Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-07-07
MADE
GREAT
SPEECH
Secretary Hay Points Ont the
Noble Qualities of
Roosevelt

held at Jackson, Mich, this week sec
retary OF state John Hay said in dis
cussing President Roosevelt:
Ask them, has the President been
good citizen, a good soldier a good
man in all personal relations? Is he
man of intelligence, of education?
Does he know this country well? Does
he know the world outside? Has he
studied law, history an politics? Has
he had great chances to learn, and has
he improved them? Is he sound and
strong in mind, body and soul? Is he
accessible and friendly to all sorts
and conditions of men? Has he the
courage and the candor, and the God
given ability to speak to the people
and tell them what he thinks? To all
these questions they will answer, yes.
Then what is your objections to him?
They will either stand speechless or
they will answer with the parrot cry
which we have heard so often: He is
unsafe!
In certain sense we shall have to
admit this to be true. To every grade
of lawbreaker high or low; to a man
who would rob a till or a ballot box;
to the sneak or the bully; to the hypo-
critic and the humbug, Theodore
Roosevelt is more than unsafe; he is
positively dangerous.
But let us be serious with these
good people. What are the coefficients
of safety in a chief of state? He
should have courage; the wisest cow
ard that ever lived is not fit to rule.
And intelligence we want no blunder-
headed hero in the White House. And
honesty; q clever thief would do in
finite mischief. These three are the
indispensables. With them a man is
all the more safe if he has a sense
of proportion, a sense of humor, a
wide knowledge of men and affairs;
If he seeks good counsel; and, finally,
if he is a patriot, if he loves his coun-
try, believes in it, and seeks in all
things its interest and its glory. Amy
man may make mistakes; but such
a man as this will make few, and no
grave ones.
Such a man is our President and
our candidate. He is prompt and en-
appafic h,,4 ha taLae ;ndnito oairc -
get at tthe facts before he acts. In
all the crises in which he has been
accused of undue haste his action has
been the result of long meditation and
well-reasoned conviction. If he thinks
rapidly, that is no fault; he thinks
thoroughly, and that is the essential.
When he made peace between the
mines and the operators, il was so
sudden caprice but the fruit of seri-
GUS reflection, and this act of mingled
philanthropy and common sense was
justified by a great practical result.
When he proclaimed anew the Monroe
Doctrine in the Venezuela case his
action was followed by the most ex-
plicit acceptance of that saving policy
which has ever come TO US from over
seas. He acted very swiftly, it is true,
in Mississippi, when the best citizens
of a town threatened the life of
postmistress for no fault but her col
or He simply said, very we'll, gent
lemen; you may get your letters some
where else for a while"
And as to the merger suits, now
that people have come to their senses
they see that his action in that case
was as regular as the equinox. He
was informed through legal channels
that a statute had been violated. He
did not make that a statute, but he
was bound by his oath to execute it.
He brought the proceeding which II
was his duty TO bring. The courts,
from the lowest to the highest, sus-
tanned his action. He did what il
would have been a high misdemeanor
not to have done. The laws in this
country are made to be obeyed, wheth-
er it is safe or not. II is always un-
safe to disobey them.
But there has been more noise made |
over his suddenness on the Isthmus OF
Panama than elsewhere. IL Is diff. |
cult TO treat this charge with serious
ness, The President had made a
treaty with Colombia at her own coli
which was infinitely TO her
advantage, to inaugurate an enter
prise which was to be for the benefit
Of the world He waited with end
less patience while Bogota delayed |
and trifed with the matter and finally
rejected il. and suggeste new nego
-iations for a larger sum. Panama.
by this climax OF the wrongs
ihe had already suffered. declared and