Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1905-05-11
R~OOSEvELT'S WEAKNESS,
Allows Personal Considerations t.
Outweigh COuntry's Welfare.

Allows Personal Considerations to
Outweigh Country's Welfare.
Assistant Secretary Of State Loomis
Is charged, in the most direct and ex-
plicit way, with receiving money from
the asphalt company whose interests
are at stake in the complications with
Venezuela and with many other acts
of official misconduct, amounting to
the gravest scandal that has menaced
the administration since the postoffice
frauds came to light.
We do not know whether Mr.. LOOMS
Is guilty Of these things or innocent,
but there is not the slightest doubt that,
guilty OF innocent, he is utterly unfit to
be connected in any way with this gov
eminent, and he should be dismissed
at the earliest opportunity. His per-
formances in connection with the Vene-
zuelan affair were simply disgraceful.
Bis attitude nearly plunged the ma
ton into an unnecessary war, and his
craftsmanship in the controversy was too
obvious to escape any discerning OBJ
server. We do not now recall any
phase Of Mr.. Loomis' official career
that has not been Objectionable, and
certainly he has done too many things
that were justly censurable to make
him a proper mar to hold a place Of
such great Importance as the acting
head of the state department.
The whole incident painfully illus
trates n Of the weaknesses of Mr..
Roosevelt's character that must cause
doubt and hesitation in many men hon
estly DESTROYS to applaud him unreserv-
edly. 1t appears in this case that
Avery D. Andrews has assured the
president that Mr.. Loomis is all right.
Who is Avery D. Andrews? He was a
member Of the New York police board
when Mr.. Roosevelt was the president
Of that body. Mr.. Roosevelt was en-
gagged in a wrangle with another mem
Der, MI. Parker. The ~dissension, which
| amounted to a public scandal, endured
| for many months. Mr.. Andrews stood
by Mr.. Roosevelt and was his friend.
Consequently Mr.. Roosevelt is now In
able to believe that Mr.. Andrews can
have any Interior purpose in indorsing
Mr. LOOMS, and even the fact that Mr..
| Andrews is an officer of the asphalt
company whose interests are involved
In the controversy does not awaken the
| slightest suspicion in the presidents
! mind. He likes Mr.. Andrews, and that
| is enough.
1t was the same way about the beef
trust and Mr.. Garfeld's absurd report.
| M:s P0ncoyo1t ontor%oio, on ov+,,o 1o
| CANT admiration for Mr.. Congressman
| Lorrimer Of Illinois. Mr.. Lorrimer is
the special congressional representative
Of the packing interests. He assured
| Mr.. Roosevelt that there was no such
thing as a beef trust, and the president,
blindly taking his word for it, allowed
his administration to be led into the
ridiculous position of denying the eX-
istence of a combination that it was al
most Immediately afterward obliged to
prosecute.
Loyalty to a deserving friendship is
one Of the most engaging of the human
virtues, but with this amiable attribute
the kind of tethered allegiance that
prompts the unthinking to a blind fol-
lowing of unworthy men to evil things
is not to be confused. Moreover, the Of
fee of president Of the United States
is a magistracy too high to be affected
by personal considerations Of any sort.
1t is not Mr.. Roosevelt's admiration for
his personal friends and partisans of
which the nation needs to be assured,
but of his absolute, unalterable and in
evitable sense Of justice.-New York
American.