The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-09-09

| by group of Senators who seek only
| to know the Presidents will in order
to obey it.
A Gentlemanly Buccaneer.
Inevitably the personality, the char
acter and performances of Theodore
Roosevelt occupy the foremost place
in the public mind. They will consti-
tute the chief horn of the peoples di-
lemma in the coming campaign.
They are, as it were. the beginning and
end of the chapter. Yet because we
propose to discuss the President, and
to hold him to just measure of ac-
countability, we are accused of abuS-
ing him. 1 would not, for my part,
utter an unkind or discourteous word.
[ admit that he is as sweet q gentle
man as ever Scuttled a ship or cut a
throat. Indeed, very much that kind
of gentleman; for, hosting the black
flag over the South, has he not scut-
tied the ship of civil service reform
and cut the throat of reciprocity? Has
he ever obeyed the law in case it stood
in the way of his humor, from the
time when, over the acquitting report
of his own Commission, he removed a
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 q 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 f1y-by-night thea
trical combination miscalled the Re-
public of Panama? Was his treat
ment of Miles and Schley the act of
wise or considerate President? Was
his promotion of Wood just either 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 opera
tons against the Northern Securities
not the merest play to the galleries,
achieving, thus far, nothing beyond
the throwing of a little dust into the
eyes of unthinking people? Does not
his whole career, illustrated by ms
writings, his sayings and his doings-I
his needless criticisms, his spectacular
explorations, his broken promises
reveal to us q 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 f1ounceS and furbelOWs
of civic righteousness. whilst violating
the spirit and sacrificing the actuali-
ties of the civil service by a line of
partisan appointments to office never
during the worst times of
tized and exemplified? Was Jackson, |
whose ignorance he rebukes, more
and autocratic than he is |
himself? Was Grant, whom, in life, |
he perSistently antagoniZed, more in
different to the admonitions of public
sentiment? And if we have seen such
things in the green leaf, what may we
not expect to see in the brown? I'll
elected President in 1904, why not
n
what may not be the possibilities in
1912?
Dread of One Man Power.
AS a Republican 1 would take no
such risks; as an American, L shall
not. L dread the one-man power.
Still more / dread the one-party pow
er; absolutism at length barricadng
itself against the reach of the peo-
pie; the opposition thoroughly de-
bauched, and, because OF it's demorali-
Zation and impotency only a degree
less corrupt than the autocracy; the
government a close corporation of or
ganized interests, slowly but surely
breeding caste distinction; our public
men race of Medicean princess, with
out the learning or the arts of Flor
ence; the old, free system of Wash
ington and Franklin and Jefferson, a
very syndicate of wealth and official
ism; Republic only in name; a
world power in fact, more imperial in
it's aggressions and resplendency than
Rome itself.
If we want these things, let us by
all means elect Theodore Roosevelt.
Let us destroy all healthful and re-
sponsible opposition. Let us relegate
to the rear Let us
bring to the front only Socialism to
ieyI with w
no matter how it ends, is bound to be
dangerous to the liberties of the peo
pie and the peace of the country. AL |
ready the Republican press is making
a hero of Tom Watson,-the coming |
harranguing the sec
lions and preparing the way for an
other Reign of Terror, by and with |
the advice, consent and sustenance of
the Republican National Committee.
Behind Theodore Roosevelt stands
a group of radical Republican lead2I
ers ready to do his bidding. If the
of these radical leaders
had been given their way after the
war of sections, we should, at this |
moment, have in the South another !
ireland, a second Poland. Wherever |
they have had their way, from old |
Ben Wade to Henry Cabot Lodge and |
Roosevelt, we have seen !
n1Sncr taxes, renewed sectional dis |
turbance, total disregard of the writ
ten law, and the constant menace of |
force. After forty-three years of |
but twice broken dominion this party |
is proceeding with as high |
a hand under Theodore Roosevelt, as, |
after but a little longer dominion, the |
Democratic party proceeded, under |
Pierce and Buchanan, and from the
same cause, the belief that it has the !
world in a sling and may do as it
pleaseS.
Remember There is Yet a God
Public opinion needs to rise upon it's
hind legs and kick the stuffing out
of it; at least to kick it into a realiz- |
ing sense that there is something yet
greater than money and partyism and |
patronage; that the machine is not
invincible; that there are yet peo-
pie; that there is still a God.
Nor ever could a change of parties
be effected with SO little danger to
existing conditions. What risks do
even honest Republicans take in set
ting Roosevelt and Fairbanks aside, |
and in preferring Parker and Davis?
The money of the country is safe be-
yond human agency to disturb it. The
revenue laws are not likely to be adj
justed to suit me, and men like me,
until the manufacturers come to see,