The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1906-12-20
UNFRIENDLY Is
THIS ESTIMATE
But Roosevelt Does Not Prove
Up Strong
Why Small People Can Not Appre-
ciate His Strength Of Re-
sistance.
GODS GOOD TO THE PRESIDENT

Washington. Dec. 20.--The gods
are good to the president. They turn
all things and all people to his favor.
They even calm the bysteria of the
imperfect and lure the sagacious on
with biue-eyed smiles. He has the
happy art. this chieftian Tor Is 1t
glft?) of dfvinlng the peoples will,
even before the country Is quite sure
OF its own conclusions. There Is a
psychic something about him which
enables him TO know the workings
of the great popular mind before the
aspirations seething in 1t have found
tongue. He alone walks In the sun.
and leaves the politicians cropping On
the gloom of yester night. He is
close TO the great heart
A year ago when the Fifty-ninth
congress came in the thoughts of the
nations legislators were torn with
doubt There was rebellion. open
and concealed, against this Masterful
Man. The big majority in the house
was too big, and some OF 1t thought
II would tell the president the time
of day. The senate. too, had its fond
way OF administering corrections.
But how he overcame the opposition
he and circumstances. They who
had come TO curse remained TO pray,
all except a brace of the robustious.
And now, at is as you please. sir. &"
and what is your wish, Mr.. Presi-
dent?"
There has been an election. you
see. and the many have upheld the
one. Wherever the presidents in
huence was put forth In a state down
went the candidate whom he opposed
whether OF his own party or the
other. The obtusest congressman can
read such sign as that. And one
by one the old warehouses; drop TO the
rear with their ancient loads OF by
gone policies.
A senator who held out long in
opposition last session, and who
made a great point OF criticising the
president for his interference. for
his domination OF congress" said to
me: "Of course one has to criticise
that sort of thing: but after all, the
president does just what | did when
was governor OF my state. | used
to tell the members OF .he legisla-
ture what wanted, and | usually
carried my point" The senator
might have added that as governor
he had a more cajoleful way with
the legislators than the president has
with congressman. The president Is
a man-driver and a wielder of sledge
hammers. But the senator's confess
sion Is Illuminating. II always make
a difference whose OK Is gored. Pres
ident Roosevelt's predecessor did not
gore oxen. lie was soothful. Presi-
dent Mckinley was happiest in pla-
eating. He liked to please everybody
President Roosevelt bends his ener.
gies 20 the successful issue OF his
own policies. lie cares not who is
displeased so long as he .'has the
country with him." He knows he
has II.
Has Great Resistance.
The pressure OF influence upon a
president Is tremendous and unceas-
Ing. The force and volumes OF Il
can probably never be realized by the
general public. Whatever a presi-
dent does has to be done against
pressure. President Roosevelt has
an enormous capacity for resistance
He enjoys resistance. even when he
becomes impatient with the resisters
It's the swing and flow of his own
capacity that he likes to feel. He has
a boys ardur. an actors love for tho
center OF the stage. and he has an
unrivalled genius for getting at the
heart and the thought of the great
public. His critics testify to this.
They say: at dosn't matter what
Roosevelt says or does, the public will
believe him and sustain him" Put Il
in another way, and you have 1t. He
knows what the public wants That
is because he touches life on so many
sides. He Is informed OF the thought
of the world in this present time.
Most Of our men In political life are
not so informed. They do not dare
to cross the three-mile limit. 1t Is
his pleasure to do so. They subsist
chiefly on the records of their party;
he, always a partisan, knows that
the world moves and that old policies
are often Hl-fitted to these pines.
Men who are governed by their pre1u-
dices do not guide him. But he Will
use them.
Most presidents have seen states.
President Roosevelt sees the nation.
State sovereignty does not fit in with
his ideals. This fact may horrify
many worthy minds, but the presi-
dent Is not alone in his views It
would surprise us all II We could
POLL an opinion of the voters on the
subject OF the states and their prob
able future relation to the federal
government, say fifty years hence.
Modern communication devours state