The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-12-16
The President and the Partu.
A Question of the Responsibility OF
the Executive.

President Roosevelt, unlike most of
his predecessors, seems inclined TO
solve the problem of the responsibility
OF President to his party as against
las responsibility to his conscience and
his country. 1t has been said in so
many words that a President must
consider in all his public acts, not
what he himself thinks right, but the
wishes of the party which elected him.
Put more definitely still, it amounts
to this-that the President is the ser
want of his party, and that in consid-
ering any matter within ms jurisdic-
ton he is tacitly pledged to discover
its wishes and follow the line of least
resistance. To this view President
Roosevelt appears to take exception,
as proved by his saying that he pre-
ferrcd being whole President TO be-
ing half of one. 1t remains to be seen
whether the country supports this
view.
The question is an important one.
1t must not be confused with the
question of dictatorship as against
representative government, though
many opponents of the President are
endeavoring to create this misappre-
hension. Everybody knows that the
managers of a party do not fully rep
resent the country, or even the party
They represent certain interests iden-
titled with their political faith, which
have gained the ascendency. 1t mat
tiers which concern the whole country
the President and his Cabinet must
consider the whole country. They
must even disregard public opinion in
specific cases, if they are convinced
that public opinion is founded on
wrong information. The presumption
IS that the President knows more
about governing the country than the
Tan in the street, and while he is
bound to consider the feelings and in
teTests of the man In the street 50 far
as possible, he is not always bound to
consider them when they are due to
information which he knows TO be in
correct.
In the Panama case and the Wood
case there Is no doubt that President
Roosevelt has acted on this principle.
There is also no doubt that he believed
himself to be serving the best interests
of the whole country by his action.
Equally indubitable is it that his ac-
ton was not dictated by desire TO
please the managers Of the Republican
party. Hence the disturbance.
President Roosevelt is doing what
very few men In his position have had
the courage to do. He is betting on
the country. He is doing what he
thinks right, and leaving it to the peo-
pie to approve or not to approve his
action, on their own judgment, with
out reference to what his critics may
say. 1t remains to be seen what they
viii do about it. Professional poll
tieians are rather given to underrat-
ing popular feeling on big subjects.
They know what can be done in the
wards and districts, but they do no;
always judge correctly the feelings of
that great mass Of people not actively
in politics Their. own profession
bulks so big In their own eyes that
they fail to see its unimportance in
the eyes of others. The sentiments Of
the men who do not talk, who do not
write, who do not run for Office, are
still important in this country, and
Trey are too often overlooked. The
great silent masses will settle the place
Of Theodore Roosevelt IN history.