The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1904-09-09


will be the effect, II none other, Of the
election Of Parker and Davis and the
defeat of Roosevelt and Fairbanks.
The isue before us, therefore, is
whether the people will allow the Re-
publican party to grow so potent, SO
to entrench itself in power, as that
nothing short of some dire conNulsion
shall he able to uproot it, or whether
they shall, before it be too late, take
Roosevelt and Fairbanks by the hand,
and bid them stand aside, whilst In
the persons of Parker and Davis they
recover into their hands, the lost bal
ance of power; of power which is now
lodged in the executive mansion at
Washington, fianked on one side by the
Speaker of the House ana his commit
tee on rules, supported on the other
side by group OF senators who seek
only to know the presidents will in or
der to obey it.
Inevitably the personality, the char
acter and performances of Theodore
Roosevelt, occupy the foremost place In
the public mind. They will constitute
the chief horn of the peoples dilemma
in the coming campaign They are,
as 1t were, the beginning and the end
of the chapter. Yet, because we pro-
pose to discuss the President, and to
hold him to a Just measure of account
ability, we are accused of abusing him.
would not, for my part, utter an un-
kind or discourteous word. / admit
that he is as sweet gentleman as ever
scuttled ship or cut a throat. In
deed very much that kind of gentle
man; for hosting the black flag over
the south, has he not scuttled the
ship of civil service reform and cut
the throat of reciprocity? Has he ever
obeyed the law in case 1t stood in the
way of his humor, from the time when
over the acqutting report of his COM
mission, he removed states attorney
from the Office to which the people
had elected him, here in the city and
county OF New York, to the time when,
by scratch of his pen, he usurped
| the power of congress and added many
millions Of outlay to the pension rolls?
| Is he not responsible for the hy-by-
night theatrical combination miscalled
the republic of Panama? Was his
treatment of Miles and Schley, the act
of a wise or considerate president?
Was his promotion of Wood just, eth
er to the army or the people? Was
his proceeding in the postal scandals
not a shuttle designed to suppress,
whilst seeming to expose? Were his
operations against the Northern Secur-
tiles not the secret play to the CALLER
les, achieving, thus far, nothing beyond
the throwing of little dust into the
eyes of the unthinking people? Does
not his whole career, illustrated by his
writings, his sayings and his doings-
his needless criticism, his spectacular
exploitations, his broken promises
reveal to us a self-willed adventurer
upon the high seas of public life, hav-
ing no rudder or compass except his
own ambition, no principle or rule OF
conduct save that of decking the ma
chine with the flounces and furbelows
OF civic righteousness, whilst violating
the spirit and sacrificing the actuali
ties of the civil service by line ol
partisan appointments to office never
surpassed during the worst times Of
the spoils system he has so stigmatized
and exemplified? Was Jackson, whose
ignorance he rebukes, more persona
and autocratic than he Is himself? Was
Grant, whom, in life, he persistently
antagonized, more Indifferent to the ad
, monitions of public sentiment? AND
; If we have seen such things in thu
! green leaf, what may we not expect tt
see in the brown? If elected Presiden
in 1904, why not again in 1908? Th'
, tradition broken, what may not be tn
possibilities in 1912?
AS a Republican / would take NJ
, such risks; as an American, I shall not
I / dread the one-man power. Still NOR
dread the one-party power; abso
: lutism at length barricading itsel
I against the reach Of the people; tn
} opposition thoroughly debauched, an
| because of it's decentralization and i'm
potency, only a degree less corrup
= than the autocracy; the government
s close corporation Of organized inter
= ests, slowly but surely breeding cas-
l distinction; our public men a race O
e Medecian princes, without the learnin
I or the arts of Florence: the old fire.
t system OF Washington, Franklin an
Jefferson, very syndicate of wealt
g and ofiicialism; republic only 4
: name; world power in fact, more i'm
j perial in its aggressions and resplen
) dency than Rome itself.
II we want these things, let us b
: all means elect Theodore Roosevelt
e Let us destroy all healthful and re
e sponsible opposition. Let US construc
!. an irresistible power at Washington
n Let us relegate conservatism to tn
) rear. Let us bring to the front onl
0 socialism to fight with absolutism
: battle which, no matter how 1t ends,
: bound to be dangerous to the libertie