Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-09-10
IRONTON. MO. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER O. 1 9O3
Our Washington Correspondence.

mttee, was IN this city last week
and the first question he asked on
his arrival here was: "Has the
President left for Turkey yet?"
That seems to be the question up
permost in the minds of nearly
everybody ever since the action of
the President in sending our war;
ships to Turkish waters on the
strength of cablegram, which
afterward proved to be incorrect,
chat our vice-consul had been
assassinated. He has acted with
his customary head-long, head
strong precipitancy which may in
volve the country in endless trouble
and expense. There is no man
who tries to defend the "unspeak-
able" Turk and his methods, but
the business interests of the coun-
try are entitled to some consider
alton from the man who occupies
the highest position in the nation,
and 10 those interests he gives no
thought at all. He is looking for
the limelight, and he wants to
stand in it at all times or else he is
not happy. Things have not been
happening fast enough to suit him
lately, and he intends to make
them happen in order to attract the
attention of the general public to
himself and his personality. He
knows that he does not stand well
with a certain coterie of United
States Senators; he has already
surrendered to the so-called
"standpatters" on the tariff ques-
ton after all his brag and bluster
about how he will demolish the
trusts by reducing certain sched-
ules; he has antagonized the Grand
Army of the Republic by his treat
ment of General Miles; he has ac-
quired the enmity of all the officers
of the army by his boosting of
Gen. Leonard Wood over their
heads, and he has been put to it to
find something that would relieve
him and again place him before
the public in something like a
decent attitude and attract the
plaudits of the people. In these
straits, he has gladly seized on this
Turkish matter as something that
would rehabilitate his fallen for
tunes and place him once more en-
rapport with the people. There is
no telling how far he will go with
this thing, nor what will be it's out
come. If the people knew the man
as we do here in Washington, they
would not be surprised at any
action on his part. There are some
things you can't say about man
because he is the President of the
United States, but some day the
truth will be told. Look out for
business snags.
A good many of the warm ad-
ministration organs have, with
great frankness, been discussing
the possibility and propriety OF
seizing the strip of land through
which it is proposed to build the
Panama Canal. They argue that
if Columbia will not grant the con-
cession that the United States can
not afford to be balked from the
great enterprise by the constitu-
tional obstacles that the Colon
bians say are in the way of the
ratification of the treaty. Others
of these Republican newspapers
favor the fomenting of rebellion
| in the State of Panama against the
Colombian government and ther
landing a force of marines to make
it successful. This bald way 0.
stating that the United States
should exercise it's undoubtec
physical ability to coerce a weaker
State, is on par with our i'm.
perialistic ideas that have beer
rampant under the present regime
But these vicious public advisers
forget the terms of the Congress
sional enactment which authorized
the building of an interoceani,
canal, that if the Colombian gov
ernment would not ratify the treaty
the President of the United State
was authorized to open negotia
tions with Nicaragua and Cost;
Rica and build the canal by tn
Nicaragua route. This is the dut,
of President Roosevelt, and tt
shuttle and palter and attempt tt
coerce Colombia to ratify a treat
that the Congress of that countr,
does not approve would be playin!
into the hands of the transconti
mental railroads who have so ia
been able to defeat the building O
the canal. There is very good rea