The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-02
THE PRESIDENT.

The first dinner of the season Of dinners held by the New Haven Eco homie Club Thursday evening was the most notable that has been held by that organization in point of numbers and sustained interest. The topic of the evening, which turned upon President lRoosevelt's attitude towards capital, was entirely accidental in its signifi- canoe, it having been selected before the fall in the price of securities and the consequent tightness of money. Nor did the evening lose in interest because Iof the complete absence of a partisan spirit. The speaker who criticised Mr. Roosevelt most severely voted for him three years ago, while another of the speakers who found much to commend in the Presidents policies voted the opposing ticket No admission was made by the remaining two speakers of their partisan afr1liation.
 Obviously the interest of the even- ing centered in the determination of MT. Roosevelt's responsibility, if any, for the prevailing conditions. No at- tempt could have been made nor was an attempt made by the officials of the club to select men known to be divided along enthusiastic lines in their sup port of or opposition to the Roosevelt policies. It was deemed sufficient that they should be personally representa- tive of an earnest spirit of inquiry The Fundamental object in life of the Economic Club is to promote the freest and fullest possible discussion of mat ters in which the general public has vital concern. Of all the cities in the country no one is more tenacious of it's rights of free speech than New Haven, An educational center, where the truth is sought by the dispassionate study of facts as they present themselves and not as they are presented by men in- terested selfishly in given outcome, 1t would be absurd to put the lid on free discussion. Coihcident with the meeting of the Economic Club, for eX- ample, came the publication of a sym posium in the columns of the Hartford Times in which the professors of the department of Yale University devot- ed to the study of political economy were found not to be in agreement as to the causes which have provoked the prevailing distress and discomfort. It is in fact worth noting that the pro- fessors divided among themselves very much as the speakers at the banquet did. Ct~
 Of the club speakers, John w. AL ling boldly held President Roosevelt responsible for the flight of confidence. He attributed to him qualities of mind which are inconsistent with either a judicial or practical view of official re- responsibilities He traced the cause of the season of discomfort to the Presi- dents uninterrupted dancing on the nerves of the investing public and de- nied that there were causes which could not have been taken care of, as they have been before, in the usual washing out processes. He allowed the Presidents honesty of purpose and sincerity of motive, but claimed that without larger intellectual equipment to reinforce those otherwise admirable traits of character their violent exer- else makes for serious trouble. Henry Clews, the banker, gave MT. Roosevelt and higher standard of commercial honor. He admitted that the conse. Quences of his policy were felt in in nocent places but contended that 1T the history of human endeavor thu lesson is taught that all substantial progress is effected at the sacrifice O innocent interests. His one criticism O. the President was confined to hi ''volubility," which is the basis of MT filings stinging criticism. John c Agar of New York made a reflectiv, analysis of the Presidents policies and, while giving him full credit fo having administered to the countr, just the tonic it needed to anticipat more fearful distress and to revive more intelligent interest in conserva tive business habits, declared that tn Presidents scheme for enlarging fed eral powers at the expense of Stat rights is fundamentally wrong; that 1t should secure the assent of con gress and of the people, the necessar
 steps would be taken towards the es tablishment of different form of gov
 ment than we now have, Edward E
 Whitney of New York, native of Ne
 Haven, spoke from a personal know
 edge of MT Roosevelt, for whom h
 did not vote but for whose high pel
 sonal character he has great admire
 ton.
 The uncertain verdict tacitly Ter
 deged at the dinner of the Economi