Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1907-10-26

/ nouncement. in way somewhat cryp-
tic to, the popular intelligence. but suf-
| ficiently significant to the minds of
the experienced politicians to give them
warning of what they would better do
| if they do not want to get hurt. If
| thereafter the politicians display eth
er obtuseness or perversity, the presi-
dent then calls to his side the cuckoos
of out-oftown newspapers and through
, them inaugurates a campaign of educa-
ton that may be either nation wide or
confined to those sections of the coun-
. try where he has reason to believe the
people should be informed of the in
disposition OF their chosen representa-
tives at Washington to bend willingly
to the executive purpose. The best il
Illustration of the employment of this
method that comes to mind is found in
! in his propaganda of the Taft presi-
dental boom. 1t has been more than
year since through his Washington
newspaper cuckoo-the same being
none other than the contrite writer Of
these lines-Mr. Roosevelt began pub
licly to let the world know tnat he de-
sired his able secretary of war to sue
coed him in the White House. Faith
fully his desire in this matter was pro-
mulgated in a Washington newspaper
50 that every member of congress who
ran might read. In droves they ran
when they did read-straight To the
White House. There went Foraker
almost bursting with suppressed wrath.
Also followed Foraker's amiable COL
Loon Ii, ...I
to razor edge. Precious little satisfac-
ton did either of them get on the main
point, for the good and sufficient rea-
son that it is the prerogative of the
executive to envelop himself in vast,
impenetrable silence when he so wishes
on any topic under the sun. "Ha, Ha,"
nervously and with affected merriment
chortled Senators Foraker and Dick
when they had visited the Sphinx. AN
other newspaper lie nailed" Just the
same Messrs. Foraker and Dick pro-
/ ceeded to get very busy in Ohio, lest
the cuckoo might not have lied. They
are busy yet. and as the summer soils
tice approached, their BUSINESS in
creased. until now they are about the
busiest statemen on this hemisphere.
Likewise a varied assortment of news
| paper cuCkOos. for the presidential pre-
rogative extends to them as TO all
( humber folk. In the instance of Taft,
it suited the executive purpose best
/ To plant the seeds in the congressional
mind first, and so it fell out that the
! out -of-town cuckoos either kept dis
creetly silent on the succession ques-
| ton or proceeded vigorously To knock
the suggestion that Judge Taft had
been elected and anointcd. As to why
the president chose to impress first the
, congressional mind with his wish to
pass the succession on to Taft, that
furnishes another interesting index to
his character as sagacious press
I gent. 1t was the skirmiSh fire in his
line of battle to develop the location
and strength of the enemy-"the other
fellow" 1t brought some of the enemy
out of the brush and drove others
scurrying to the cover of stumps and
dead logs. But he marked them as they
moved Within a few weeks he knew
who and where the enemy was. and he
proceeded accordingly to deal with him.
He waited six months. or from May to
October. before he set his out-of-town
cuckOos TO work openly on the Taft
boom. Then in a jiffy the whole broad
continent heard its reverberations.-J.
]. Dickinson. in Harper's Weekly.