The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-02-21
Current Comment
s1DrNT1AI, Opposition

pREsIDENTIAL Opposition,
Kansas CITY Journal.
II Is not incompatible with hol''o'
admiration for a man that. on cerlaih
propositions OF logic or Judgment we
sometimes differ from him. Indeed ~
requires sturdy independence VI
thought to put a proper value on one
with whom we cannot always agree
We place little dependence In the n'en-
tai capacity OF the namby panDS III
dividual who always agrees WIN u'
without exercising any reasoning rae
ultv of his own. Great minds stand
alone. sometimes right and sometimes
wrong. but always assertiVely lhui-
vidual Small minds follow olnuIS
Thus those hero worshiping individuals
who shut their eyes and stuopoli'S
assert that President Roosevelt is m
fallible are merely perpetuatlng inc
monarchical dogma that the king can
do no wrong.
In a Washington dispatch TO the
Journal of yesterday morning 1t was
stated that President Roosevelt Is
really concerned over the loss or news
paper support 1t is surprising that
the President should imagine that
simply because some newspapers nave
the temerity to hold opinions dli1erent
from his own that he Is losing their
support" The newspapers are not
opposing him, but helping him py
tightening the reins when the admins
tratiVe pace becomes too hot. III IL
were not for his friends to warn ana
counsel caution. President Roosevelt
might go TO disastrous extremes In MS
honest zeal The Senate has also stood
upon it's prerogatiVes I'm the matter or
railroad legislation and has refused 10
be Iod into hasty action in reference to
the Santo Domingo, Panama canal,
Statehood ard Philippine tariff ques-
tions,
President Roosevelt is undeniably a
man who does things" but his very
| InapuIsiveness needs the balance of a
restraint lie sometimes gets MS
| theories Of the administrative and leg
| islative departments of the Govern
ment q little mixed The matter OF the
Panama canal shows two very admir-
! able qualities In the President. but
both arc at this time prejudicial TO the
| interests OF the country President
| Roosevelt chose to advance MIR. Jait
from the Philippine commission TO
Cabinet portfolio. This was all right,
| but when the great enterprise OF
building the Panama canal came up IL
| was too big a thing for him to handle.
Taft had already hired Shonts and
| some others OF no larger business capa-
city Now the President undertook to
stand by his friends" 1t so hap
pened that these friends TAFT,
| Shonts, ct al.-developed an abnormal
faculty for getting into trouble. 1t was
a close corporation. with the President
vainly trying to accomplish the stu
| pendous work of building the canal
| with this additional handicap, The
Presidents policy apparently is TO
| stick to his friends right or wrong.
| This is very pretty sentiment, but 1t
| is not craftsmanship.
1t does rot detract any from Presi-
dent Roosevelt's greatness that he has
| opposition In fact, he would be a
very small conqueror who fought a
bloodless battle. But there is no op-
position among the stanch newspapers
| that supported the President in the last
| campaign. Friendly warnings and
| occasional criticisms cannot be con-
strued as opposition. The President
has made mistakes but so have all the
great Presidents Of this Nation,