The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-27
SOME POLITICAL HYsrERIA.


 should know better. Congressman Hale of Tennessee recently declared that it would be a national calamity to retire MT. Roosevelt from the Presidency at | this time. when the country needs him
 to finish the Panama Canal, and the
 mighty reforms and measures for for even The Kansas City Journal.
 which cannot agree with its brother Republican from Tennessee. and thus
 comments on his hysterical utterance: ] Such extravasant utterances as this l would be enough to discourage the most resolute optimist as to the ad- | vancing intelligence of the country and ] the capacity of the nation for free ] government. were 1t not obvious that they are made as rule with interior | motives with a lively sense of favors to come" on the part of the politicians 1 who utter them. It Is palpable ab-
 surdity to say that any man, no mat 1 ter how good or great, is indispensable to the well-being of the country, much | less that his withdrawal from public 1 life could materially affect existing conditions and operate as national
 calamity. On the contrary, 1t is not | too much to say that If every man in American public life today were struck | down with one blow, no material con | sequences would follow so far as the
 life of the republic or the trend of na- l tionai affairs is concerned. T Now. we really think that The Jour nal itself is somewhat extravagant In its comments. and goes too far in the | opposite direction. We cannot admit that if every man in American public | life today were struck down with one blow. no material consequences would l follow, so far as the life of the repub- | lie or the trend of national affairs is concerned" In making such an Sasser- | tion as this The Journal itself is guilty of some of the hysteria which it charges against Mir. Hale. If every man in official life in these United States were removed at one blow the | inevitable and necessary result would be anarchy, at least for the time being. To say that such a condition would not be hurtful, if not actually deadly, to every department of American life is absurd The recuperative powers of the American people might enable them to recover from such a. state or eondi- tion but it would be terrible while it lasted and the fecovery slow and ex- pensive. both in money and in human life. It would be better to bear the ills we have than change to others which might be infinitely worse.
 But passing by The Journals extrav- agant language we return to the still greater extravagance of the Tennes- see Congressman. To refer to the re- moval of Roosevelt as a national ca lamity" is not even good nonsense, We citizen would sincerely regret it if Roosevelt should be removed by vio- lence, but 1t would not materially af- feet the government. When Lincoln was foully assassinated 1t was at a | time when his guiding hand was never more badly needed, but the govern ment did not go to pieces. because there were strong men in the civil and military life of the Union to hold the reins. It is true that his death was
 probably the cause of the great evil consequences to the South but the gov ernment survived even that blow.
 But MT Hale speaks only of retiring Roosevelt, by which of course he means the election of another man to  County of the Union he will find sane and sensible men, Republicans among them, who will assure him that quite number of men can be found. the election of any one of whom would be the exact reverse of a national ca lamity." Many of them, in fact. would blessing. And MT. Hale piles it on still thicker when he argues the necessity of keeping Roosevelt in power in order that he may finish the Panama Canal
 During practically the whole time he has been President he has been finish ing the canal, and if the evidence we get from various sources is worthy of credence the whole business is now in most discreditable muddle. He has meddled and blundered, advanced and retreated. blown not and cold, appoint ed and removed officials. and otherwise balled everything up till he himself doesn't know where he is att or what is3 o be the next move on the board. If MT. Hale is not a genuine idiot
 his object must be to try to work up sentiment in favor of ..eeping Roose- welt in office for an indefinite and in- determnable period, for keeping him in power till he finishes the canal can have no other meaning. They have not yet settled the plans of the work
 do not know for certain whether it is
 to be a lock or sea-level canal, and if l the bottom truth could be known we doubt if those in charge feel at all cer-
 tain that any canal will be built. Fin ish the Panama Canal"-bosh
 And MT. Hale is scarcely less absurd
 when he speaks of the mighty re- forms" Roosevelt has carried on. What
 has he done in this respect but shoot