River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-09-15
Democratic Charge Against
President Roosevelt that Is
Without Foundation.
SAFEST MAN IN COUNTRY
Three Years in the White House and at
No Time Has Anything Been Done that
Did Not Tend Toward Peace
with All the World.

When the bitter personal attacks on
| Theodore Roosevelt are Analysed and
when a Democratic agitator is asked to
| define his opposition to the President,
| the inevitable reply is that Roosevelt
is an unsafe man."
| Now, is he?
| What makes an unsafe man? When
| is man safe and when is he danger
Gus? How are we to judge man
by what he has done or by what some
one says he may do? Are we justified
| in calling a man unsafe who has all
his life been eminently safe? Is not
man entitled to the reputation he makes
| for himself?
For three years Theodore Roosevelt
| has had absolute power, as President of
| the United States, and yet during that
| three years, although called to the great
| Office suddenly, as the result of hor-
| fible murder, he has never lost his head.
| He has never done a dangerous thing,
| he has at no time involved the country
| In difficulties, either at home or abroad.
| False Predictions.
Immediately following the murder OF
| William Mckinley predictions were
| freely made in the Democratic press
| that President Roosevelt would involve
the country in war. Has he done so?
| 1t was also freely predicted that he
| would break with the Republican ma
| jority in the House and the Senate and
| that he would insist on having his own
way, disregarding the advice of the
| time-honored leaders Of the party. Has
he done so?
Does not every one know, on the con-
trary, that the conditions of peace be-
! tween the United States and the rest
of the world were never more securely
anchored than to-day? This has not
| been because the President has not had
an opportunity to go to war. There
| have been half a dozen such opportuni-
| ties at the very least since he became
| President, when, if he had been the UNI
safe man he was alleged to be, he might
easily have involved us in war with one
or more of the great powers of Europe.
| He has met every diplomatic emergency
with rough and ready diplomacy and ex-
traordinary tact, which have won for the
United States the respect of the civil
| lied world.
Record in Diplomacy.
Look over the record of the State De-
| partment under Theodore Roosevelt for
| the last three years, and see how. much
has been accomplished to uphold the dig
nifty and the honor of the United States,
without at any time causing the slight
| est apprehension of foreign war. 1t was
during the present administration that
| special commission was appointed to adj
| just the disputed boundary between. Alas
| ka and the Dominion of Canada. Some
of the Canadian people and papers talked
rather savagely. There was every OPP
f,V hO upt nf
! the United States A little too much
| buster, a little too pronounced brag,
| failure in tact at the proper moment, a
! substitution Of timidity for bravery, or
of rashness for conservatism by Theo-
| dore Roosevelt would have famed the
feeling in Canada into a dangerous
fame. The Alaska boundary was an
| Inheritance from the Mckinley admin
| istraton, but it was safely settled UNI
| der Roosevelt settled to the credit OF
| the United States, settled without the
| loss of an inch of American territory,
and settled, too, without the destruction
of the friendly feeling between Great
Britain and the United States.
When Germany and England were at
the throats of the little republic of
Venezuela, an unsafe President might
easily have involved us in war with
those two countries, and "a tihid Presi-
dent might easily have brought upon The
flag the shame of the rest of the world.
Russia and Japan have been at war.
The sentiment Of the people in this
country has been largely in favor Of
Japan. Yet John Hay, the wise and dis
Greet Secretary of State, appointed by
Mckinley and unheSitatingly retained
by Roosevelt, has so successfully direct
ed the course of American diplomacy
that the United States to-day is as much
the friend Of Russia as it is Of the little
fighting-cock, Japan. The United States,
in fact, has dictated the diplomatic con,
duct of hostilties between RUSSIA and
Japan. This country has dominated the
situation and yet at no time has there
been the slightest danger that we might
become embroiled with any foreign ma
ton.
Safe Every Day in the Year.
These are she actual results Of three
years of the foreign policy Of Theodore
Roosevelt, the man who, when he en-
tered the White House as the result Of
murderous bullet, was by his political. ad-
versaries pictured to the other nations OF
the world as a braggart and a swash-
buckler. He has been safe, always safe,
. every Gay anu every iOuI, SlilCG lie ud7
been President Of the United States. He
has never lowered the American flag to
anybody, he has never been forced to
apologize and he has conducted every
episode Of our foreign policy, with the
advice Of John Hay, in such a way as
to preserve the honor Of the American
Republic, and to gain the respect Of the
sovereigns Of the world. There is not u
king, nor an emperor, nor a president,
nor a potentate from Pekin to Tmbuctoo
who does not know to-day that Theo
dore Roosevelt is Of the best American
type, honest, frank, courageous, sensi-
BILE, and always safe for those who treat
him fairly.
Men of the Roosevelt type are unsafe
only to the dishonest, to the disturbers
of the peace Of nations, to the grafters
at home and the grabbers abroad, to the
manipuIators of markets and the wreck
ers Of nations. To the honest men, to
the people Of the home and the hreside,
to the good king and to. the good subject,
the Roosevelt type is the safest thing in
all this world