Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-26
TRAITOR RESIGNS

NEN. T. COLEMAN DU POINT, the
T unsavory powder king, whose rec
W ord was exposed in a special dis
patch from Washington published in
yesterdays Herald, is no longer chair
man of the committee on speakers of
the Republican national committee. He
has resigned under fire. Los Angeles
Herald Is aware 1t has played no small
part in this victory for decency. The
Herald's special dispatch from Wash
ington, published yesterday, giving
some of the details of Du Points
record, caused in local Republican
circles CONSERVATION amounting to
panic. The Herald's special was
wired to eastern headquarters and to
the president and his advisers, with an
urgent representation that unless some
thing was done Immediately CALIFOR-
MA WOULD BE LOST TO THE RE-
PUBLICAN PARTY.
The formality OF. resignation was hur-
riedly executed. and. in rapid sequel to
The Heralds special dispatch from
Washington with regard to the Repub-
lican leaders retention of a malefactor
in an important position, comes the an
nouncement that the millionaire chair
man of the committee of speakers of
the Republican national committee will
no longer select and direct the speakers
for the G. o. P. campaign.
In spite of the fact that Du Pont
was a violator of the laws and was
being proceeded against by the govern
ment, President Roosevelt, Candidate
Taft and Chairman Hitchcock OF the
committee on speakers stood by him. a
Solid Three, until Los Angeles Herald
called the attention of the country to
the shameful fact.
The millionaire former Republican
chairman is not merely an offender
against society by reason of the fact
he is a Trust Magnate. 1t was bad
enough that Roosevelt, Taft and Hitch
cock should have chosen such more
than usually notorious Trust official to
manage their campaign, but worse
remained behind. It showed astonish-
ing disregard for propriety and con-
tempt for public opinion to select for
chairman of the committee on speak
ers a Trust magnate who, as president
of the Powder Trust, is being pro-
ceeded against by the government. It
was disgusting enough that Roosevelt,
Taft and Hitchcock should have
indorsed a man who had been declared
by the attorney-general to be law
breaker But those bad features, de-
plorable though they were, could not
be called the worst in the outrageous
transaction. Apparently Roosevelt,
Taft and Hitchcock had forgotten that
obligations to public decency on the
part of public men are much stronger
than obligations to party; for Du Pont
was retained because 1t was. supposed
he could be useful to the party in the
field of practical politics. He was
retained on the committee and held his
position as director In chief of the
speakers bureau even after Alfred o.
Crozier, prominent Republican of Del
aware, had written letter to Presi-
dent Roosevelt in which he said:
1.-THE selection of Gen. T. Coleman
Du Pont as member of the Republican
national executive committee and as
director in chief of the speakers bureau
of the campaign is menace to the
success of the ticket"
He was retained although Roosevelt,
Taft and Hitchcock were aware he had
been charged with being traitor to
his country. They knew that there is
only one crime against the defenses of
the nation which is worse than the
crime of the Steel Trust, which sold
the government rotten armor plates for
the warships, and they knew that the
| crime that was worse than the armor
plate treason was the gunpowder trea-
son of Du Points Trust. They knew
the traitor trust that controlled the
supply of powder had sold the govern
ment bad powder, an action which is
the equivalent of selling to the enemy
the lives of the men of the army and
navy.
And yet the traitor was permitted by
the Republican chiefs to hold a respon-
sible position until the Democratic press
published his record!