Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-05-21
THE PRESIDENTS POSITION.
New York Evening Post

One hears on every hand the con-
vIctlon expressed that the events Of the
past few days in Washington have shat
tered the ideal OF Roosevelt which the
mass of the people had formed II this
Is So it is, considering the matter by
itself only, "A public misfortune Nations
are swayed more, as even Napoleon SAW,
by their ideals than by force; and for
that reason it is a pity to have admiring
confidence IN the character Of a promi-
nent public man deeply cut into. Still
It IS, on the whole, best for a democracy.
as ior the individual 10 find out betimes
d an idol has feet of clay. And il much
OF the fictitious glamour about the Prcsi- \
dent has now been dispelled, the result
Will be helpful TO the country, in tile long
run. 1t will diminish Mr.. Roosevelt Is
immediate capacity for mischief: IL will
lead the people to see the desirabiity of
steadier and less Shower qualities ii the
Chlel Magistrate. II no such revealing
shock had come before the end of Roose-
Welt term, the next Presidential election
might easily have degenerated into a
competition between reckless takers and
brilliant instabilities.
All the harsh descriptions Of Mr. Roose-
Nelt's recent course have simply led TO
public appreciation Of the President IS
real nature as il has long been known to
many IN private. II can be no surprise
to the run of newspaper men, for ex-
ample, who have been in a position closely
to observe Mr. Roosevelt, whether as
police commissioner, governor or Presi-
dent, TO discover that he will occasionally
repudiate statement which he finds It
lnconvenient to have recalled. That has
long been known Count Caprivi, who also
had great reputation as a straight
forward man, was not more ingenious
than Roosevelt in acting as il "a states
man might sometimes need to secure the
publication of an article responsibility
for which he could entirely disclaim on
the morrow" But this is not at all to
say that the President is a conscious
hypocrite; that all his speeches about
honesty and truthfulness are but emana-
tions from whited sepulchre. No; the
true explanation Is rather psychological
than moral Mr.. Roosevelt is merely a
victim Of his own restless energy, com
bined with a profound conviction that
| Whatever he chances TO want Is for the
/ highest good of the State He pursues
his object with incessant and vehement
argument, a large part of which It is
charitable TO suppose he instantly for
gets; he catches up any weapon that
presents itself 10 his hand; he recks not
OF consistency or caution in arriving at
his goal, or at what he can allege is his
goal. These qualities he has illustrated
"a hundred times Il is only the im-
portance Of the matter now under debate,
and the conspicuous theatre in which
! the present display has been made, which
have brought the truth home SO dis
agreeably TO the nation But at bottom.
frnn TO- tl,ts.lr fa
of psychology which Mr. Roosevelt offers
for study, rather than a moral problem
As a politician-and as such he has
been amazingly shrewd and successful
the Presidents prestige has been much
hurt by what has now come out. The
tradition of his fortnight methods, of
his open and direct driving for the de-
sired end, of his limitless moral courage
will be hard to restore after this We
have too plainly seen him walking in
devious and underground passages. His
secret dealings with the Democratic Sena-
tors have the unmistakable air OF a con-
spiracy, and Of a detected and unsuc-
cessful conspiracy. Whether he might
have been able TO compass his heart
desire Of beating Aldrich and those
fellows if he had stood by his guns,
will be disputed; but, at any rate, this is
clear: The moment he was made 10
believe, whether by the guile Of Aldrich
or otherwise, that the majority was on
the other side, Mr. Roosevelt whipped
over TO it in fash, without a word OF
notification to the men with whom he
had been striking hands in the dark.
Such an humilating exposure is a ter
rible blow to a political leader A Platt
might only cynically smile at It, but a
Roosevelt must know that he is badly
injured by il.
Peculiarly unlucky is all this unhappy
revelation coming, as it does on the
eve Of the passage of the Rate bill. That
promised TO be a great triumph for
President Roosevelt Senator Bailey has
frankly admitted, what all must perceive,
that but for Mr. ROosevelt's urging, no
bin OF the kind could have been got
through the Senate But there will be
no glorihcation now. In the first place,
the disclosures have made il evident that
the President is not getting what he
wanted. The chief clause in the bill,
as enacted, will be one to which, as we
now know he secretly vowed that he
was "hxedly and unalterably opposed
Besides, the public will now talk less of
the bill than OF the Presidents sinuous
methods. So the victory will be tragi-
cally shorn of its glory at the very moment
when il seemed about to burst upon the
land IL is a disaster like that of the
English statesmen portrayed by Akenside
Thus by degrees thy cause superior grew,
And the great end appeared at last IN view;
We heard the people Tn thy hopes rejoice,
We saw the senate bending TO thy voice.
Twas then-what frenzy on thy reason stole7
What spells unslnewed thy determined soulf
The sole sad refuge Of thy hafied art
To act a siatesmans duh exploded part.