The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-04-18
THE ROOSEVELT MACHINE.

|
Stubs Of Kansas presents striking
contrast to his recognition of Addicks
of Delaware. Stubs of Kansas rep
resents decency; Addicks, political
infamy. The two men present them
selves to Mr.. Roosevelt upon the
! same footing; they are state bosses.
Mr.. Roosevelt makes no distinction
| between them.
| Perceiving Mr.. Roosevelt's open re-
| cognition of the good and the bad alike
one stops to ponder on the possible
| Roosevelt notion of machine organiza
| ton. Does the machine represent to
| him simply the means by which he
may realize a personal ambition? Or
| does it stand as a great instrument by
| which he hopes to secure the highest
! public good? Is he a believer gem
| orally, in the machine and does he
! actually possess a purpose to improve
the character of the machine, to ele-
| Vate the standards of machine poll
ties, to harmonic the machines OBJ
! -ec;s with the public interest?
| Mr.. Roosevelt once wrote: The ma
| chine is often a very powerful instru-
| ment for good; and machine poll
| tician really DESTROYS of doing hon
| est work on behalf of the community
is fifty times as useful an ally as is
the average philanthropic outsider.
Indeed. it is of course true that any
political OrganiZatiOn-and absolutely
no good work can be done in politics
without an organization-is a ma
chine: and any man who perfects and
uses this organization is himself, to
u certain extent, a machine politician.
The organizations that are
commonly and dstinctively known as
machines are those belonging to the
two great recognized parties, or to
their fractional subdivisions; and the
reason why the word machine has
come to be used, to a certain extent
''S
found in the fact that these organiza-
tons are now run by the leaders very
largely as business concerns to bene-
fit themselves and their followers
with little regard to the community
at large"
Mr.. Roosevelt uttered these words
70 ToIy
Indicate his possession of ideals and
high purposes then. Mr.. Roosevelt |
did not like the machine when he first
made its acquaintance in the Albany
legislature; but he found that he could
do very little as an outsider. He
went in and made the most of it. and
acquired the notion of building q |
good" machine. 1t is not on record
that he ever built a good one. in Mr.
Platt's state; but there could be no
questioning the young mans sincerity
in those days.
When Mr.. Roosevelt got into the
White House the country observed
light Of his recent dealings. to have
been insincere talk. The nation rang
with his big phrase: There must be
no compromise with the corrupt ele-
ment in politics. Since he uttered
this he has compromised with half
dizen state bosses as "corrupt,' In
the sense Mr.. Roosevelt obviously in
tended it, as can be.
Mr.. Roosevelt may be able to recon
ellie his course in so doing with in
tegrity and correct principle. The
means may in his opinion, be justified
by the end. but this proposition is
difficult to associate with the fearless
refOrmer.
Mr.. Roosevelt's invariabIe acquies-
cence lin the plans Of the machine
powers when the great principles for
merly announced by him antagOnistic
to machine welfare are at issue be
tween them makes a record for the
president which initiates powerfully
against the notion of his latter-day
boIdness against that kind of politics
He has undoubtedly sacrificed many
things to his personal ambition
Should he ever arrive at the White
House in his own right a tremendous
burden Will rest upon him to justify
by reorganizing the machine and
eliminating the corrupt element" his
issues: if any justification there be
under any theory whatever.
In the meantime those who are con-
cerned for the public welfare must
rejoice in the fact that Stubs is not
an Addicks; for the conclusion in
view of the Roosevelt record to date.