New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-10-06
TRUE CONSERVATISM.

President Roosevelt has often been pictured
bv his opponents as an impulsive and head
strong political leader, temperamentally rest
less and dangerously radical More than once
the so-called conservative interests have taken
alarm, or professed to take alarm. at MS Ell
forts to curb the power Of corporations and 10
secure efficient regulation of the agencies which
control interstate transportation and engage In
interstate commerce. But Mr.. Roosevelts pro-
gramme has been simple and an open one. He
has labored persistently to emphasize the SOW
ereignty of the people and to employ that SOW
ereignty as a means Of protecting one lndl-
vidual from the aggressions OF other 1ndlVld-
uals and the public as a whole from the ag-
gressions of fictitious corporate individuals win
enormous resources. Misunderstanding OF this
programme have combined with natural dread
of innovation % excite the dtstrust Of elements
welded to the old order of laissez faire IN bust
ness and production, and the President has
been subjected now and then 10 bitter criticism
from these elements as a disturber Of old ideas
and leveller of old landmarks.
But time brings with It cooler Judgment and
q better perspective AT Harrisburg on Thurs
day President Roosevelt could recall without
feeling these overhasty judgments and point
with we'll earned satisfaction to the emptiness
of the fears conjured up by the alarmist oppo-
nents Of his policies He could say with en-
tire truth to his Pennsylvania audience:
Events have moved fast during the last five
years. and 1t IS curious to look back at tho OK
treme bitterness which not merely the spokes-
men and representatives of organized wealth
but many most excellent conservative people
then felt as to the action OF Mr. Knox and or
the administration. Many Of the greatest IMAM
ciers of this country were certain that Mr..
Knoxs Northern Securities suit, II won, would
plunge US into the worst panic we had ever seen.
They denounced as Indictment to anarchy as an
apology for socialism, the advocacy Of policies
that either have now become law or are in fair
way Of becoming lawI and yet these same poll
cies, so far from representing either anarchy or
socialism. were In reality the anudotes to an
archy, the antidotes to socialism
Time has, IN fact, shown President Roose-
Welt to be a truer conservative than any Of
his critics. His policy has been In the highest
sense curative corrective and constructive,
while theirs, by standing pat" on abuses and
denying either the need or the possibility Of
remedies, simply invited an eventual clash with
the forces of radiealism and revolution. 1t is
only five years since Wall Street was agitated
and unnerved by the institution Of the North
ern Securities suit Yet the country has seen
every anxious forecast OF its consequences re-
futed and dismissed from the minds even Of
those who then honestly believed that 1t would
prove disastrous. Only a year ago the whole
railroad world was supposed to be In a panic
over the prospect of the passage of rate regu-
We're statesmen who argued with fervor that
our whole democratic fabric would fall to pieces
If tho Hepburn act passed or If 1t passed with
out such and such amendments To-day the
country wonders how the rate regulation Ques-
ton could have caused such an excitement for
SO far as both the railroads and the public are
concerned no single alarmist prediction has
been realized in the slightest particular. AS q
matter of fact, as President Roosevelt put it
at Harrisburg, the hearty acceptance by the
country of the policy of rate regulation en-
bodied in the Hepburn law has put railroading
on q securer and more desirable basis than be-
fore. in that it has ended "all necessity for
seriously considering such q project as the
government ownership Of railroads"
Instead Of being feared and criticised as
radical and an enemy of the country's corpora
ton and business interests, President Roosevelt
is entitled TO recognition as the wise and prac-
teal CONSERVATION of those interests, bent only
on reconciling their welfare with the rights and
welfare Of the general public.