Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-10-01
SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL moS1
MENT.
Drift of Irish Americans o"aro
Roosevelt.
(portnu Transcript

one of the most Strihlio 49,
cant incidents of the prts'''ei''''''
pai%n is the voltcface III tii'
and always ,o,.;,lly democratic l1lo,
this CITY vb;.h has nov come out from
the Democratic camp ana eill'N''
self under The banner Oh ro'seN en-
Almost since TIE very peSi''ii''S ", Wv
Democratic Marty. the irish 'athollc
element i'm ON voting population mas
voted solidly with the Democrats, so
that the terms Irish and Democrat nave
| almost been Synonymous, ana To De an
freshman and = is"pupilc'i WIS iiNc
being a ScotchnHn ana '"''l 't''s'"ii'-
or. Rightly or Wrun@lN. - 'ic 'a9''
may be. the Irish American No'er got IL
| into his head that the democracy WAS
| his only hope, and several generations
of him. n,,ivehoru as well as imml-
| grant. have voted the Democratic tick
| ct rs naturally almost rs they have
gone to mass.
Nearly every Catholic paper in the
| country has been either actively Dem
| oCratic. or 1T least 'aGin the govern
| .ncnt" when he government happened!
| to he Republican,. ana the most stanch-
| ton Pilot, though E"vcr so hld"-bound Il
partisan rs not to be ready 20 f"huk'
| even a Democratic secretary OF Stai"
| for amy trucking To that tIuropeai'
| power nnmnly England. which 1t hcl'i
| to be the natural enemy not only Of IT.
| beloved Ireland. but of the United
| States also. Under Patrick D"nahoc
as well us under John Boyle olieilly
| the Pilot was Il paper OF great Demo-
| cratic influence. but now there's new
hand ut the helm, ami the present eli
| tor of the Pilot. Mr. James Jeffrey
| Roche is steering the erStwhile Demo-
cratic barque into the harbor Of R"pub-
| .iC,nism.
A warm personal admiration for The
odore Roosevelt seems I" he the secret
| of Mr.. Rockies conversion to the Re-
| publican party. Like all converts h" is
| Jealous III the new cause. ard every
week the Pilot contains double-leaded
| editorials advocating With il warnt:
that is both Celtic and poetic the claims
| Of the Republican party upon tn" vote
which has boon for so long period 4
political asset of the Democrats. AZ
may well be supposed the conversion
of this oId-tinlc Democratic paper tC
| the principles of Republicanism has
been severely criticised. and Mr.. Roche
has received some hard knocks from
bis colleagues of the Democratic Catho-
| lie prnSs for his "tre;iSor.'' Yet on thc
whole his entrance into rerublicanism
raS not OCCISioued the clanor that ii
would have done twenty or ten. or eve
..rl.&
forward, ;Inbigotcd character of the
present President Of the United States
has won its way into Catholic hearts
The fighting race" admireS the Presi-
dents fighting qullitics and it is re-
mcmbcrcd With pleasure that he has
spoken with pride of the Irish strain il
l. is ancestry. This has sOftencd anti
Republican asperty considerably. ana
has lesscned the shock of the Pilots
coming over. Indeed several Catholic
papers OF influence have expressed ad
miratiOn for Roosevelt and rebukeu
their esteemed contemporaries for
speaking as if Mr.. Roche had become Il
hereto by changing his political view.
AS d matter of fact the conversion OF
the Pilot to Republican ideas is more
important than it wo;Ild appear at first
sight. It is not on unrelated incident
1t is SynItomatic of an awakening on
the part OF an important el Amnnt in
our population to Il realization that its
best hope. as indeed the best hope of
the American people at l;lrg" lies III
the succ $ Of a p%rty which can
prod'cc ana place in the nations high
est seat sucn Il broad-mindcd. fearless
executive rs Theodore Roosevelt. OF
whom might be written what BOYLE
Kelly wrote Of Daniel D'ConneH:
Races ana ScctS were to him profanity
lilhGu and negro and Colt were as one