The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-04-03

eminent derives its power: it is a pc
culiar attitude. and certainly extra
constitutional It is the attitude OF
Daternal ruler. who puts his sense OF
personal duty above laws and courts
and constitutions. 1t establishes rela-
lions between the people and their ruler
outside os laws, beyond forms and ira
ditions, sweeping aside everything but
sheer Justice and standing before them
as between man and man. 1t was
brave thing. but dangerous thing to
do IF there had been the trace Of
meanness or of selfishness in this deed
Roosevelt would have been ruined by
it. AS it was he rose. Every great
ruler rises thus: Lincoln With his
emancipation proclamation, Washing
ton with his farewell address.
Last fall when the biennial elections
gave Roosevelt the most uneduivocal
Endorsement an American president ever
got. be said to friend; This is not
the end: it is only important as a prolf-
Use It is up to us to make good p" In
his message to congress last December
the president proclaimed a legislative
programme. It included trust legisla-
ton: the canal legislation; supplemental
Philippine legislation, and Cuban reel
Drocity. Probably q majority could
have been found last December in both
branches of congress against the presi-
dents suggestions. but these najorities
vanished before spring. and the trust
legislation, which was known to have
the adrpinistra tons sanction became
law. Part of the Philippine legislation
was also enacted. The canal treaty and
the Cuban treaty were not ratified at
the regular session, and an extra ses-
sion of the senate was called 10 settle
the matter. 1t is POSSIBLE. too, that an
extra session of congress will be called
next September The president has
yielded nothing. The senate leaders
now know that he viii fight; also, what
is more important for results that he
Z ri \
proposition, and meet his opponents half
way Sometimes the president takes an
advanced position, so that in coming
/ back to compromise he meets his advel-
sary squarely on the ground OF exact
justicel This is worth considering in
making uD an estimate of ROeseYelts
character.
Whatever Wall street may decide to
do there IS no doubt about this propo-
sltion: James ]. Hill, who is a kind oil
divine vicegerent in the Northwest is
going to fight Roosevelt to the finish
And Hill is OF the type which made
Katherine the shrew say THE mans
man. Wall street may be coaxed and
/ badgered and scared. But Hill belongs
to a different race-the race of creators.
4 He pushed his railroad through deserts
over mountains. into forests. and out
again ill it reached the ocean, He has
/ big, knOtty intellectual biceps, and be-
+ ing a sort of king in his own right in
/ his own country, regards federal inter
J terence Win IIle northern racine ana
! Great Northern merger as an unspeak-
able insult He considers he has a
I bloOd-bond out to fight Roosevelt, who
4 interfered with the merger; and there
viii be no surrender The people of the
country. who are with Roosevelt prob~
( ably more closely than they have been
with any other president, may as well
4 make up their minds to the fact that
the coming campaign is going to be
4 fought bitterly against him. No man
can do his duty without making en-
/ emies, and the people viii find that a
4 plain, earnest. brusque man like ROoSe-
welt, who goes at the heart of evil is
gong to acquire set Of enemies so
elaborate and varied that in the end
they may be the chief bulwarks of his
defense. These antitrust laws were not
put on the statutes for ornamental nor
for purely literary purposes. IN a few
months their enforcement Will begin,
and then the real test of Roosevelt S
strength will come. Perhaps it might
be better said that the real test of the
good sense of the American people Will
come. 1t is safe to say what Roose-
welt will do But viii the Deoole stand
with him when he is under fire2 Those
who DO stand may be counted not as
loyal friends but as good citizens. The
patriotism Of the Republican party viii
be tried in the same crucible. If the
/ party stands by Roosevelt when the
trusts and the railroads forsalze him
and speak falsely against him, it viii
be sign that the Republican party
has rot lost its vigor, and that it is
ready for new duties and new honora
The best one can do is to hope. It is
much too early to rejoice in the out.
come Of this fight as a fact accomD-
lished
The evident aim of the president Is
to get the work of the government on
the merit system as nearly as possible
and to eliminate political influence in
the direction and control of appoint
ments. OF course. one OF these days tbs
president is going to step on a pohtica
corn, and make some political power o.
the first class very mad The people
VIII see the anger only and probably {
specious cause and not the real one
and they may take sides with the po-
litical power and against the president
So the honest effort of the president K
get dollars worth of public service
for a dollars worth of public taxes viii
not find its immediate reward in public
approval. But it will win in the Ions
run, and probably win under Roosevelt
for he is one of the few presidents whs
have been able to simplify issues. to re.
duce qustions to their lowest terms and
get down to primitive moraiity-to bring
questions before the people on frs
principles. The politician who fight
that kind Of 8 man should beware.
r. 10 ,4,I