Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-07-11
is EXPERT TRIMMER
PRESIDENT AT HONS ON BOTH
SIDES OF A QUESTION.
Caught In Trap Through His lmpetu-
osity and U~nfsirness, He Has
Little Trouble in Coming
Up Smiling"

On the subject of Gov. Hughes
vetoes, the New York Post editorially
says: I'm 1888 Mr.. Cleveland killed
the bill reducing the fare on the ele-
waited roads from ten to five cents.
Public feeling a nearly as high
against Jay Gould and Cyrus Field at
that time as it has of late against the
managers of our railroads"
This statement recalls n of the
most remarkable incidents in the
career of President Roosevelt, who
was the author end champion Of the
bill referred to, and who thus early
exhibited that mysterious agility
which always enables him to get on
both sides of a ~question-to dive deep
er, and come out dryer, than any
other political duck that eVer quacked
An account of this affair will be
found in Will M. Clements work.
Roosevelt, the American" at page 81,
where it appears that soon after the
beginning Of the session of the New
York legislature of 1888, Mr.. Roose'
welt, who was then a member of the
assembly, introduced a bill to require
the New York elevated railroad COM
panies to reduce their fares from ten
to five cents. Mr.. Roosevelt voted for
this bill, and it passed the legislature,
but was vetoed by Gov. Cleveland on
the ground that it vas in violation of
a contract between the state and the
railroads, expressed in the charter
granted by the state. When the bill
went back to the assembly, it which 1t
originated, a motion was made to re-
consider it and pass it over the gov.
errors veto. Mr.. Roosevelt then
doubled on his track, rs he has so
often done since. He made a speech
in which he lodged the question OF
the authorship of the bill, but said:
Il have to say with shame, | did
rot act as | think l ought to have
acted. l voted contrary to what l
thought to be honestly right. | have
to confess that l weakly yielded, part
ly to a vindictive feeling toward the
internal thieves who have that rail-
road in charge, and partly to the pop
ular voice of New York"
This speech affords a key to the
whole character Of the man. MI.
Roosevelt then, as now, jumps at corr
illusions and his mind is sWayed by
his feelings and instead Of giving fair
and just consideration to the most
important matters he goes Off half
| cooked and then repents at leisure for
the mistakes he makes. Mr.. Roose-
welt had probably been warned by
some member of the judiciary commit,
tee that his bill was unconstitutional;
he could have discovered it himself If
he had taken the trouble to even read
the charter of the company he was
bent on amending. But no! Such an
old fogy notion as preventing or de-
feating legislation because it is I'M
| constitutional has but little weight
with our impetuous and strenuous
president. His motto is to "do things
and create the feeling in the public
mind that those who urge that every
thing be done decently and in order
are opposed to the people.
Often MI. Roosevelt gets caught in
the trap Of his own creation, as he did
with the bill for rate reduction, and
then has to abjectly crawl into the
hole and pull the hole in after him
But to use one of his own SMILES
from prize ring slang he comes UP
smiling and seizes the next oppor
tunity for appearing as the great re
former of the age. Chancellor Day, Of
Syracuse university, in his late bacca
laureate sermon, summed up Mr.
R~oosevelt's mistakes when he said:
1.-THE constitution is a mere elastic
band to hold the states in compact al
the adjusting will of the chief execu
tive. Judges are rebuked; the In
volatility of the courts is trampled
under foot in the name of the people
Judges appointed by the president are
sitting upon cases in which he al
ready has passed his opinion. While
judges and juries are waiting to rem
der decisions, but before they a dc
so, commissioners try the same case
in the absence of the defendants anG
send forth their verdict to the people
as a prejudgment, and the newspapers
are the court of final resort. Message:
are sent to congress branding men al
guilty before they are put on trial
Other men are published to the coun
try by executive authority as 'unde
slrable citizens when they are abou
to be tried for their lives, and wheI
until now they would have had thu
presumption of innocence, whatever
the indictment, until found guilty. TIT
laws are taken out Of the hands o
congress and the legislatures and pu
into the hands Of commissions, sub
iect to executive appointment ant
executive pleasure"
All the tariff protected trusts ant