Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1908-03-14

self. nor be deprived of life liberty
or property. without due process of
law"
Did President Roosevelt and the
War Department of which you are
the official head do this in the case
of the 167 soldiers OF Companies B.
c and ID OF the 25th Infantry of the
United States. Secretary Taft? When
you issued the oder to dismiss these
men from the service without hon
or and thereby blghted hopes of
some OF them. who had seen forty
years OF service. was there one single
iota of justice in the decree and was
there a strict observation Of this pro-
vision in the Constitution of the Z
nited States?
Your voice was not raised in their
defense, Secretary Taft, but you come
before the American people on the
eve of a Presidential election in be-
half of foreigners. who pay no taxes
TO the government and who have
never shed one drop OF blood in its
defense. How can you square your
words with your actions. Secretary
Taft
You are speaking, too as the Of
\ fetal mouth-piece of President
/ RoOsevelt,-how can he square his
actions with it2 Moreover. Mr.. Sec
rotary. YOU are meddling with anoth
er department of government for you
are secretary OF War and this propo-
siuon belongs to the Secretary Of
State and his Department
IL is "a matter OF record that the
War Department by executive order
notified the soldiers of Companies b,
c and d OF the Twenty-ffth Infantry
that if they did not virtually admit
their guilt by delivering to the War
Department the names of persons
who participated in the alleged
/ shooting up" of that Texas town
that the entire battalion would be
dismissed from the service without
honor.
Yet # is a fact that the Constitu-
tion OF the United States expressly
forbids just such action and the log
ical conclusion is that the President
of the United States Is like the Phil
/ ippine Islands. not under the consti-
tuition. where its enactments or pro-
visions conflict with his ideas.
Senator Bailey was right when in
his great speech. delivered in the
United States Senate last Monday,
he said:
"He ROOSEVELT has frequently
/ exhibited a supreme Indifference to
the Constitution OF his country, and
/ has pursued what has seemed TO me
a deliberate plan TO impair the rights
OF the states and TO concentrate all
power ia the Federal Government. D"
The distinguished occupant OF the
White House has done this very
thing If the concentration OF pow
en- for the protection OF property will
result ga the concentration of power
for the protection of life and liberty
his Efforts viii result in a millennium.
Recent experiences though show
that he has great respect for the one
and great contempt for the other.
Senator Bailey was indeed at his best
when in speaking OF President Roose-
Welt he said.
I'VE have never before witnessed
such a mixture OF good and evil in
any public man. Before We have fin
ished praising him for some wise
recommendation he makes another
so foolish that our praise must turn
90 censure They tell me that he is
brave. and I answer that he is just
as rash as he is brave. They tell me
that he is honest; and / answer that
he is just as arbitrary as he is hon
est He is
Too bad for blessing
Too good for curse.
i wish in my heart