Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1904-10-19
CARL SCHURZ'S ESSAY
HIS POLITICAL BELIEFS AND APP.
PREHENSlONS.
A Man Pre- Eminent for Temperatures
tai Vagaries Processes Grave Fear
that Roosevelt May Prove Deficient
in Diplomacy.

4 in Diplomacy.
The venerable Carl Schurz must al.
ways command from good Republicans
the respect which members of that great
national party always pay to those who,
have done good service to the country, les-
pecially in the day of grave peril, and en-
the field of war.
But although Republicans, in estimat-
ing the weight of influence to be attached
to the utterances of Mr.. Schurz, cannot
forget nor underrate his services to the
country in times of peace as well as in
war, they can only read his latest contri-
button to the literature of the presiden-
tial campaign with intense amusement.
Mr.. Schurz is at his best, that is most
amusing, in that passage of his letter
where, with ali evident effort to be fair,
ne deplores the Temperament of Presi-
dent Roosevelt. He says:
have such faith in the original good
ness of his impulses that | deem him capa-
bic of abandoning again any of the wrong
ways ne has lately taken, except one. And
tnere something stands in the way for
which he is not responsible; his tempera-
ment, whlch is altogether too strong for his
reason.
| do not deem President Roosevelt capa-
pie OF seeking an opportunity for plunging
the country into foreign war merely to-
crafty his ambition or to give play to his
fighting spirit. But / do think that when
ever there are two ways Of deciding a mat
ter OF contrOverSy-One the slow, patient,
diplomatic, peaceahle way and the other
the short cut by the use of force Mr.
Roosevelt viii be temperamentally inclined
to choose the short cut, and it will require
with him an uncommonly strong effort Of
selfrestraint to resist that inclination,
which effort, If made at ali, is not always
successful.
This, coming from Carl Schurz, is de-
licious
The Schurz Temperament.
Among all the examples of ''tempera-
ment' overriding good sense, reason and
calm Judgment known to American poll
tics Carl Schurz stands pre-eminent For
him to look upon the sturdy, practical
Roosevelt, who has taken up and carried
firmly every burden ever laid upon him
for Carl Schurz to look upon this man,
and drone out his doubts as to his abil-
ity, in case of an important controversy.
to seek the SLOW, patient, diplomatic,
peaceable way is enough to cause mirth
in a Democratic campaign meeting in
Iowa.
Seventy-fve years ago and half year
more this critic of the President of the
United States was born in Prussia He
Joined the Instruction of 1S49, was ar
rested, fled to Switzerland, and came to-
these shores in 1852. He became an ar
dent Republican, and when the war Of
rebellion began he was the American
minister to Spain, so quickly had he,
arisen to power and influence in the land
of his adoption. One observes nothing
SLOW about these points of our critics
career.
And there was nothing 'slow," either,
when it came to action. He resigned his
and came back to the United
States to enter the Union army. He rose
to the rank of major general, and after
the war was sent by Missouri, as a Re-
publican, to the United States Senate.
There was nothing ''slow' about that.
phase of the rise of Mr.. Schurz, either
1t was while he was in the United
States Senate that the fighting qualities
of Mr.. Schurz attracted national atten-
ton. There was nothing "slow, patient.
diplomatic or peaceable' in the ways and
means adopted by him in attacking the.
leaders of his own party. He led the
against President Grant, pre-
ceding his second nomination and elec--
ton. Nothing could exceed the bitter
ness with which he fought Grants adj
and strove to balk every
thing it proposed. Grant was accused
of "militarism" and desire to upset
all the traditions of the Republic. 1t
0f t1,o4 +Io
began their dismal existence, with Mr..
Schurz as their leader in the Senate.
Oldsters among Republicans will recall
the scene at the hotel rooms where.
Schurz and his followers had gathered
to hear the returns when Grant defeat.
ed Horace Greeley. 1t was then that
the Temperament" of Mr.. Schurz got the
better of him. He sat down to a piano
and pounded out the lugubrious notes of
''The Heart Bowed Down" Thence
forth that gem of opera should have been
adopted as the mugwumps' campaign
song. But, strangely enough, it wasn't.
However, they haven't any song
But to return to Mr.. Schurz. His
Temperament had the best of him until
President Grant was succeeded by Presi-
dent Hayes, when, from nowhere in
particular, Mr.. Schurz was called to be-
Secretary of the Interior. Probably he.
was good Republican during the four
years of holding Office. One can't flop
around" and call hard names in an execu-
tive office, and now Mr.. Schurz had a
taste or two of criticism himself. His.
replies to his tormentors were not de-
void of tartness and ginger"
A Political Chameleon.
When he left the cabinet Mr.. Schurzs
fell, like Lucifer, star of the morning,
and came down to being the editor of a.
New York paper-daily, it is said, known
to the public as the New York Evening
Post. From that moment the brilliant,
cratic, revolutionary and cantankerous
Carl Schurz remained, so far as the
public can judge, a Mugwump. In 1854
he retired from the newspaper field; but
his recent letter shows that he is a mug
wump still. There's more to him than
there is to most mugwumps, too, but his.
talk about the dangers of Roosevelt'ss
solid Dutch American Temperament
affords ground for inextinguishablc.