The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-25
Would He DO 1t All Over Again Oh
Would He Think Better of Ii?

through tn6 nearby COuhIAy uoh'oAA"e'
from place to place his impassioned and
fervent addresses against the Trusts
and laying the foundation Of his subse-
quent legislative campaign against capt.
tai which was to bear such, to him, I'M
expected fruit. Mr.. ROOSEVELT beyond
q doubt expected to secure the power at
the hands Of Congress which would en-
able him to regulate the corporations at
his will; the creation Of the Department
OF Commerce was an integral part OF his
well-deliberated plan; but the wreck and
confusion of the financial interests OF the
country and the incidental destruction
OF credit and confidence he certainly did
sot contemplate.
We incline to believe that were it all
DO over again the President would not
ct, or, at least, would try to achieve
hSirpose in some other way. We sup
Poshe President would energetically
disav any such possibility. He has
cooe infallibility for himself, He is
loho oAeiterating that were the Booker
"ashihAn incident to be reenacted he
"ou'o ooyain as he did upon that most
unior'ufiaoccasion And yet he knows
as well us w one else does that that
tactless ana oughtless act preoipitated
tne negro que'on by a whole quarter Of
century, ents,d the eravest and most
unhappy cohse'snces upon the colored
populatlon OF thSouth and shattered
the promising tories of the Republican
party IN all that ZION. But for that
episode and tho P,ident,s ins;stence
upon its more depleble aspects no
would have had no mo friction over
his appointments to ose down there
han Mr.. MCKINLEY had Would he do
It all over again9 We not know if
he would or would not; buMr RoosE-
WELT undoubtedly thinks heyould.
Perhaps it is different in the ,se O, the
Trusts. The President has wv been
able to look back over his achie,ments
OF twelvemonth, and 1t must be mt he
finds some OF them worth reconsidel.ior
II Is true that he has won the vote hs
sought to secure and that he has mls
himself impregnable in the affections Z
the masses by the swift and destructiv
onslaught he made upon those whom h,
taught them to regard as the enemies O
their welfare. This is indisputable. Blu
Mr.. ROOSEVELT is Of an essentially gen
erous and unselfish nature, and he can
not be insensibfe to the fearful cost which
his campaign has entailed upon others.
He has made himself the idol of organ
lied labor, and especially OF the profes
sional leaders Of labor, the men whose
trade is agitation and whose tools are
strikes. He has joined labor unions. HI
has consorted with walking delegates
He has ignored lawlessness and the over
throw Of liberty and has arraigned the
employer at an arbitrary bar Anc
whom has he advantaged thereby, other
than himself in respect of his honorable
ambition to be elected President--to
succeed by the suffrage to the place he
gained by the appalling chance OF assas-
sinationp No one.
AS we survey tho field OF organized
labor, as we sorutinize the whole aspect
OF labor in the United States, we sac that
tho influence of Mr.. ROOSEVELT has been
to plunge it into such turbulence, unrest
and discomfort as never were known
before. The hand of labor is raised
against labor. The employer is SEEM
ingly forever separated from his men,
his sympathy killed, their confidence
destroyed. All toll is become an armed
camp And what has labor gained by
it? Is it the better of? DO the highest
wages ever paid in the history of indus
try compensate for the losses Of idle time,
for labor forever wasted, for countless
miseries endured, for baleful passions
engendered, for liberty surrendered and
for shame uncomfortable? Does the vast
and fast-increasing army of the unem-
ployed profit by these forced conditional
Are the thousands who are daily dropped
from the pay rolls Of great projects Of
expansion and betterment which are
now deferred or abandoned--are their
circumstances improved by these occa-
sions OF turmoil and mistrust?
Not for a moment would we imply that
MIR. ROOSEVELT had miscalculated or
failed OF his purpose. The conditions
indicated ore in nowise unfavorable to
him. It Is an incontrovertible and es-
sential quality and characteristic of all
organized labor that the worse the troll
bio 1t Is led into the more devotedly will
It cling to its leader. There is no sacri-
hce that 1t will not make for the leader
who has thrown IL out of work or who
has sven degraded It In tho eyes of tho
community Mr.. RoosEvELV's strength