Courier Democrat., 1904-10-27
! NATIONAL DISGRACE.
Methods Roosevelt Permits In
Behalf of His Candidacy.
TRUSTS BUYING THE PRESIDENT.

Chief Executive Consents That His
| Omcial Powers BE Used In Further.
ance of His Political Interests-Rc-
| publican Campaign Policy Tainted
With Public immortality.
In scorching editorial the New
York Times charges the trusts with
buying the president. The Times says:
"Grover Cleveland would have been
impeached by his partisan opponents
had lie even upon u single occasion
stopped to practices so tainted with
public immortality as those which
President Roosevelt consents shall be
employed in behalf of his candidacy,
not once, not in u few cases merely,
but continuously, all the time, and as
q deliberated campaign policy. 1t can
not be said of the activities Of Senator
Nelson w. Aldrich in soliciting and
collecting Republican campaign funds
that they directly implicate the presi-
dent. Mr.. Aldrich is recognized as the
most influential representative of the
trusts in the United States senate. He
understands what they want. He
knows what they fear. But when he
assures the officers Of great indus
trial or railroad combination that a
check to the order of the Republican
national committee will secure immunt-
ty from executive molestati0n under
the antitrust law or otherwise, the OBJ
jects Of his solicitations must judge
for themselves whether he will be able
to keep his covenant after March 4,
1906. The pledge or assurance, what
ever it may have been, that lie gave to
the chief men of the tobacco trust
when he called for their contribution
was evidently kept only in part. The
treasury order in regard to customs
stamps upon boxes containing import
ed cigars has been modified, not re-
scinded. The Independent domestic
cigar manufacturers gained their point
as to the position of the stamp, the
trust its point as to the color thereof.
To be sure, Senator Aldrich may reply
to accusations Of bad faith that this
was a special case, that the president
was forced to turn an asserting ear
to the demands Of the independent
cigar manufacturers because Of their
control over many thousands Of voters,
a condition not at all likely to arise In
the case Of any other industrial COM
bination. Nevertheless the trusts can
in nowise be sure that the promise of
the senator will be fulfilled by the
president. They may elect Mr.. Roose-
veit and too late discover that they
have nut their own destroyer in the
White House.
.The matter which here concerns the
public is that the men of the trusts
think and believe that they are buying,
not the presidency, but the president.
Senator Aldrich encourages that belief.
President Roosevelt permits it to be
formed and entertained.
Every different, immeasurably more
scandalous, is the case of George b.
Cortelyou, who was secretary of the
department Of commerce and labor In
Mr.. Roosevelt's cabinet and was by
him, against the protests of the party
chiefs. made chairman of the Republic
an national committee. Within the de-
partment of commerce there is bu-
reau of corporations, which is authoriz-
ed and empowered to inquire into the
affairs Of corporations doing an inter-
state business and to pry out their
secrets. The act creating this bureau
is an extension and continuance Of the
policy which dictated the enactment Of
the antitrust law Of 1890. Conceivably
the public welfare may be promoted by
rigorous federal supervision Of cor
porations. But no man would have the
hardihood to assert that any other than
private and political ends are served
when the chief Of the department,
which has become the custodian of cor
poration secrets, is put at the head OF
the partisan committee whose prin-
cipal function is to collect campaign
contributions which come chiefly from
great corporations.
"That mans moral sensibilities must
be not merely blunted, but blotted out.
who would not fail to see that the as
sumption of these functions by Mr..
lCortelyou is public scandal, nation
al disgrace. The disgrace is in the
truest sense national, since it involves
the head of the nation, whose creature.
Iiagent and personal representative is
the offender in question. Mr.. Hay and
Mr.. Root have extolled the Republican
party as "a party f1t to govern Would
they at the bar Of public opinion de-
fend the sending out of Mr.. Cortelyou
as collector Of campaign funds-Mr.
IyCortelyou, who has just come from one
public Office which gave him large Of
fetal power over great corporations,
and who, it is believed, will return to
the presidents cabinet as the incum-
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