Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-07-09
[From the Outlook.l


and for very simple reason. His
utterances on all political issues have
been more explicit than those of any
other public man since Abraham Lin
coin. and his political experience and
personal courage have enabled him to
lmpart his convictions to his party.
He made the republican party in New
York state accept as it's policy the
taxation of corporate franchises; he
evoked a public sentiment strong
enough to induce a somewhat
reluctant party to adopt a reciprocity
treaty with Cuba; he persuaded it to
accept. a policy of governmental con-
trol or great corporations, at time
when the older party leaders wished
to take no action which might offend
or Brighten corporate interests. These
and kindred incidents give the coun-
try good reason to expect that the re-
ship In the future as 1t has in the
past, and that the principals which
he avowed will become, II they are
not already, the accepted policies of
the party. Mr.. Roosevelt does not be-
lieve that the, president is mere in
strument elected to carry out the will
of congress. He disavows the hired
man theory Of the presidency, so
frankly avowed by Admiral Dewey,
and SO promptly disavowed by the
American people in response to Adj
miral Dewey. He has been for the
last three years, and IL he is elected
and lives he will be for the next four
year, the leader of his party, as well
as the chief executive of the nation.
TO elect Mr., Roosevelt is to commit
the country to the principles which
Mr. Roosevelt has avowed, and to
which by Its denomination of Mr..
Roosevelt the republican party stands
committed. Our object in this article
is to recall to the recollection of our
readers some of these utterances of
Mr.. Roosevelt, in order that they may
understand exactly to what his re-
nomination commits the party, and to
what his reelection will commit the
nation.
The principal political problems be-
fore the country at the present time
are the Race, the Labor the Trust,
the Tariff, the Expansion, the For
eign and the Currency problems.
What are Mr.. Roosevelts opinions
on these problems? To what policies
would his election commit the ma
tion?'
The Race Problem. Mr.. Roosevelt's
most notable utterance on the race
problem grew out of his appointment
of DR.. Crum as collector of the port
of Charleston. Certain citizens of
South Carolina protested against this
appointment on the ground that DR..
Crum us colored man, and that of
itself ought to bar him from the
| office" This protest evoked from Mr..
Roosevelt the following definition of
his view of the political aspects of the
race problem, and from the position
there stated he has not been swerved
by the persistent refusal Of the senate
TO take up and act upon the nominal
ton:
$50 far as I 1egitimately can I shall
always endeavor to pay regard to the
wishes and feelings of the people of
each locality, but 1 cannot consent to
take the position that the door of hope
the door of opportunities to be
shut upon any man, no matter how
worthy, purely upon the grounds OF
race or color. Such an attitude
would, according to my convictions
be fundamentally wrong"
At the same time he wrote tc
Howell Cobb, of Georgia, ri certainly
cannot treat mere color as a per1nan
ent bar to holding office, any more
than could 30 treat creed or birth
place. Just as little will 1 treat
It as comforting a right to hold Office
II Mr.. Roosevelt Is reelected to office
and the republican party reinvested
with power, the country, north and
south, may be fairly sure that, on
the one hand, negroes will not be ccd-
died or cared for because they are
negroes. and, on the other, will not be
Disseminated against by the govern
ment In its administration from any
considerations of race or color. The
| first principle has been established by
the fact that he has appointed no more
colored men to Office in the south
than were appointed by his predeces-
sor; the second, by his persistent re-
fusal to accede to the principle that nc
colored man may be permitted to hold
an office In southern community.
The Labor Problem. This problem
presents two questions to the Ameri-
to promote their common interests:
When organized, may they shut the
door of industry in the face Of those
who have not Joined their organiza-
ton? There Is war today in Colorado
because the capitalists answer the
first question in the negative and the
miners answer the second question ir
the affirmative. Mr.. Roosevelt gives
| an affirmative answer to the frs,
question and a negative answer to the
second. In his address to the Brother
hood of Locomotive Firemen at Chat
tanooga, Tennessee, in September
1902, he said
II believe emphatically in organized
labor. believe in organizations OF
wage workers. Organization is one
of the laws of our social and economic
development at this time"
In his address at Butte, Mantana
in May. 1903, district, it may be said
IN passing, where trades unionism had
violently assailed the right of non
union men to labor, and where the
conflict between labor and capital had
reached stage only less acute than
that recently reached in Colorado, he
said
This is not and never shall be a
government Of plutocracy; 1t is not
and never shall be government by a
mob. 1t Is, as 1t has been and as II
will be, government in which every
honest man, every decent man, be he
employer or employed, wage-worker
mechanic, banker lawyer, farmer, be
he who he may. If he acts squarely
and farely, IL he does his duty by his
neighbor and the state, receives the
full protection of the law and is given
the amplest chance to exercise the abil-
ity that there is within him, alone OF
In combination with his fellows as he
DESIRES"
That these were not merely theore-