The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-25
A nEMILpEnINe ASSERTION.

If the statement sent out Thursday night from Oyster Bay was not oilici- ally countersIgned by Mir Loeb, Presi- dent Roosevelt's private secretary, 1t would be impossible that so bewilder- ing document could be attributed to the President of the United States. He both dlseents from the finding of the United States court of appeals in the Standard oil case and resents the ac- ton of the judges. Nor is that all. He formally says: "The President would regard as gross miscarriage of jus tlce if through any technicaltles of any kind the defendant escaped the punishment which would unquess tlonably have been meted out to any weaker defendant who had been guilty of such offense."
 The full significance of this state ment cannot in a moment be asslmilat- ed and digested. It Is not plain cit izen of the United States, who, carried off his feet by the performances of great combinations of wealth and made unduly excited thereby with reference to the fundamental principle at stake, thus attacks the intelligence of the court. on the one hand. and the in tegrity of the judges, on the other. It is the President of the United States, whose words whether of comfort or criticism, carry more weight with the the masses of the people than the words of any other man. Even now We profoundly wish that the wires would send forth an indignant denial of their accuracy because 1t is not easy to estimate the extent to which they are likely to do mischief The stua- tion Is made all the worse because President Roosevelt was under no of flcial obligations at all to say q word. It might even be contended that 1t was his duty to say nothing, leaving 1t to the department of justice to take such steps as were found necessary to prop erly represent the peoples side of the controversy.
 President Roosevelt. in the first place. overlooks the fact that the guilt or innocence of the Standard oil com pany is not adjudlcated by the court of appeals. That court, passing upon the finding of the district court, unanim- ously found that the defendant had not been fairly tried and that, under such circumstances to impose the fine, would be gross miscarriage of justice It ought to be the wish of every resident of the United States, from the Presi- that every defendant at the bar of jus tice should be impartially tried and found guilty only after the necessary ' presentation of evidence. To convict D defendant, as Congressman Lilley un- dertook to convict members of con gress upon hotel lobby gossip, shows a lamentable lack of the primary ele- ments of right thinking and right do- ing. If the Standard oil company is guilty of illegal practices, it should be punished. but 1t should be punished ac- according to the suspicion of any man, even though that man be President of the United States.
 Intimating that another defendant less powerful in it's financial resources, would have felt the full wrath of the Landis' verdict, the executive depart. ment of the government, for the first time, attacks the integrity of the courts without the faintest shadow oi reason. Disappointed and irritatet Ut the sober and cold philosophy of the court of appeals, President Roose. welt raves like d madman and lays himself justly open to the same caustiC criticism he recently subjected the so- cialists to for the advocacy of political doctrines which he believes are subver.
 
 sive of good and efficient government Even the promise which follows this remarkable attack upon the courts is unaccountabe; "The President will dc everything in his power to avert ol prevent such miscarriage of justice If was not to be supposed that he would do anything else which make' all the more confusing the necessity he feels to assure the people that the awful Standard oil company shall mol eat the country up. we nave nae reasons both to commend and criticis' President Roosevelt, but we have nev .r criticised him with such profound