The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-25
Mckinley Might Have Done II.

Secretary TAFT in the course of his
speech at Lexington, Ky, confirmed
the message Of a less authenticated but
perhaps equally enthusiastic exponent
OF Exaltation, the Hon. JOHN TEMPLE
GRAVES. Naturally. he did not rise TO
such attitudes of ~eloquenoe az caused
the whole surrounding air to blossom
into garlands and made sitting hens for
miles around forsske their nests. Mr..
TAFT is a diapason, not a flute. Never
thsless the plain meaning Of the decla-
ration was just the same and possibly
more accessible to the ordinary appre-
hension.
The achievement nearest to THEODORE
ROosEvKIT's heart, moro precious than
the crash Of Constitutions and the wreck
of peace, is the dissolution Of the Solid
South. He doesn't expect to do it all
at once. Modesty treads hard upon
his conquering heels, and Temperance,
wreathed in every charm of novelty, dis
tracts him for tho moment. Il will not
last and Secretary TAFT is careful to re-
frain from promises, but just now there
is reason to believe that the President
would rather add Kentucky, Tennessee
or Georgia to his bag than paralyze
another corporation or usher in a panic.
JOHN TEMPLs has told Us so to the 40
compartment of almost unearthly music.
The Secretary of War repeats il in solemn
and impressive terms.
II would be interesting, however, to
know something about the basis Of
President RoosEvELr's expectations.
There was a time when many thousands
Of serious men, the representatives of
Southern progress and rehabilitation,
looked kindly, even approvingly, upon
Republican policies as exempliied by
WILLIAM MCKINLEY. They had emerged
from the ruin wrought by the carpet
bag regime and were beginning to re-
construct a then PROSTATE prosperity.
In various parts Of the so-called solid
section the pioneers Of industry and en-
terprise had realized the importance to
them of the protective system and the
p~erpetuation of the national idea. More
ove they recognized in Mr.. MCKINLEY
the prophet Of a wholesome gospel, the
assurance of asympathetic reconciliation,
a guarantee Of their own se~lf-respect
in adopting and pursuing measures Of
cooperation. Had MCKINLEY lived to
the end Of his term the dream of a disin-
tegrated South-no less fondly cherished
in that section than at the North-would
have passed into the procession Of reali-
ties. But where is the South's temptation
now to forswear its ancient faith?
The South is nothing If not conserva-
tive. Upon its political affairs still burn
the fires of inherited ideals. In the days
Of its distress and hopelessness it has
been led astray by various pretenders
and impostors, but those days are gone
never to return. The vapors of de-
spair have been dispersed. The bright
sun of courage and assurance rides the
Southern sky. The leaders who were
attracted by WILLIAM MCKINLEY still
lead. The old, accepted institutions
have survived, the time honored stand
ards Of Anglo-Saxon civilization have
successfully defied misfortune and dis
aster. In the South as elsewhere in the
realm of human nature there are lovers
Of the strenuous and apostles of dis
order. The night riders. the lynchers,
the White Csppers still practise violence
and adore its prophet. These, how
ever, are only makers Of the hue and
cry. They no more represent the South
than the Black Hand, the Hunchakists
and the union labor "sympathizers- rep
resent the North.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT longs to dislo-
cate the Solid South. JOHN TEMPLE
GRAVES has told us 80 in sweetest song.
WILLIAM Howard TAFT has certified to
that procurement with weighty if per-
functory and languid %eloquence. But
how does the President propose to realize
his hope? In what part Of the South
will he look for his material?