The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1903-06-25
Some Roosevelt History.

newspaper work is being done by tn,
dent Roosevelt for the 1904 nomina
ton. They are portraying him as >,
heavyweight trust fighter, who /.
smashing the trusts right and left
They tell the people that Wall stree
Is dead against Roosevelt and Is hatch
ing all kinds Of schemes to prevent
his denomination. They are even in
venting ingenious stories about the
postOffice frauds, scandals and cor
ruptions. which they hope will not onl!
divert well-deserved blame for this
state of affairs from the President
who has permitted it to go on for two
years. but will make political capital
out of it for him. They say some OF
the principal rascals of the many who
were plundering the pOstoffice Were
conspiring to prevent the President
denomination next year. In these sim
pie and absurd ways they expect tC
beguile the voting population of this
country and. according to their own
assurances. they are succeeding. Thus
the Philadelphia Ledger says:
Unless all signs of the times be
unreliable no Democratic candidate
for the Presidency can defeat Roose-
welt, and similarly no Democrat can
carry New York against him. The
representatives of the trusts. Of any
and all vested interests" are finan-
cially powerful. and could swell to
great proportions an anti-ROOsevelt
campaign fund, but in any contest
fought out to conclusion at the polls
between them and 1.-The plain people
of the country, they and their cam
paign fund would cut but sorry
figure. The plain people have the
rOtes. and they do not forget nor fail
to appreciate that in fighting his win
ming fight against the trusts and "vest-
ell interests President Roosevelt
fought the plain peoples battles. and
they love him for doing it and for
the enemies he made by doing it,
If these statements be true it is
certainly useless and foolish to hold
political conventions or elections next
year, and, as Mr.. Roosevelt will be
entitled to two full terms on his own
account. the country can take poll
,tical vacation until 1912 In fact, we
might as well make up our minds to
accept the rough-rider as the IMAM
on-horse- back" who will become the
dictator of the empire, which he was
instrumental in substituting for our
late Republic. But are the statements
true? What winning fight against
the trusts has the President made
that have in any way benefited the
plain peopleg'
The Presidents reputation as a
smasher Of trusts rests largely upon
two court decisions obtained last year.
The beef trust was enjoined by the
courts, and the Northern Securities
Company. a railroad combination, was
declared illegal in the United States
Circuit Court. In neither case can
any benefit to the .plain people" be
detected, even by the aid Of the. most
powerful microscope. Both of these
trusts are continuing to fix prices and
rates that the people must pay and
it may be said, eight here, that no
under the Sherman law has
resulted in permanent benefit to the
people. The net. result has been that
the trusts have changed theirS form but
not their substance. No court de-
cision has permanently lowered prices
orrates or taken the hands Of the trusts
out of the pockets of the people Nor
Is it probable that court decisions
will ever remedy the evils. Of trust
while We have high tariffs and other
special privileges which give monopoly
power and encourage combinations and
trusts. We must somehow overcome
these monopoly privileges before we
can hope to get rid Of the evils of
trusts. But the President has set his
face against any change in the trust
fattening tariff. He even stopped of,
on his recent sstumping tour. to help
the poor little Iowa idea"
which feebly declared that tariffs
which shelter trusts should come of.
To be perfectly fair we should state
both sides of the case-"The President
vs.. the Trusts The President not
only withdrey his endorsement of the
somewhat drastic Nttlefield antitrust
bill, last winter, and transferred his
goodwill to the amendment to the
Of Commerce bill, which
promises nothing but uncertain publ
city. but he endorsed and approved
the Elkins bill, which abolished the
criminal clause of the Interstate Com
merce Act and leaves the great rail-
road trust conspiratOrs subject only
TO small fines With the penitentiary
no longer staring these criminals I'm
the face the railroads will continue
to fix rates and pay any occasional
fines. as did the beef trust i'm Mis-
souri,, after which it proceeded to put
up the price of meats. 81
Nor is it certain that no Democrat
,an carry New York against Roose-
velt. The voters In New York know
Mr.. Roosevelt's history. They have
been tricked by him. The
voters there, including
many Democrats. elected him to the
legislature to fight the bosses and bos-
sism. He began all right. but soon
found himself very lonely. political
" as his friend Mr. Poultre Bigelow
ellis us. and deserted his reform
friends and became part and parcel
If the BOss-Platt machine and an at
endant at 'Platt's Sunday School"
Many New York voters knew him as
member of the New York Free Trade
Club and heard him make red hot
speeches there. once declaring that
le was ready to ''die for free trade"
When Lodge and other great Republi-
ans began to crawl over from free
rade to protection. Mr. Roosevelt de-
.ided to crawl. too. He resigned on
August 20. 1885. saying: Il am Re
publican first; free trader after
wards