The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-17
MONDAY. bEChMhEa If, 1sos.
LETTING THp CAT our.


 If any one thinks The Advertiser is preJudiced or an alafmist when 1t says. as 1t has on more than one occasion. that the tendency of the present ad- mtnistration and of Republicanism Is directly towards standardization and imperialism. sneh critic will think dif- fefentIy, perhaps. after watching Tor little while. For example. at a re- reiit. banquet in New Y5fK Mir. Rect, Secretary of state in the Roosevelt Cabinet, was one Of the speakers. In the course of his address, he used these words Sooner or later the Constitu- ton will be so construed as to oblit- crate all State rights and vest the power of administration in the Nation al Government"
 Let no one try to excuse or palliate this expression by saving that Root is not in sympathy with the President, or that he is not in line with the admin istration, for that excuse or expiana- tion will not suffice. He is one of the says may be taken as the Presidents own opinion and belief. The satter may repudiate the utteranees of hls Secretary, If he finds them unpopular, but they are so thoroughly in line with some of his own that we cahot see how he can go back on them.
 It Is not surprising that in the hail where Root made this declaIation there should have been mitch confusion and loud shouts of disapproval coming from ali parts of the room, and The New York World tells us that 1t would not escape insult We say it is not surprising. for New York has in 1t a large element of southerners and others who still believe in old-time Democracy. and who would not sit by and listen with silent approval to dec trines which are subversive of the theory of government upon which our Union was founded, especially when those doctrines were proclaimed by Q man who is recognized as the mouth piece of the President and his admins tration. New York Is one of the most cosmopolitan of all our large cities. and among it's inhabitants are many strong men who will not swallow such dangerous and revolutionary senti- ments, even when uttered by so ex- alted a parsonage as Rosevelts Sec retary of State. And yet Root was merely giving voice to what this ao- ministration and its Party would bring about if they get the power
 The speech of MT. Root and the posi- tions assumed on more than one occa- sion by Roosevelt should be accepted by all Democrats as both a waFping and a challenge. The way of Democ- raey is becoming so plain that. to use q scriptural expression. "The wayfar- ing men. though fools. shall not err therein." And the Democrats are not fools. they cannot be blind to their duty and as patriots they cannot evaue or neglect 1t. That duty is to save the country from the perils which threaten it from Republicanism-or, to put it more plainly Rooseveltism. We know that the phrase, saving the country" has been overworked and is somewhat hackneyed. but there is weight and significance to 1t now. The most dear iy cherished and sacred institutions of this Republic are confronted by a real danger. IL is a danger that Is insidi- Dus, progressive and voracious It would take away from the States and The people the right of seif-govern- ment which they have so ions enjoyed ma so faithfully guarded and cherish