Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-12-17
RoosevELT's MESSAGE.
The President Hnlts, wabb1es, and
Con-, Nr n ,;aea

The President Halts, wabblcs, and
Compromises.
Urging the need for severe conden-
nation of long public documents, Presi-
dent Roosevelt himself writes mes
sage of imposing length, to say very
| little Of worth on topics which engage
the country's thought On the subject
of trusts he seems to think that there
is more damage to be apprehended
from attempts at restriction than for
an uninterrupted continuance of whole
sale and systematic robbery Of the peo-
pie by the great monopolies. A leader
whose mind is filled with fear lest his
blows shall hurt the enemy Is hardly
the sort Of leader to inspire his follow
/ ing with enthusiasm for the cause or
to give hope to anybody of Judgment
that he will accomplish much.
| On the subject of the tariff the Pres
' ident hastens to surrender to the thick
and-thin protectionists. He denies With
them that taking off duties which en-
able the trusts to charge extortionate
prices in walled-in market would
/ force reduction Of these prlces-and
then lets his heart go out to small COM
petitors of the trusts who would be in
jured by tariff revision and reduced
prices. The pillaged consumer appar-
1 entity does not appeal to Mr.. Roose-
velt's sympathies Mt all.
Yet he favors reciprocity treaties us
means of lowering the tariff. and
actually recommends the removal of
i the duties on anthracite coal. This is
rank discrimination against the coal
! trust, which has as much right to pro-
lection as any other trust that monop-
olizes the necessaries of life. He is
confused and self-contradictory.
Mr.. Roosevelt asks us to believe that
he is determined to curb the trusts,
but not at the awful cost of meddling
| seriously with the sacred Dingley tar
if, which shelters so many of them.
That would be to alarm and incense
the protected interests" which are
solidly Republican. He would like re-
ciprocity, but is not strenuous In his de-
sire for 1t; it is a tickllsh subject, and
he defers to the wisdom of the leaders
Of the party. And they, in the Senate,
regularly knife all proposed reciproc-
ity treaties.
| The two proposals for dealing death
| to bad trusts and correcting the glar-
Ing abuses of the tariff which the
President flung from the stump With
such energetic confidence not so long
ago-a constitutional amendment and
a commission-he family refers to. Mr..
Roosevelt has heard from the press Of
the country. His transparent devices
been seen through.
Doubtless Mr.. Roosevelt views HIM
self in his guise of trust-tighter rs n
brave and gallant figure. To UNDER
stand him and credit him with any sin
certify we have to consider the atmos-
phere he lives in. In land of blind
men n one-eyed man is king. So Re-
publican President who admits that
there are evils In connection with the
trusts and confesses that 1t may be
expedient to discuss the ACCESSIBILITY
Of remodeling some of the Dlngley
schedules-in the far future. of course;
say. after the next presidential election
no doubt is regarded by his associ-
ates and himself as daring radical.
Mr.. Roosevelt once more gives voice
to his familiar scorn for the weak
ling" and properly. But this long
drawn-out message Of his is weak,
very weak. He halts, he wabbles, he
compromises, he is as feeble as any
man must be who tries to win for him
self the support of the country's anti
trust sentiment and at the same time
to assure the trusts that they are in no
real peril from him or his party-which
they know quite well already.
Nothing is to be done at this session
except to pass the appropriation bills,
a Congressman told ex-Speaker Reed
in Washington the opening day
What" cried the mocking Reed,
ARE you going to miss your opportu-
| nifty to amend the constitution. Are
you going to miss doing an indetinable
something, to be done in way nobody
knows how, and at time nobody
knows when? That, rs understand
~, 10 tue plpSiuui uSaiust tue tFuStS.
And that is the impression which all
the Presidents speech and his message
can but make upon the minds of men
who know what must be done in order
to destroy Il monopoly and free the
American people from trust spoliation
and domination.
This latest message assists material
ly in giving the nation Mr.. Roosevelts
, measure. He isn't large and he doesn't
wear.-Chicago American.
Looking Forward.
is he afraid of automobiles" the
elderly lady asked the liverymdn who
had the only horse that could be found
in town, for it was the year 1916.
Not Bit" responded the liveryman.
reassuringly. The only thing that
might make him shy little would be
to suddenly come upon some vehicle be-
ing drawn by horse. but that isn't
at all likely.-Brooklyn Eagle
The Fair Sex.
"Oh, the gladness of their gladness
when they're glad,
And the sadness of their sadness
when they're sad;
But the gladness of their gladness and
the sadness of their sadness
Are as nothing to their badness
when they're bad"
New Yorker.
lHs ~,