The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-08
ISSUING ORDERS.

The degree of assumacy exhibited by some Republican officials in connec- ~tion with politics and elections is well l Illustrated in the case of Secretary Shaw. who is from Iowa. It has been but few weeks since he was quoted as saving tha- he proposed to keep his fingers out of the gubernatoriai cam paign In Iowa and let the Republicans manage 1t without advice or interfcr- ence from him. That was talk, but al- ready we find him making speeches in the State against Governor Cummins and urging the nomination of George D. Perkins.
 As we understand it. the Republi. can national platform of 1904 said that tho work of readjusting the tariif could not safely be committed to any other hands than those of the Republi. can party" The secretary of the treasury told his Iowa audiences Satur- day that since the platform was adop- ted the Republicans of Congress have not in caucus called for any readjust- ment of the taIiff; the Republican ways and means committee has not considered 1t; the Republican President in his messages to Congress has not advised 1t.
 Having thus told them whaG had and had not been done, Mir. Shaw fol- lowed with this really remarkable de- liverance:
 Are we Roosevelt Republicans? If SC. why should we not be standpat- ters? He has made many speeches, but in none has he recommended ter If revision. When you tell the people they are robbed by the tariff which he does not recommend shall be revised you indict your President for not 5c- tSld not the RepaS,ican @ President. the 4eas. ass CT of his party. speak with authority. and as Republicans are we not bound by his recommendations and by his failure to recommend? Is not the re- publican majority in Congress clothed with authority to speak for the party and Is it not clothed with authority to keep silence?
 There is the law delivered to them in plain English. The President is the head of the party and they must fol- low him implicitly. Aside from the difficulty that any party or organiza- tor must experience in an effort to keep in line with a trimmer like Roosevelt, there are the orders from one of his official family that they are not to have any opinions of their own, especially on the tariff, but must take their cue from the President and do whatever he does or advises
 In addition to this MT. Shaw furth- CT informs Iowa Republicans that the i,, hoS t,rl,t order them to speak Jr keep silent and they must not vary or depart from those orders. It is simply reducing the Republicans of a great State to a con- dition of thralldom where they are not expected to think or speak for them selves but must follow instructions Inn plicity. Mir, Shaw exhibits a remark able amount of assumacy, but what else can be expected when we consider the example ht is following? It has been but d short while since the Presi- dent issued most positive orders to the Republicans of Pennsylvania. telling them in plainest English what he re- uulred of them and what they might expect if they disobeyed orders. Like master like man." is an old saying, and Shaw Is merely following in the footsteps of his chief
 Are we Roosevelt Republicans?" asks the Secretary. If so why should we not be standpattersi Mir. Shaw must know that Roosevelt has not been al all consistent on the tariff question and that the term "a Roosevelt Repub- lican" conveys no definite or perma- nent conception, but we suppose he