Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-30
ROosETELr ANp MKLNLEY.

n his successor, Theodore Roosevelt.
Having electrified his auditors with
epigrammatic glorifcation Of democracy
and vitriolic invective against the re-
publican party, the belligerent Ken
tuckian launched into a TRADE against
'the man on horseback" who II not
checked in his gait will surely Next
canlze the republic"
Referring to President Roosevelt as
a man affecting the simplicity of the
cowboy who conceals beneath the self
confidence and queer of the
broncho-buster the sentiments and am
billions, If not the talents, of a Diaz, the
redoubtable democratic wheelhorse
caustically pointed to the treatment Of
Admiral Schley as a baby in arms, now
to be handled and now to be spanked"
and ~stigmatized the reprimand of Gen
eral Miles as ar amusing horse play on
the part of the president to relax his
muscles whilst warning lesser officers of
the army to obey orders and say moth
Ing. After stamping with both feet
upon the republican congress for It's ex-
ercise Of mercenary power In dealing
with the tariff and ship subsidy and fir
ing the southern heart with visions Of
the bloody shirt and another force bill
to smite the south and blight the north
by negro domination, the frothing
colonel reached the climax by exclaim-
ing: Such is the banquet to which the
exit of Mckinley, the statesman, and
the advent of Roosevelt, the rough
rider, has invited u.s."
Landing dead presidents while revil-
ing the living presidents has become
a chronic habit with Colonel Waiter
Colonel Watterson, in common with the
people of his section, could find no
epithets too vile to apply to him. Al
though born in Kentucky and a peer of
all its chlvalry, Lincoln was contemptu-
ously lampooned as a baboon and a
low-born mudsill. He was denounced
at every step as a tyrant and despot,
trampling under foot the rights and lib
critics of the American people and seek
ing to overthrow the government
founded by Washington. Lincoln was
caricatured not only as a man on horse
back, but as a vampire who gloated
Over rapine and bloodshed and, like
Nero, would fiddle while Rome was
burning. Within twenty years after
his assassination Abraham Lincoln had
become for Colonel Watterson the ideal
American patriot, whose memory would
be cherished and revered by all coming
generations, and the future fame Of
Watterson has been enriched by his
mastery portraiture Of the life and
character of the martyr president.
When Mckinley was a conspicuous
figure in congress Al the champion Of
protection Henry Watterson did not
hold him up to the public gaze as a
statesman, but as the d~espicable tool of
the robber barons that thrive and fatten
upon high tariff. Up to the time of the
outbreak of the Spanish-American war
Mckinley still lacked in the eyes of
Colonel Watterson and his democratic
associates every element that goes to
make up a statesman. According to
their descriptions he was a man Of putty
and a mere jumping Jack in the hands
of SIS Mark Hanna. During the war
and before the close of his first term Nc
Kinley was denounced by his political
opponents as an ambitious usurper,
whose reelection would be followed by
the establishment of an American en-
pire ON the ruins of the republic. Only
since his assassination has he been
placed on the calendar of southern
democracy as the sublime embodiment
of American patriotism and public vir-
tue.
What has President Roosevelt done
that President Mckinley would not
have done? 1t is a matter of history
that Mckinley formulated the policy
with regard to Cuba that has been pur-
sued since his death by Roosevelt. 1t
is also a matter OF history that Nc
Kinley favored the annexation and re-
tention OF the Philippines; he declared
1t to be his purpose to restore peace to
the islands and govern Its people under
the Stars and Stripes; he dispatched
warships and troops to carry out this
plan and appointed a commission to
establish civil government with the
support of the military and naval
forces. Has Roosevelt done anything
in the Philippines to vary from McKin-
ley's program?
Mckinley designated Sampson to be
in command of the naval squadron
operating against the S%paniards in West
Indian waters; he approved, If he did
not actually organize. the naval board
of strategy and finally appointed Samp-
son ranking rear admiral upon its
recommendation. While Mckinley did
not openly espouse either side of the con-
troversy between Sampson and Schley,
it is an open secret hat Secretary Long
had his support at all times. Would any
one cOnyersant with McKinley's rela-
tons TO the principals in the d~eplorable
dispute, contend that he would have
varied materially in his final decision
from that OF President Roosevelt?
1t is a matter of history that General