The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-30
Presidents Intentions Have Not
Changed Since His Orig
inal Declaration.
GossIPs RESPONSIBLE
FOR RECENT RUMORs
House Sits Down on Babcock for
His Part in Insurgent :
Movement.
Ry w. w. Jermane.

BY w. w. Jermane.
Washington, Jan. 80. - President
Roosevelt 8 friends are amused at the
unwillingness of the country, or of GER
tain men in it, to accept at It's face
value his statement that he will not be
q candidate for the presidency in 1908.
at least a dozen times sin since e'' It was
originally made, on the night of the
election, in 1904, and it is quite posi-
bic that he will be compelled to repeat
it yet other times. The performance,
however, is rather monotonous to the
president, and he can hardly be blamed
for manifesting some degree of impa-
thence when, at this late day, he is
asked whether the statement is to
stand.
The matter was revived by the al
legged interview had with Jacob Riis in
Toledo, Ohio. Riis is the president IS
personal friend, and naturally when he
was reported to have said that the
president ought to be nominated again,
and probably would be, folks wanted
to know whether the statement was
inspired. It was disclosed, of course,
that Riis had made no such statement,
but just the same the political gossips
began to buzz again, and the president
was asked by dozens of them whether
Riis was talking by the card.
Gossips Have Motive.
Some Of these gossips have a motive,
unfriendly to the president in thus try
ing to keep the question Of 1908 alive,
and it is amusing to notice how they
sometimes work their game.
A certain congressman from Indiana
yesterday called on the president to ask
him whether Riis had talked with au-
thority. The president manifested a
good deal OF Impotence, and replied
that he had made his original state
peated it number of times since then.
AS for the present rumor, he didn It
care to dignity it by denial. He would
not say anything further about it.
/ The congressman told about this in
terview after he had reached the CAPT
toll, and it wasn't long until story
was going the rounds of the corridors
and cloakrooms to the effect that the
president had told a caller that day
terview, and the construction put upon
this statement was that he would be a
candidate in 1908.
The situation here described is due
to the fact that the American public
hardly know what to make of man
who. is willing to pass up the presidency
when he can have it again if he will
take it. Roosevelt has done this about
1908, and yet the politicians have not
ceased trying to read between the lines
of his statement and see whether there
sn't something to be found by such
reading that would contradict the OBJ
vious meaning. J. -. -. 49,.
Interpreters Err.
American politics has always pursued
such a devious path, and public men,
no matter how pure their private NOR
ais, have been so completely the crea-
lures Of this insincere system, that the
entire public has been made to believe
that no public statement, like that of
Roosevelt IS, was to be taken at its
face value. There are men in politics
who spend most Of their time trying to
interpret the language Of public men
into everyday speech. This has come
to these men to fird out Just what pub
lie men have meant when they have
said certain things. These gentlemen
in the present instance have erred.
They have applied their usual rules of
interpretation, Of course, but those
rules, having been made to fit state
ments purposely intended to deceive
the public, cannot work anything out
Sof the Roosevelt statement. The at
tempt to have them do so has caused
the president good deal of annoy
ance, has furnished the, anti administra-
tion press with something to say from
time to time, and has tended to con-
fuse the public mind to certain ex'
tent.
President Is Emphatic.
his friends to know that he is stand,
is concerned, and that he will continue
to do SO. He doesn It want his friends
misled by anything they may see in the
public prints or hear elsewhere. He
has taken the public fully and freely
into his confidence, and therefore he
cannot be blamed for insisting that the
public believe him. If it were his de
sign to change his mind, he would tel
the country about it before he ha6
talked it privately. Those who know
him, ought to realize that he wouldn Y
approach as important a question as
that relating to 1908 thru the round
with Jacob Riis, or with anybody else
Whatever he has to tell the country
he will tell himself, directly and with
out intermediary Of any kind.
Representative Babcoek of Wiscon
! sin, the chief insurgent on statehood
lis the chairman of the house committee
on the District of Columbia, and the
people OF this city are finding out thai
: his insurgency is costing them rather
dear. There have BEEN two district
days in the house since the insurgeni
movement began, and on each Of then
Babcock failed miserably with all OF
his Washington bills. The house sal
down on him by way Of rebuke. Sale
man close to the speaker:
Babcock can't come here PLAYING
good Lord and good devil. He cant
play DR.. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde at the
same hour. When he poses as a leader
of insurgent forces, he. is in the atti
tude of assaulting the house organiza
ton; when hescomes in here asking fa
vorable consideration for certain Dis
trict of Columbia bills, he is in the
attitude of seeking to cooperate with
that organization. Now, he can't dc
this sort Of thing, and 50 we proceeded
to let him know about it.
OF course, all proper District Of Co
lllmbia bills will in time be considered
and passed. but the house felt that il
couldn't afford to let slip the oppor
tlrnity to administer a rebuke. Mean
while. Washington is nervous over the
legislative outlook