The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-04-16
ANABSURD DELUSl0N
IOHN TEMPLE GRAVES AND THE
THIRD TERM BOOMERS
ARE ON A FALSE TRAIL
What Has President Roosevelt Done
That He Should Be Endorsed by the
People of the Southern States Calls
AZ "a Foolish Suggestion.s

The artitb following is an editorial
clipped from the New Orleans States OF
April II: just as we expected would be
the case. the third term boomers have
seized greedily upon the foolish sugges-
ton OF Mr.. John Temple Graves that
Mr.. Bryan should place Mr.. Roosevelt's
name before the National Democratic
Convention as the standard-bearer OF
the Democracy. These boomers above
mentioned are urging the President to
become a candidate upon the mistaken
assumption that Mr.. Graves represents
a widespread sentiment throughout the
South and that the candidacy of Mr..
Roosevelt would swing a number OF
Democratic States into the Republican
column.
This is one of those innocent delft
sions which enthusias site theorists fire.
quently fall into without stopping to ex-
anime the facts and without familiarity
with the situation. Mr.. Graves is
Southern man and he advocates the
nomination of Mr. Roosevelt by the
Democrats Given this as fact the
theorists then proceed to assume that
MIR. Graves is the South and therefore
the people of the South will support Mr..
Roosevelt's candidacy. Nothing could
be further from the truth than such an
assumption Mr.. Graves is only one
among several millions OF Southern vot-
ers. He has right to speak for HIM
self, and to vote for Roosevelt for Pres
ident if he should so desire. Nobody III
the South challenges that right nor do
they care how Mr. Graves may vote Or
what his opinions may be upon the sub
ject
He himself was careful to state, in
making the suggestion, that he was
speaking for himself alone and urging
policy which seemed to him proper
! In doing this he was not speaking tor
the South nor was he in any manner
giving expression to Southern senti-
ment. There are certain things which
the President has done which the peo-
! pie honestly and heartily approve. There
are certain traits which he possesses
| which tey admire. But people do not
| make Presidents of every man who does
an act now and then which excites their
admiration; nor will the South flock
over to the support of Mr.. Roosevelt
merely because he has not been alto
gether wrong on every public question.
The things that Mr.. Roosevelt has
done that have attracted the greatest ad-
miration on the part of the people have
largely been those things which Mr..
BRYAN and successive Democratic plat
forms have demanded. Many of the
more fundamentally important things
that the Democracy has demanded are
squarely opposed by him; such, for m
stance as his firtations with corpora
ton magnates while protesting desire
to put them in jail; his talk about tariff
revision and his lineup with the stand
patters; his alleged opposition to the
trusts and his ardent advocacy of pro
tective tariff which is the mother o.
trusts; his dangerous views on centrall
zation of power in the general govern
ment; his yacillations and terg1versa
tons with regard to the negro question
ION these and various other question
he takes a position which the Democ
racy of the South can not endorse unde
any circumstances.
| Therefore the gushing third tern
, boomers are merely wasting their tim
when they make plans based upon tn
THEORY that Mr.. Graves suggestion fla
behind it any appreciable sentiment j
the South 1t may shock them to hea
lit, but the fact is that Mr. Roosevelt, n
matter what may be the ticket or tn
platform upon which he would rut
would poll comparatively no more vote
lin the South than he polled in 1904. Th
lpeople of the South are governed b
tprinciple and not expediency III the cas-
ing of their votes, and as MIR. Rooseve
stands in politics for everything tt
South is opposed to, save the very fe
! things. he has stolen from the DEM
cratic platform, they will not vote f
him, whatever the opinion of NJ
Graves may be as to what they oug
to do
They think for themselves and vo
their own convictions, and these conyi
tons can not be changed by the ia
9 THAT prominent candidate may ha
jumped his party on one Or two prop
:. Isitions and may appeal for their su
" port on that ground. The most that c
Ibe said is that Mr. Roosevelt is not mo