The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-01-06
A TRIUMPH OF PEACE.


The war between Japan and Russia,
especially since the capltulation OF
Port Arthur. may be historically cele-
brated as the leading feature OF 1904.
But as an evidence OF human progress.
under free institutions. the election OF
Theodore Roosevelt to the Presidency
"A, the last analysis. is even more sig 9.
nifcant Mr.. Roosevelt would un-
doubtedly have been elected through
the. political strength of the Republican
marty and in that fact alone there
would have been nothing TO invite
speciai comment His election, now
ever by the largest popular majority
ever secured since the Government was
founded. was OF transcendent impor-
lance. because that result could not
have been achieved on merely political
issues but was due to the high moral
standard of the American people. In
some respects his administration hau
been unique, for he availed himself OF
such opportunities as no other Presi-
dent has had, practically to raise the
level of citizenship. Instead OF using
his great Office to subserve his per-
sonal ambition, he stood inexoraply
for the Constitution and the laws ana
for the noblest conceptions OF duty EN-
bodied in American civilization. Free
from sentimental emasculation and
thoroughly alive to the interests or
the nation, he reduced exalted theories
,,rith atIh
designs of wealth, whether individual
or corporate. on the one hand, or
catering to the aggressive ana illegal
elements in labor combinations on the
other, he held the balance evenly ana
simply enforced the law. The poorest
man in the land felt that Mr.. Roose-
welt was his friend. The richest man
In the land found that he could not
| be used.
( Official corruption was uncompromis-
ingly exposed and punished. Unlawful
combinations of every sort were
brought to the bar of equal justice.
In all directions, not only by official
action but by personal appeals, the
pride and the honor of citizens or all
classes were charged with respon-
sibility that could not be evaded nor
minimized. Every speech that Mr..
Roosevelt made on public occasions
was replete with manly and American
conceptions of the family, of the home,
of pure social conditions, of business
integrity in the midst of strepuousness'
of the rigid accountability of public
officers, of the just blending in the
national advancement of energy en-
terprise and economy, of education
reaching the heart and the conscience
as well as the intellect, of honesty and
| discrimination at the ballot box.
The Panama Canal was assured. The
! Philippines were pacified and stimu-
lated towards the capacity for self
government. In our foreign relations
arbitration was steadily enforced as
a substitute for war. Domestic tur-
bulence was checked and difficulties be-
tween capital and labor settled.
These palpable evidences of full and
accurate comprehension of progress
sive and constitutional Americanisn
wrought their natural effect upon an
educated and aspiring population
without distinction of party. Citizen
ship responded to the demand for d
better national life. The narrowness
and the factional discords of the Dem
ocratic organization presented no cor
responding inducement. Mr.. Roose'
velt's letter of acceptance, clear, franz
and inciyive, has never been excelled
His direct response to invented calum'
MES was no less telling. The popular
movement was irresistible. The cleo
ton proved the soundness of our form
of government and honors were equal
ly divided between the successful can
didate and the voters of the republic
Thus, the result of an ordinary presi
Dental contest in the United States
became entitled to recognition as thu
! most conspicuous event of crowded
year, and showed, as numerous pre-
l ceding incidents have demonstrated
: that full reliance can always be PLACED
upon the American people.