Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-10-27

definite ana unspecified age.
In this hopeless lack of unity. in this
dearth of issues. they fall back on a
campaign OF fiction and SANDER. They
remind one of the classic French story
of the famous household where there
was more Wit than means, where the
dinner was often merely feast OF rel-
son and a filet OF sole. Cr che occa'.
sion the thrifty lady of the house tele-
grap hed her clever husband. Give US
another story; we've got no roast.
1t is a misfortune for a party. rs Il IS
for an individual. to have no serious
occupation, for Satan finds mischief
for idle hands. Because they have aD-
solutely no facts 10 bring forward they
have produced a fantastic variety or
fiction. l will not occupy your time by
recounting these rather ielICble flights
of Imagination. / will only refer tc
one class of charCes-ttose which ring
the changes on two words: the Presi-
dent is "lawless" ana unsafe
Every act of his which they qualify
as laWless has been done after careful
study OF the law. after counsel with the
best lawyers. Id every one which has
been brought 20 the test Of the courts
has been triumphartly approved BY
our highest judicial authorities.
And then that noodoo cry unsafe -
now i it to be treated seriously? CE-
safe he douDtedly is. as the Law is to
the malefactor as the judge is TO the
CRIMINAL as the disinfect;tnt is to the
mlcrobe. But what STALL We say to
those who in the same breath accuse
MIN of dangerous hostility to business
interests aud also of subservience 10
the 81 eat corporations Let them an
sWer each other.
But We are told he is dangerous to
the peace of the world he is a fire
eater, Il war lord-he wishes to embroil
US in policy of adventure. What does
the record say? He and his predeces-
sor have done more in the interest OF
universal peace than any other two
Presidents since our Government was
formed. They have done more for the
cause Of arbitration than all the rest
put together. They have composed
more difficulties by friendly negoti-
alton: they have settled more Questions
that threatened our peace: they have
made more treaties. and more mutually
advantageous ones, than any other
| Presidents in our history. Theodore
Roosevelt gave to The Hague Court of
| Arbitration the breath of new life when
death threatened it. His influence,
constantly and quietly exerted among
our sister nations, has often diSsuaded
| from violence and led 10 peaceful sOlu-
tons. he is now preparing a set Of
arbitration treaties with all the coun-
tries which desire them. In compliance
with the call of the Observation-Disclosures
| tnion-Who had confidence in his dis
erection end his love of peace-ne is try
| ing to induce the powers to come to-
gether once more in conference al The
Hague to concert measures for the
peace and welfare of the world. And
yet | would not ask you to believe that
the President holds peace higher than
all other considerations. Sacred as the
word is to him. there are others more
sacred stlll-Honor and Duty. SO long
as the millennium delays he will stand
by American interests and American
rights. keeping his sword well sharpen
ed and his powder dry.
1t sometimes seems Il waste Of time
to meet these wild and whirling
words of calumny. The men that ut
ter them do not themselves believe
them. Each man of them knows very
well that he could wish no happier lot
| to his boy in the cradle than that he
might grow up to be such a man as
| Theodore Roosevelt. If some weak
minded anarchist should take it into
his added brain to adopt the amiable
and chivalrous advice given the other
day in a public spaach by an Alabama
| Congressman and send President
Roosevelt to join the equally loved and
| maligned Lincoln and Garfield and
Mckinley. you know :iow what a pail
Of sorrow would spread over this coun-
try from end to end; and not over this
country alone. for the shadow of that
grief would sweep like a sudden night
around the world. It is the curse of
party spirit, especially in times when
the opposition has no great cause 20
advocate. when there is no great issue
at stake that impels even honest men
| to say what they do not believe and to
ncite disordered minds to deeds which
fill with, anguish the heart of nation
| read a while ago ir the platform Of
the Democrats of Massa chusetts this
reckless charge against the President
He has declared war against a sister
republic without an act of Congress, in
defiance of the well-known usages Of
International law and in the face Of an
adverse opinion from his chief la y
adviser, it is commonly believed.
Who, | may ask, believes it? Who il
the man gifted with the malignant
credulity which makes such belief pos
Sible? This is a model campaign