Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1908-12-23
RAc4 MAKES PRESIDENTS
JUDGMENT UNWORTHY.
ACCEPTS STATEMENT OF TAFT
THAT HE MADE NO PROFITS
OUT OF PANAMA.


ident's reference to that paper in a
special message to congress yester-
day says:
Mr. Roosevelt is mistaken. He
cannot mnzzle the World
While no amount of billingsgate
on his part can alter our determine
ton to treat him with judicial impair
TALLY and scrupul0us fairness, we
repeat what We have already said,
that the congress of the United States
should make a thorough investigation
Of the whole Panama transaction,
that the full truth may be known to
the American people.
The World appreciates the i'm
portance and significance of Mr..
Roosevelt's statement when he de-
clared to congress that the proprietor
of the World should be prosecuted
for libel by the governmental author
tiles, and that the attorney general
has under consideration the form
under which proceedings against Mr..
Pulitzer shall be brought
This is the first time the presi-
dent ever asserted the doctrine of
lese majesty, or proposed, in the alb
sence of specific legislation, a crimi-
nal prosecution by the government of
citizens who criticised the conduct OF
government or the conduct of individ-
uals who may have had business
dealings with the government.
Neither the king of Great Britain nor
the German emperor would venture
TO arrogate such power to himself.
John Adams attempt to enforce the
sedition law destroyed the federalist
party in America. Yet Mr.. Roose-
welt, in the absence of law, officially
proposes to use all the power of the
greatest government on earth to Grip
pie the freedom of the press on the
pretext that the government itself
has been libelled-and he is the gov
eminent.
1t is true the World printed pub
lie reports concerning the Panama
canal affair which resulted from Will
liam Nleson CromwelPs appeal to the
district attorneys office during the
recent campaign to prevent the pub
LEGATION of the story which was said
to be in the hands of the democratic
national committee. 1t was Crom-
wells own action which raised the
issue in the campaign.
at is true also that when Mr. Roose-
welt made his attack upon Delavan
Smith the World called attention to
certain statements which Mr.. Roose-
Welt must have known to be false or
misleading, and appealed to congress
TO end all scandal by full and i'm
partial invest CATION. If this be trea-
son, let Mr.. Roosevelt make the most
of it.
Roosevelt's lamentable habit of
inaccurate statement makes it impos-
sible to accept his judgments or his
conclusions. In his message he does
not state correctly, even SO simple a
matter as the pretended causes of his
grievance.
The World has never said Charles
P. Taft or Douglas Robinson made
any profits whatever. Mr.. Taft de-
MED that he was concerned in the
transaction in any way, which denial
the World published and accepted. It'll
would have been equally glad to print
Mr.. Robinson's denial could it have
succeeded in obtaining one from him.
as it frequently attempted. The
World has no evidence that he was
associated with Cromwell. and would
accept his word to that effect; for Mr.
Robinson is an estimable gentleman
Of high character, whose reputation
for veracity is infinitely better than
that of his distinguished brother-in-
law.
IF the World has libelled anybody
we hope it will be punished, but wei
do not intend to be intimidated byl
Mr.. Rooseyelts threats or by his de
nunciation, or by his power
No other living man ever SO gross
ly lfbelled the United States as does
this president, who besmirches con-
gress, bulldozes judges, assails the in
tegrity of courts. ISLANDERS private
citizens. and who has shown himself
the most reckless. INSCRIPTIONS dem
agogue whom the American people |
ever trusted with great power and
authority.
I'VE say this not in anger hut in |
sincere sorrow. The World has inn
measurably more respect for the of
fee of president of the United States
thar Theodore Roosevelt has ever
shown during the years in which he
has maintained reign of terror and
vilified the honor and honesty OF
both public officials and private citi-