The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-05-18
Special Correspondence o
Mirror.

1t positively is astounding to people
here in Washington who know
President Roosevelt, at short range
to read about his popularity in
the country at large, and the fur
ther away the more popular he
seems to be. There must be some
thing in that saying that "dls-
tance lends enchanment to the
view. t" The closer you get to the
man the less you will like him, for
I do not know of one lovable trait
he possesses, although he catches
many men by his impulsive ways
of doing things. He impulsiyely
tells one man that he viii do what
is wanted of him, but the minute
the man s back is turned, and the
man who does rot want the thing
done gets his ear, he just as i'm
pulsively goes back on what he said
TO the other man, and tells the
second man that it shall be as he
wishes. Thus, he is all things to all
men and nothing very long.
He has made many ograndstand
plays about doing things that the
people wanted, but name one thing
he has done or advocated that has
been of any practical benefit to
the people, and / will name you a
number that he has advocated and
done that have been or would have
been q detl'iment to the interest OF
the people. What good, so far, has
the railroad rate bill been to the
consumers and shippers of the coun-
try7
Every suit that has been brought
against the combinations or the rail
roads, have been brought through
the Elkins law or the Sherman
antitrust law, two. laws that were
on the statute books before the
enactment of the railroad rate law
and simply never had been enforc-
ed.
The people of this country have
got the idea INTO their heads, that
Mr.. Roosevelt is after the rich, the
predatory lfch, and that he is Civ
ing them taste of the big stick.
Well, he is not hurting them so
bad as he is the people who are de-
pendent on the growth Of the rail
roads and their expansion and their
ability to haul the crops to mar
llet. Mr.. Roosevelt did not hesitate
to take the money of the predatory
rich, during the last presidential
campaign. when he was cheek by
jowl with the whole bunch of them
and hobnobbing with them as to
the best way to win the election.
After the election, however, he
turns on them and, in order to
make a grandstand play, he asserts
that he fs going to do things to
them which scares capital into hid
ing and the railroads cannot borrow
any money to make extensions or
build new lines that are needed
to haul the commerce of the coun-
try. -N9~l
Regulation and control of rail
roads Is all right. II is dcmocfatic
policy and democratic doctrine
stolen by u republican adm;uistra-
ton to make it popular, and its
popularity today is based on policies
doctrines and ideas stolen from
the democratic platform. The demo-
erqtic platform, however, never adj
vocated confiscation of property,
or tried to WELD the big stick to
scare capital off the face of the
earth. That is what Roosevelt has
done in order to create a little
cheap popularity.
You can take my word for it..
the veneer will be washed off this
political tindeity before his term
expires and the people will know
him as do the correspondents in
Washington and the members of
Congress. He has not a dozen
friends i'll Congress, on either side
of the political fence, but they are
afraid to say their soul is their own
on account or the patronage stick
he. wields. They, also, are playing
the political game and they dare not
express their honest opinions. If
they had the courage TO do so, they
would be astounded TO know that
four-fifths of the men to whom
they express them would agree with
them, and thus the so-called popu-
larlty of the President would van
ish like thin smoke. 1t is this
sc,vile sycophancy Of the members
Of Congress that maintains the
popularity of the President out in
the country, added to the servility
of the daily press of the country
in giving circulation to all the ideas
and schemes Matched in the White
House. Whenever he wants to head
off some one or some thing that
interferes with his plans; whenever
be wants to get to the people with
q grandstand play, he sends down
for bunch of newspaper CORES
pohdants for the papers that slob-
ber on him and has them up 10 the