The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-02
Spirit of the Press
Mr.. Cortelyou And His New Frying
Pan.

Mr.. Cortelyou And His New Frying
Pan.
New York Sun.
Mr. Roosevelt's acceptance OF the
nomination has produced an eXcellent
impression. Mr.. Roosevelt has peen
for a long time dormant, in heraldlc
sense land the effect is decidedly be-
coming, not to say reassuring. Mr..
Roosevelt rampant, a much more ia
possessing His well chosen terms of
acquiescence in the spontaneous deci-
sion of the Chicago Convention do
equal honor to his head and his heart.
They are conceived in the spirit OF
the prophet Elihu the subtle one, who
walks in simplicity and knows no
guile. Why is it that Mr.. Roosevelt
great Secretary of War brings so
wildly to mind the teachings of the
greatest American philosopher of the
Nineteenth Century: BE ye wise as
a sarpint and gentle as dove; and
then if a Teller comes foolin' round
your dove you can set your sarpint
at him? The voice is indeed the
voice of Elihu; and the hands, too.
The campaign progresses apace and
propitiously. a soft benignancy de-
notes the Republican air. Wars rude
alarums no longer disturb the peace
ful spaces of oyster Bay. The Ameri-
can Navy does not ruff1e its placid
bosom. The Mayfiower and the Sylph
are restored to the obscure but appro-
pirate uses of the public service. The
storm and drang of the numbering
and gratuitouS specials is St1lled APP
parently forever; capital, comforted
and reconstructed, is once more full
of courage and agreeable expectancy;
throughout the whole land there is a
noble prospect of the abundance of
the earth; everywhere and on ali sides
is wholesomeness and peace; and to
all mankind, of the right stripe, the
promise of unrestricted good. None
but favoring gales belly forth the sails
of the fair ship of Roosevelt and the
State.
The failing myriads give earnest of
their unfiagging loyalty TO their idoliz-
ed leader. The country from one end
to the other resounds with the hum
of the industry with which they are
shifting the incorrigble non-unionists
and rolling the accused money pow
err in the gutter. They understand the
peerless one. They appreciate the
embarrassments of the year, the con-
ventional requirements of period OF
campaign. AS Herskovits, the COM
rade of the crowded hour and the
bloody field, would put it: His heart
is with us, but his hands is tied"
Never was such a mastery cam
paign known in American history!
In the language of the grossly secu-
lar: "He does not miss trick! The
wise and experienced publicists who
betrayed such extraordinary unaniml-
ty in refusing the exalted position of
chairman saw that none but supreme
genius was fitted for the task of 1904.
Mr. Roosevelt knew it, but he made
them severally the offer. all the same.
AS he alone, with his Heayen-born
intuition, foresaw, they one and all
fled from it. Then, with that intellec-
tual calm that is the inseparable char
acteristic of men of destiny he turned
to his faithful Autolycus, the Secreta-
nv of the Department of Statistics for
Labor Unions, and made him chair
man of the Republican National Com
mittee.
Mr.. Cortelyou, who would make any
sacrifice in Mr.. Roosevelts service,
never hesitated for moment. An
ordinary man might we'll be appalled,
at the task before him, but not Mr.,
Cortelyou. He never gave thought
to the loss of his salary as Cabinet
officer never even glance of regret
to his comfortable chair in the De-
partment; put aside as inconSequent
and unworthy the reflection that if
Mr.. Roosevelt was defeated he would
lose his job anyhow, and dismissed
with a smile the assurance that in the
other event he would have the Post
master Generalship. and sailed into
his new duties like a man. The truth
was, Mr.. Cortelyou knew in his heart
Of hearts that no man could manage
Mr.. Roosevelt's campaign but Mr..
Roosevelt himself.
The chairman of the Republican
Committee is reticent but astute po-
litfcal observer He knew why so
many great and accomplished states
men had baked at the job. He knew
that Mr.. Roosevelt, whose besetting
sin is generosity, had in his efforts
everything within the disposition OF
the President for the next four years
to come, and that consequently the
cupboard was bare. The chairman
of the National Committee was deSti-
tute of ammunition. In the circum-
stance only the personal and undoubt-
ed genius of Mr.. Roosevelt himself
could be adequate to the situation
And who will dare to say that it is moi
all-sufficient?
But Mr.. Cortelyou is doing admir-
ably and will do even better. 1t is
not for nothing that he is to be Post
master General under Mr.. Roosevelt's
new Administration. There is not a
railroad in the country that can re-
gard the Postmaster General with in
| difference. The most valuable and
most jealousy guarded contracts that
| the railroads have are the contracts
for carrying the United States mails
and about those contracts Mr.. Post
master General Cortelyou will only a
short time hence have everything to
saw Who will now have the temerity
to dispute Mr.. Roosevelt's complete