The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-06-27
ROOSEVELT And
The DEMOCRATIC
OPPORTUNITY
From a Democratic Point of
View. New Y ork
World Sounds a Note
Of Warning and Gives
Some Advice,

There should be no nisconception in
the minds OF the Democrats as to the
strength of the ticket nominated at
Chicago last week.
mired by the young, progressive and
aggressive elements OF his party.
They like his daring. his dash, his
contempt for presidents, his master
fu! way of bending the party bosses
to his Will, his defiance and subse-
quent pIacating of the Wall street
InagnateS. His nomination represents
the will OF the Republican voters.
however distasteful it may be to
the 'old warehouses;" and government
mules of the party.
Senator Fairbanks is the precise op-
pCSite of MIR. Roosevelt in character
and Temperament. Cool, cautious,
slow, conservative, he furnishes an
admirable foil for the iInpetuous head
of the ticket And he lives too. in a
State whose electoral votes may be
essential to the success OF the Dem
oc:atic candidates
The organization OF the Republican
party for effective campaign work must
be accepted as most efficient. Though
Hanna and Quay are gone, the party
in power is strong in experienced and
skillful politicians. Perhaps the ablest
of them all sits in the White House
and will direct the campaign through
hi
is a master of detail. There will be
no lack of money. The whole body
of oticeholders viii be auxiliaries in
the campaign, each one anxious to
retain his place. Taken as a whole
the country is still fairly prosperous,
and the appeal 20 let we'll enough
alone will not be without force.
And yet the administration and its
party are vulnerable to attack at vital
points. They promise no reform of
the monopolypronoting and trust
shelterirg tariff. They make a mock
cry OF President EIckinley's reciproc-
ity- The President has procured the
annUlment OF great railroad mer-
ger. but the robberieS OF no monopoly
controlling the neceSSaries of life has
been inteTfered with. The platform
contains not the remotest pledge OF
putting an end 10 the violation OF the
Declaration of Independence in the
subsection of the F'ilipinoS. The
speakers at Chicago Sloriied the Pres
idenr for his bullying 'big-stick'' at
titude toward the weaker American
republics His usurpation OF the pow
er OF Congress in the matter of grant
ing pensions is eXtolled. The eXtrava-
gance in appropriations which increas.
ed the cost of government from ST.
PIT 100000 under Harrison and 81 .309,-
100000 under Cleveland to 81, .i49 ,O0O,-
900 under Roosevelt is covered with
the mantle of silence. The half re-
vealed and inadequatelv punished
stealings in the Postofiice Department
invite another campaign cry to Turn
the rascals OUT
Yet though there is the promise
and potency of a powerful opposition
in these and other issues only the
wiseSt action by the ST. Louis conven-
ton can make them elective. Strong
as President Roosevelt is in some re-
spects. and firmly intrenched in power
as his party is. the Democrats have
at least fighting chance to win
But to improve this chance the ST.
Louis convention must not only nomi-
nate a sane and safe" candidate on
rational platform, but it must purge
itself of the vices and wrongs which
it viii condemn in the Republicans
1t cannot expect that the country will
take seriously Il denunciatiOn of the
money power if it shall admit dele
gates whose seats We're rotoriously
bought. The cry of "plutocracy''
against the Republicans will be rdic-
ulouS and impotent from convention
Influenced in any degree by mercena-
ries.
The defeat Of President Roosevelt
is not impossible, but it is fraught
with SO many difficulties that the
only chance OF the Deocrats to ac-
complish it lies in the nomination of
his complete antithesis for President,
in the adoption of platform sound
in every plan, in the emphatic repu-
diation of all boodlers and seIf-seekers.
and the final severinG Of the fatal al
lance with Populists and Socialists,
n