The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-04-24
TWO REPUBLICAN STATESMEN.

TWO REPUBLICAN STATESMEN.
Twenty years ago two bright stars
arose in the Republican party firrna-
ment. They were harbingers Of a new
political era and had their faces set
towards the morning. They repre-
sented the young Republicans who
had come upon the stage since. the
Civil War, which had engendered
strife and bitterness among many of
the older generations that time itself
could not entirely eradicate. They
were civil service reformers and
bitter opponents of the late JamesG.
Blaine, who at one time represented
an important wing ofthe Republican
party. One was Henry Cabot Lodge
and the other was Theodore Roose-
welt. They were warm personal and
political friends, and their early acts
indicated that they favored just
enough protection to keep them
within the borders of the Republican
party.
Since that time wonderful change
has come over both of these men.
Senator Lodge first sprung in to
prominence when he introduced the
Force Bill a measure calculated to
stir up the bitterest feelings between
the North and the South, and IN the
course of time to revive the scenes of
the Reconstruction Period in the
South under Andrew Johnson. Dur
ing Harrison's administration, the
civil service reform professor succeed
ed in having all of the Democrats
turned out of the Charleston Navy
Yard, just the same as if he had been
a spokesman. When Mr.. Mckinley
put duty on hides in the first draft
of a tariff bill, Mr.. Lodge told him
that the Massachusetts delegation
would have to vote against the bill
unless the hide duty should come out.
He has claimed, or his friends have
claimed for him, the authorship of the
gold standard plank in the Republi-
can platform of 1896, but in speech
In the Senate he denounced the con-
tract by which the Cleveland admin
istration procured gold for the re-
denption of legal tender notes as the
'blackest contract on the pages of
our history" and a year ago, was a
member of a subcommittee of three,
which reported that the establish
ment of a gold standard in the Philip
pines would behighly dangerous and
probably disastrous.
Mr.. Roosevelt, the civil service re-
former, dropped out of public notice
until war was declared with Spain
when by special pull he obtained
authority to organize his regiment of
Rough Riders. On the back of this
hobby he rode into prominence as
Governor of the State of New York,
where he was side tracked by the
astute senator Platt, at whose
solicitation he was nominated for
vice-president, which is generally be-
lieved to be the graveyard ofpolitical
theorists. The bullet of an assassin
landed him in the White House where
he has an opportunity to put many
of his theoretical air castles into
practice. Whether or not he has
done it the world knows as his daily
record as Chief Executive of this
country is familiar to us all.
The above synopsis is given simply
to show the difference between
theory and practice, as regards
politics, from a theoretical and prac-
ticalstandpoint. Political econom-
lists would have mapped out very
different future for each of these men
had they not, unfortunately for them
selves, been placed in a position where
they have been weighed in the balance
and found wanting. Theodore Roose-
welt as a member Of the Civil Service
Commission and President Roose-
welt in the White House are two very
different persons. The fact that he
is a dangerous man for the country
at large is recognized by the frantic
efforts which are being made by the
conservative clement of our popula-
ton, who espouse Republican doc
trines, to prevail upon the party to
select different man as their next
candidate for President. Whether
ornot they will succeedisyet a matter
of conjecture, but should Roosevelt
be nominated, and the Democrats
put up strong safe man the result
can be foreseen without much diff
Guilty. Perhaps it is fortunate
thing that he has been placed in his
present prominent position as it
augurs well for the Democratic party
which is the friend of the poor man