The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-12

But what of that other treaty, binding
us solemnly to guarantee and de-
fend by force if necessary the unim-
paired sovereignty OF Colombia over
the territory Of the isthmus? Not a
word of that. And that this was the
only means by which the canal could
have been assured. as he asserts, is
known of all men to be untrue.
When one objects to unnecessary in
crease of the navy. he asks if we want
the Monroe doctrine. abandoned; as if
it had not been announced and estab-
lished in those great. days before
Roosevelt came to yex us. When one
objects to interference with other peo-
pies affairs, he asks if we object to the
settlement of the Alaskan boundary
line. 1t is as if one required retrench-
ment, and the president asked if we
objected to refurnishing the White
house. He says that because the law
lations to govern the subordinates of
the pension office in determining who
are entitled to PENSIONS therefore it
was the right and duty of the presi-
dent to issue an order altering the
amount and age limit of pensions. 1t is
all like this, all of piece. Disbeliev-
ing that the president can deceive him
self by such nonsense, we are COM
PEELED to wonder that he should realize
his own case to be SO bad.
Occasionally Mr.. Roosevelt descends
to sheer dishonesty. Once is when he
announces that the public service has
been cleansed, when the notorious cor
ruption pardoned or UNPUBLISHED in the
postoffice and interior departments is
a thing of common knowledge. Once
is when, arguing the inadvisability of
reducing our swollen expenditures, he
asks if we want irrigation discontinued.
This is in palpable reliance upon the
hope that the ordinary voter will not
know that irrigation is paid for from a
special fund created by land sales, and
not out of the public treasury But
Theodore Roosevelt knows it; and
when he enlarges upon this specious
Misrepresentation, Theodore Roosevelt
is not honest.
Think of declaring that there is no
middle ground between leaving the
trusts to fatten by the tariff as it
stands and, sweeping away every duty
| on imports, leaving all industry I'M
protected and the country without a
revenue. This is what the letter de-
elares. Think of saying that there can
be no reciprocity unless there are tariff
duties, and hence Democratic approval
of one, as a means of lessening oppres-
sion and Democratic criticism of the
other cannot both be sincere. Yet this
sorry, goose feather adorns an arrow
that Theodore Roosevelt does not think
unworthy of his quiver.
Such is the whole letter. Rhetorical
ly it is clever. The presidents tongue
is the: pen of a ready writer. But in
logic and consistency and fairness it is
a-deplorable thing. Most notable of all
is the fact. that it contains no outline
| of policy, no syllable. Of promise to
those who believe in progress and re-
form. The presidents eyes are turned
wholly to the past; and being able to
make no bond for the future, having
no constructive work upon which his
party could unite and no personal as
piration that the people could approve
| and the party tolerate, he can only be-
labor an imaginary opponent to whom
he assigns the words and motives that
suit his purpose best. Defensive, neg
ative, from first to last, is the letter
that appears this morning We ask
our readers to go over it carefully, for
few. more effective campaign docu-
| ments for Democracy are likely to APP
| pear. Voluminously and fervently ex-
! cusing himself, President Roosevelt
becomes his own prosecutor.