The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-03-20
THIRD TERM ENEMIES.

There seems to he in existence in
this country vicious conspiracy
against The integrity of President Thco-
dorc Roosevelt 1T is in the effort to
force upon him or TO induce him to ac-
cent the nomination for third term.
The third-term leagucrs, the men who
write personal letters Of inquiry to the
President concerning his attitude in the
matter, the legislators who take straw
votes to decide the question, the men
who individually do their own private
campaigning in behalf of the third
term idca--aIl these are doing Mr.. Roos"
evelt a gross injury. Not only arc they
attempting 10 force him to disregard
principle, but they are assuming before
the Nation that the President is either
untruthful, or lacks the courage to abide
by his own determination. Considering
themselves to be the friends of the
Chief Executive, these people are really
playing the part of eDmity. They have
no right to act the assumption that
Mr.. Roosevelt places no value upon his
own words. They are forcing the Pres
ident upon the attention of the country,
attitude whose falseness they cannot
but recognize, if they gave proper
thought to the subject.
As illustrating the utter absurdity of
the work of these enthusiasts, the ac
tion of number of travelling men a
few days ago is expressive. \ body Of
them had gathered at a hotel in Phil
adelphia, and during the course Of their
conversation it was demonstrated that
between them all they had travelled
through every State in the Union. They
all agreed that their experience had
been that, regardless of politics, the
masses of the people were in favor Of
the candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt
for reelection. One Of the travelling
men was delegated by the body to write
a personal letter to the President, en-
bodying a statement Of their discov-
cry, To this letter the following reply
was rcceived;
White House, March 6, 1907
My Dear Sir Your favor of the 5th
Inst, has been received and the presi-
dent thanks You! you f1r 9,,T, writing; @ While While he
has nothing TO add to his statement is
sued on the night of his election. 1904
Very truly yours
WILLIAM LOEB. JR..
Secretary TO President.
Now, what was that statement of Mr.
Roosevelt at the time mentioncd9 II
was in these words: "Under no cir
cumstapces will | be candidate for or
accept another nomination
Surely that is definite, complete, en-
phatic and final in the eyes of an hon
est man And certainly there does not
appear TO be any right, nor even reason,
for the unccasing clamor which is be-
ing raised by mistaken friends to conn
pei the President TO disregard his own
deliberate words and the principle
which lies behind them. Mr. Roosevelt
IS by no means q perfect man; he has
some faults, in common with the rest
of humanity: but there is no earthly
excuse for the assumption by these
false friends that among these faults
are those OF willful falsehood or cow
WV Gwen hio
ising opponents would make such i'm
putation against his character.
Mr., Roosevelt understands that nei
ther for himself nor for his party is
the question one Of expediency. He
knows that it is one Of principle; and
in spite of the misdirectcd efforts of
the third-term leaguers and others of