average
American believes he would run it," as
the subhead of the article states.
In the article Mr.. White tells some
things which will be new to the average
reader, particularly part of his REFER
ence to the sleek boutanniered West
erner" who is undoubtedly the junior
senator from Kansas.
The editor of the Post gives the ar
ticle the lead in this weeks issue and
it covers the first two pages. Mr. White
says in part:
There is a story which may or may
not be true. but which is nevertheless
interesting, about the way the news OF
Mckinley'S assassination came to wall
| street A reporter from an evening pa
per, bearing a telegram signed by the
Associated Press. ran into the office of
man more or less good and great.
who for several Gears has been in the
worlds eyes as the organizer of an un-
| imaginably big combination of capital.
They brought the great man out of his
private Office and the reporter presented
his telegram. The Wall street man read
! it and spat out a few incredulous damns.
He whirled about once like man who
| is shot but feels no pain. An instant
later the shock of the news got into his
! leather-covered consciousness. his face
| f1ared red, and he staggered back to his
desk where he sat aShen-g gray, his head
nodding and his Jaw a-tremble- Per-
sonally he didn't know Mckinley we'll
/ The two men were mere acquaintance.
But the quaking hands controlled not
merely millions but a billion dollars
that were being hoisted into permanent
| hanging to the crane of prosperity.
! Mckinley was the man in the engine
room who studied the crane. and If 1t
wobbled the load fell. The terror of this
Wall street man at the thought of Nc
Kinley's death typifed the fear of all
capital and the screw of horror took
several extra turns whenever Wall
street thought of Theodore Roosevelt in
the White House. There is no doubt OF
the fact that those economic forces
known as capital. which had fed abb
tectly behind the skirts of the Republic
can party in 1896 to escape the bogy
man, had regained their composure in
| 1900 Indeed. capital had a military
swagger in 1901. and, if the cards were
not actually out, every one felt that
there was an understanding between
! the Republican party and capital, at
least in the matter of the trusts. and
no one else was making overture. But
Roosevelt-and again Wall street shud-
dered
while he was governor of New York.
Wall street had become familiar with
!
natural suspicion with which certain
men surround a man who may not he
handled That is to say, rising above
considerations of party obligation ana
above consideration of personal popu-
| larity Roosevelt was liable at any mop
perfume moment to do any improbable
thing that he regarded as right. Such
a man is ever held in low esteem by
gentlemen who desire every tomorrow
to be a copy Of every yesterday. Prog
ress to them means crime and they do
not draw the line between the man who
is pushing forward honestly and eau
tiously and prayerfully, and the man
who holds the pike and the torch. 50
| Theodore Roosevelt, who as governor of
New York, had insisted that franchises
should be taxed, and had accomplished
this purpose with pluck and grit some
what dramatically the Bourbons of
Wall street saw going to the White
House merely as a firebrand. Roose-
Velt's promise to follow McKinleys pol
icies was the anaesthetic which kept
the market from throwing spasms dur
ing the first two weeks of the young
presidents administration Certainly
year ago the world of business looked
upon Theodore Roosevelt as a dangerous
man, whose desire to do right might
lead him into that fearful unknown land
of the impOlitic and the inexpedient.
In the world of politics a year ago
Roosevelt was held not in fear. but in
the contempt of those sitting high in the
consistory. Despite his kicks and pro-
tests ne 1aQ Deen rQQelY, almost J0COSely
pulled by the legs and arms from the
gubernatorial chair at Albany and
chucked into the vice presidency-buried
alive with calm contumely that might
have been almost dignified but for Tom
Platt's occasional ghost dances over the
grave Proba bly, one of the few times in
his life when Roosevelt had to swallow
an insult to his intelligence, and smile
was at the Philadelphia national Repub-
lcan convention, when a sleek, bOuton-
niered westerner, swollen up with his
Importance like poisoned pup. came
prancing into the Roosevelt headQuart-
ers at the head of a delegation of we'll
meaning dupes. and, in the fine polished
periods Of a sidesEcw barker demand
ed that Roosevelt accept the vice presi-
dency. Roosevelt knew that the barker
had value received in his breeches'
pocket. and he suspected that the barker
knew that Roosevelt knew, but the
game won't en- and was played to the
end. So when Roosevelt came to Wash
ington he came as Joseph might have
appeared among his brethren after he
had been sold to the Ishma elites.
There has been friction-plenty of it.
Naturally the first two months of the
Roosevelt administration were devoted
. by the statesmen and the president to
getting used to one another The
! statesmen had one way of doing things
Roosevelt another. There was little
giving in on both sides During the
first three months of the administration
much feeling was developed by the
!
to minor appointments. He refused to
let senators and congressman assume
the responsibility for bad appointments.
He made them withdraw the names of
bad men and substitute the names of
, good men for all offices. This was more
or less humiliatfng. Statesmen began
to rebel In congress a cabal was form
, ed of men who thought they had been
turned down at the White house. 1t
gave gentlemen of the cabal some COM
fort to refer to Roosevelt as His Acct
, dency, which was not original, but was
nevertheless soothing. Roosevelt stood
pat. The cabal plotted. A crisis was
imminent in January when congress as
t sembled after the holiday recess
, A dozen senators and score of mem
hers of the house were mad ali the WAY