The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1908-01-10
ROOSEVELT AND A THIRD TERM.
Col. wattersOn Awards President
High Praise for denomination.


/ In many ways exceptional both In his
mental and temperamental structure. too
often law unto himself. Theodore
! Roosevelt would be the most dangerous
/ of men if misled by ambition, or in any
wise viciously inclined. He has got him
self into some scrapes which might by a
| little tact and prudence have been avoid
ed. He has a positive genius for inn
pressing the blic-irrepressible, uncon-
sciOus. perhaps automatic But there is
a fixed belief among discriminating peo-
pie that he is clean. upright man who
would knock you down if you intimated
a bride 10 him. and patriotic man who
loves HIS country and is true to its insti-
tutions. as he conceives them. He is also
an able. practical politician; OF surpris-
ingly diverse interests and attachments;
deeply read in hooks Of many kinds, in
Guiding the history of human kind no
less than the lore OF animal kind
In nothing however, has he shown
himself to his countrymen so strong and
fair as In the support he has given the
/ tradition set by Washington and followed
/ by Jefferson and jackson. The times had
need OF this; for. in the matter Of loose
unthinking hero worship, they have been
not a little out Of joint the last five and
twenty years and wanted some one to
recall them 10 the circumstance tina;
( there is always in a nation of 5000. 00r
/ or people more than one man At for ruler
ship.
A Midwinter Fantasy" was meant Il
place In the foreground the naked truth
/ OF third termism from the rapt view
point Of mind having no concealment
/ or restraint and, though arguing from q
totally false premise, perfectly logical IN
! ITS conclusions. 'Cassandra" drew from
j the fountains Of history. both ancient and
/ modern. Her motif" was the motif
I OF Caesar and Cromwell, of the FIRST and
/ second empire in France, Of the typical
/ man on horseback, wherever and when
ever he has shown himself If il be-
true That we owe to no one but Theodore
/ Roosevelt our escape from the violation
/ or an unwritten Law which is all that
/ stands between us and the ASSUMPTION
/ Of an indefinite tenure of arbitrary power
/ by a chance popular favorite daring
/ enough and wicked enough 10 seize il
/ then we owe an inextinguishable debt Il
/ TheOd5-s Roosevelt.
/ Those Americans who think that that
which happened in Rome and France. II
England and in Mexico. could not hap
pen IN the United States. reck as little OF
human nature as they know Of history
A long and bloody war-not conceived
/ possible six weeks ahead-three Presi-
dents murdered in a single generation
the rise OF fabulous fortunes in a few
/ hands under the very eyes of living mer
Ia government at Washington imperia
IN its plenitude. its splendoT. and it,
J power, Europe laughing at the idea o.
republican simpicity-the President
greater pOtentate than the Kaiser OF tn,
| CZar-the mawkish craving after title,
and c0ats-of- s-coIIege professors al
/ lowed 10 discuss the idea Of MONARCHY
without rebuke-the criminal indifference
70 all generic forms and principles amons
the rich. the self-indulgent, and the busy
a standing army OF officeholders alony
with an equal horde Of Office see kers
mainly organized and directed by an idl
and dissOlute class OF professional politi
clans, largely under the corrupting inhu
ence of Notwithstanding law-evadinj
corporations in the great cities-all thes
things make up the sum Of what in mos
btllFf tNAiAAs tF0 nave tended toward 0f
terioration and ultimately led to degen
eracy. yielding ambition its sordid ends
Should they not impress upon free mel
the lesson that eternal vigilance is a
much the price Of liberty now as ever
was2
Theodore Roosevelt has turned on tn
light. Thank him for that He has pu
foot upon Caesarism. Thank him 70
that But we are not yet out Of tn
woods. and shall not be until We hav
found, as we believe we shall find, a solu
ton Of the problem of capital and labor
have compelled the managers of all az
gregatiOns Of money to come out from
the darkness to the light. making cTimi
nal wealth impossible, and have so ad
iusted the agencies for the distribution
of the products Of the country that on
man may not be able to rob another b.
act Of Congress. and that all men ma
see at a glance how the taxes are levie
and where they go
Our faith is absolute that all thes
things will be eventually achieved. "
truly believe that there are centuries o
greatness and glory before US as natiol
and as a people-that We are upon tn
ascending. not the descending, scale o
national and popular development-an
we have high and sure hope OF the fu
ture: but, We should not have this hop
If we took the measure Of that future b.
the levity Of the greater part Of the par
tisan press and the low grade Of the pro
fessional politicians. who seem 10 hav
forgotten the homely, homespun source
Of our political being and to regard al
appeals to the moral nature OF tn
masses Of men as out of date and lackin
what they call modern ideas. We do. in
deed. believe in progress, but We woul
ally tradition with progress, holding III
institutional features Of our system wher
they are-the Constitution and the laV
hand in hand with the Bible and the fiag