The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-08
A RACKour AND A RELrrF.

nC ANSniASntc AbtkgA " 1ees~ @-"~ ter stiilings makes 1t plain to all that he is preparing to take back wa ter" as he has done on so many oc- casions before. He says in plain English that if the changes proposed by him do not ultimately meet with popular approval they will be drop ped. and that is all there Is about it' Tn other words. he practically admits that he has bIundered and that he will back down if his proposed reform does not meet with popular approval.
 This is pre-eminentiy Rooseveltian. He has habit of issuing orders and delivering ultimata without rejection and without stopping to consider what effect they will have. or really trying to ascertain whether he is right or wrong. Then. when he finds that his course IS not endorsed. and that per sistence in 1t will not add to his popularity he abandons his forward position and tries to explain out of it. That is Roosevelt exactly.
 His virtual retreat from what was an absurd and wholly indefensibie position is proving a great relief to some of his supporters. who didn't like to criticize their chief and yet couldn't follow this latest specimen of intolerance. Thus The New York Mail. one of his most loyal adherents, says:
 Though his pace be backward his gesture Is forward" What people VIII be glad to note in the matter of the Presidents second order to the Puonc though his gesture be forward his pace is backward As he says, If the slignt changes in the spelling of the 800
 ith popular approval. they will be uropt and that Is all there Is about It." For the belated concession that the American people are to nave of review on the Presidents plan to amend their official English by Execu- tive order. they will be duly lgrateful:
 They will excuse the Forward gesture" which appears in MT. Roose- veits statements that all he was trv- ing to do was "to make our spelling a little less foolish and fantastic" and proposed step is evidently made in en- tire ignorance of what the step Is. The President has come in for good deal of censure not. as he assumes, 
 norance' of the subject. but because it seemed to most Americans that he was overstepping the Executive discretion a purely individual preference upon his countryfner
 We can faintly imagine the feeling of relief with which that was writ ten. And The New York Commercial, another friendly paper. thus aliudes to what might he:
 The rssgIsa t I is InhndS still doubtful, nIa ss surprised were an actual check to the Unconscious movement to follow this somewhat rude interference with 1t Let us imagine gathering of and Interesting spectacle of the un~ folding of the bud of night-blooming cereus. Only leave the plant alone; time, and pretty close to the schedule. But once begin coaxing it or poking or prodding It. putting mustard plas- ters at its roots and kerosene heaters to its stems and leaves, and you forh- with slacken the pace of the blooming ---perhaps discourage 1t altogether for the time being. It may easily be that bear ssr fingeringMevsn rt that t of f a Presi- dent of the United States And one can easily imagine the twenty-sixth incumbent of that office impatiently 
 potato-patch to see how fast the tu- bers are forming
 That is not very complimentary to Roosevelt. but 1t is just. Then The Kansas City Journal. another of his loyal supporters. thus refers to his letter to stilIings:'
 The letter of explanation Is a con- Hesslon of disappointment that his spelling reform idea was not a glo- rious success. The president is on the defensive and hastens to assume an attitude of retreat if he finds such a course necessary. The reason is oO- that he had been converted to simpii- fled spelling was commented upon by nearly every important newspaper In this country. and Europe, 1t has been publications have agreed with him, | while most of them. irrespective of | politics. have secuted the whole mat l ter as ridiculous and impossible. No ded the presidents sensibilities and | emphasized the American peoples rude l indpendence of grotesque precedent. no matter how exalted.
 We might quote much more on tho same lines, but we have given enough to show two things very plainly One is that Roosevelt sees that he blun. dered and Is preparing to retreat. and the other is that his most faithful ad- herents are immensely relieved to find that he is getting ready to abandon his position and relieve them of the necessity of crlticising him. And the whole business is not creditable to a President.