Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-08-22
the uNKlNpEsr CUT OF ALL.

the uNKINDEST CUT OF ALL.
A great many criticisms of the un.
favor able kind have been hurled at
President Roosevelt for his action at
the retirement of General Miles. The
democratic papers have been to some
extent trying to make political CAPT.
tai out of the incident, but even some
of the republican papers could not re-
frain from expressing regrets that the
president could not at that time forget
recent differences with the retiring
general and give graceful expression
to the general feeling throughout the
country that the great services of
Miles in quietiug the western frontier
and opening it to civilization deserved
recognition at the time when he laid
down his comm ission. It remained,
however, for radical republican
paper, the Minneapolis Tribune, to
give the president the "most ynkind
cut Of ALL" In an editorial in yester-
days paper it said:
'There are few shrewder politicians
than Theodore Roosevelt. He has &
deeper interest in the result of the next
presidential election than any other
republican leader can possibly have.
No one has studied the situation so
intently in all its bearings as be.
Admitting his political foresight and
sagacity, his Judgment as to the effect
OF any act or event on the chances of
his own reelection is likely to be bet
ter than that of any other republican.
Can it be that the president has been
wiser than any of his counselors or
critics in his dealings with General
Miles? Can it be that he realized
more clearly than any one else the
public effect of his treatment of that
gallant soldier, and that he desired to
produce precisely that effect? 1t is
commonly admitted that the supreme
touch of cleverness in candidate for
Office is to pick out the man he wants
to run against him, and get the other
party to nominate that man. Is it
possible that this is exactly what
Roosevelt has been doing in the case
of General Miles? The theory would
restore confidence in his political
judgment, though it supplies rather
cold bloOded reason for his ungener,
Gus conduct.
If Roosevelt ,uld get the democrats
to nominate Miles on his ancient mill.
tary fame and his recent grievances,
he might approach the election almost
as complacently as President McKin-
ley in 1900. The admirable qualities
OF General Miles do not lend them
selves to the complicated. practical
uses of political campaign, any
more than those of General Hancock
did. On the other hand his frailties
offer q whole array of weapons to an
alert and energetic opposition.
If the American people could be
made to believe that Roosevelt could
be guilty of such despicable meanness
as that, it would make no difference
whom the democrats nominate-he
would be preferred to a mau who
would deliberately wound the feelings
of a brave and deserving old soldier
in order to make his own election
sure. The republican papers have
carefully built up for Roosevelt a
reputation for being straightforward
and horest, and it has been generally
conceded that he possessed the ordi-
nary instincts of gentleman. Such
a person could not possibly do such
an act as intimated by the above men,
toned paper. In whiskey-soaked
ward politician such q dirty trick
might be considered natural; but for
the president of the greatest republic
on earth to do dishonorable act in
order to procure f>r himself con-
tinuation of Office would be something
that decent people could not tolerate.
The action was ungraceful enough,
viewed in any light. But the Amer
lean people as rule have believed
that Roosevelt's combative spirit had
been stirred up by the differences he
had had with the general of the army
OF late, and that his anger clouded his
judgment. That is the most char
liable view that can be taken of the in
cident, and it is too bad that repub-
lican paper should try to excuse him
on that score by offering an explana-
ton that makes the action appear in q
worse light than even the bitterest
opponents of the president had
thought OF placing it.
The St. Cloud Journal Press sup-
gests Judge Lochren as democratic
candidate for president. Lndoa ,och.