The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-21

mand for an investigation. and. as w
 all know, the light of publicity poured
 in upon the New York grafters, politi-
 cal and business. too. When you ex'
 pose the business bosses back or the
 political bosses, the business posses
 throw overheard their political bosses
 just as in purely political crises, tho
 political bosses drop" their governors and mayors The business rulers oi New York. to save themselves. dropped
 both Platt and Odell, and still fighting
 they could not agree on a new political
 head for the State. They are looking
 for one now. The people of the State are deeply interested in the spectacle,
 but they are not led to regard 1t as
 their affair, wherefore I say, that It
 would not be easy to go into the State
 of New York and determine just now
 who is the political head of that State.
 There are other States and cities where our question would not be easy | to answer. The citizens of New York l City have been asking ever since the
 election of last fall whether the head of their Government was Mayor Me- Clellan or Boss Murphy. In Pennsyl- varia ali they know Is that the Cover nor isn't the head of the State; they are surer in Philadelphia, but even there hear men expressing some doubt In Jersey they have set about finding out for themselves. this winter. In Ohio all Is clear at present. but in ctncin- natl they are fighting. quietly, but viz | orously. to settle the question which, have reason to think. Mayor Dempsey will answer in due course. Out in San | Frncisco where Organized Labor has | usurped the power of Corporate Capital. they say they have Labor Mayor. and | they have;t but is he the head of the I : 1 isn't always obvious who the real ruler 1 Is. But let us go back to Washing | ton.
 | How about the U. S. Government? Who, or what or where, is the head of the Nation? Theodore Roosevelt is in | the White House. but Is the White | House the seat of the supreme political power of this country? Some pretty keen observers of the Thing As It Is point away@up to the Capitol on the Hill at the other end of Pennsylvania Ave- nue and they say the Senate is the | throne. Is it? We are seeking to know of our own knowledge, remember. so that we may not take the say-so of oth- CT men. We must find out for our selves How?
 My experience of cities and States has | taught me to look for certain superficial signs which I find to be true. guides to the truth concealed deep down be- | low. One of these signs is trouble. If 1 boss rules absolutely a well-corrupt- ed city. that city Is at peace; Philadel- phia under Boss Durham, for example. | But If the Mayor of a city presumes to govern it. as he should. then there is no peace, but sore trouble. in that town; said Philadelphia under Mayor Weaver, | for example So with a State, and for 1 illustrations: take Wisconsin under Boss Sawyer and compare 1t with Wisconsin under Governor LaFollette; or, take New York before, and New York after the election of Governor Odell. Usu- ally, this trouble means something else besides. but let us stick to the trail and go slow. How does all this bear I upon our question of national govern ment?
 There is trouble in Washington. There is no peace there at all. at all, but only discontent sore and pressing. And if you could listen, as I have all this, my first week here, to the com plaints of all men that complain, you would notice that all the complainants point at the White House. Some of these complaints are serious; some of them are only amusing. They say that that man" plays politics; they say that he doesn't. They say that he plays poll itics well; they say that he plays poll itics badly. They say that he sacri- fees public service to the interests of his party; they say that he doesn't. They say that he interfered in Ohio and Philadelphia. and that he thus helped to defeat the Republican bosses and rings in those places. They say that he should have done this in other States They say that he rides over the Constitution as he does over a fence, with courage and joy. A one time civil service reformer, they say that he violates civil service laws and principles at hIs least convenience. He defies the Senate, they say; yet they will tell you that he deals too much with it. He interferes in everything, they say; not only in the politics of States, but in the politics of the world; and he interferes in great private bus inesses. They call him a dangerous man." Maybe he is. I have seen him do things in States that l could not understand; I have heard of his doing things since I have been here that pug zied me. We must ask about these things. We shall have to ask to un- derstand the basis of all these com plaints,-later. We must know the man well, see what he does, and how. and why. and, most important of all for whom he does them. For, our fun damental question, you remember is: What do they represent, these our rep- res ssntatives? And we want to know whether "our" President is ours. But find 1t wise in such investigations as this to begin with the A-B-C. and, for a beginning. think 1t sufficient to have established to my complete satisfaction, ana, I trust. to yours, this fact:
 The President is the President The odore Roosevelt Is no hgurehead. He no mans man He maybe A boss himself: they say he Is more than Pres ident And that Is a very interesting charge. But at least he is the Presi- dent
 That's certain, isn't it?' I ask every body everywhere in Washington, and one mans quick answer seemed to ex press the conclusion of all:
 B well. you can bet your life he's the President"
 To that. extent, then. the constitu- ton Is intact; the description of the national government as it was written by the Fathers is correct as to the Ex eoutive. Nothing new or wondereful about that? Perhaps not, but If you had spent as many months as l have in States where I never had to see the Governor you would understand what 1t meant to me to have to make my first formal call in Washington on the President of the United States.
 Y wasn't very important. that first interview. I explained that had come 10 Washington. not as a correspondent for news but as a citizen seeking to understand the news and the Govern ment. And I asked him whether l had right to kpow and to make that knowledge yours. He said I had.
 You have right to know every thing you want to know-eVerything,"