New-York tribune., 1904-09-14
4 "T3R lord" INDEED

1t is easy enough TO cry War Lord The
words are mouth filling and richly alliterative.
They sound we'll. and seem to mean something.
If they are screamed often enough, and shrilly
enough. and with enough frantic jumping up
and down. it may be that thus some futile and
heeting semblance of vitality may be impaired
TO a moribund campaign. But. after ALL in the
| quiet that must come, and in the thoughtfulness
that the apostles of safety and sanity profess
to incuIcate what is there in them? What do
! they mean? What is the fitness and what IS
the purport Of the application of that portentous
| phrase to Theodore Roosevelt?
| If there he In it anything inmCal TO him. 1t
must be in the ntimatiOn that he is an actual
| or potential peace breaker that he has involved
or is involving the nation in war that he Is
| making American relations with the world less
| friendly. Is that so? If it is. America and the
world have yet to be informed of it. We have
| heard of no war in which this country is in
| voIved We know of none that threaten II, or
that have threatened it since Theodore Roosevelt
| became President. There have been no demon
| strations in force" no breaches Of diplomatic
| relations no steps In a warlike direction. Save
| for a few minor acts of police service for the
| protection OF unquestionable American rights,
| the reign" of this War Lord" has been a
period of profound peace and friendship.
We may say more than that. Theodore Roose-
/
atively unwarlike in that it has refrained from
war 1t has also been positively peaceful in
that 1t has promoted peace. 1t has settled,
peacefully honorably and finally. disputes with
Great Britain that had long been sources of irri-
tatiOn and that some had even regarded as
possible causes Of war. Without the firing of
n shot it has settled forever the question of
the isthmian caual, over which SO many years
of bellicose talk had been expended Without
Il single act of it has prevented foreign
war In Venezuela, and has circumsCribed dis
turbances in Haytl and San Domingo. with
out the sending of a ship or the enlistment of
a soldier II has done a work which the whole
world testifes 10 he of inestimable value In
| limiting the destructive scope of the East Asian
| war II has given practical effect, through its
! own example, to the benefcent irenic0n OF The
! Hague. There IS not department OF Ameri-
| can foreign relations in which the bonds of
| peace and friendship have not been preserved.
and there are few in which they have not been
| pcrceptibly strengthened, by the doings OF this
| reckless War Lord"
Yet some men rage against him as standing
| menace TO the peace of America and of the
world: and those who do so most are those who
most admire the record and reverence the maine
| of Grover Cleveland. Can they point 10 one
| single act or word of Theodore Roosevelts thai
was one-half so rash, so reckless. So hectorlng,
so needlessly offensive 10 international amity, so
| grave a menace 10 the peace of the world, as
| Mr. CIeveland's famous Venezuelan message or
nine years ago: Until they can, they would
| better for decency's sake, shut up their wv ar
| Lord" folly.