The Topeka state journal., 1908-06-17

4 5ta-b u. n r. II. NO. Z, Topeka, care L.
WANTED--A position as stenographer by
young lady. have had experience and
Journal.
righteous demands, like all the great
public services of the last half cen.
tury. was imposed upon the Republi-
can party and they have not finch.
ed from the burden. Under the load
OF the president. the Republican party
born of the new conditions. II has
! Deen no light task. DANGEROUS ex.
tremes threatened on either hand. Or
the one side were the radicals of reac.
tlon, VINO resisted any change at ALL
| on the other side were the radicals nj
destruction who wished to change ev
! erything. These two forms of radical
ism are as far apart at the outset as
the poles, but. when carried out. they
lead alike to revolution. Between these
and the Republican congress were com.
PEELED to steer and while they ad.
vanced steadily, soberly and effective.
ly. they were obliged to repel the radi.
| cal assaults on either hand.
Yet, Notwithstanding all these diff
culties, much has been accomplished
The response of the people to the poll
cieS urged by the president has been sc
emphatic that 1t has been made clear
once for all, that the government OF
the United States is never to be domi-
mated by money and financial inter-
ests, and that the political party which
permits itself to be ruled by them is
thereby doomed to defeat.
The policy of the Republican party
in dealing with these new and formi-
dable questions which have taken con-
crete form in enormous combinations
of capital and in great public service
corporation, has been formulated and
determined. That policy is to use gov
ernment regulation and supervision for
the control of corporations and combi-
nations so that these great and neces-
sary instruments of commerce and
business may be preserved as useful
servants and not destroyed because
they have threatened to become dan
gerous masters.
Tendency Toward Socialism.
This policy is the absolute opposite
Of government ownership and all like
measures, advocated by our opponents,
which tend directly to socialism and
to all its attendant miseries and evils.
shaped and settled, during the past few
years. that old laws have been enforc-
ed and new ones enacted.
Nothing is more destructive to the
respect for law-the chief bulwark OF
civilized society-than to place laws
upon Tue STATUTE DOOk III OTQeT merely
to still public clamor and satisfy the
people but which it is never intended
to enforce. The worst laws imaginable
are those which are allowed to rust,
unused, because. If enforced, they
might interfere with vested abuses or
curb the rich and powerful.
The president has enforced the laws
as he found them on the statute
book. For this performance Of his
sworn duty, he has been bitterly at
tackled. 1t was to be expected. Vested
abuses and profitable wrongs cry out
loudly when their entrenchments
are carried, and some one is sure to
be hurt when the bayonets of the law
are pushed home. In the great
American electorate, money has few
votes but it can command many
voices and cause many birds to sing.
The result is that the president is the
best abused and the most popular
man in the United States today. He
has been more abused than any pres
ident except Washington, Lincoln and
Grant. He possesses the love and
confidence of the American people to
a degree never equaled except by
Lincoln and Washington. May 1t not
be said. in sober truth, that the fear
less performances of a sworn duty
Is not without its exceeding great re-
ward?
New Laws Enacted.
But the work has not ceased with
the enforcement of existing laws. A
Republican congress and a Republi-
can president Have placed new laws
upon the stat6te books. designed to
carry out~fhe Republican policy or
government regulation in safe, reas-
enable and effective manner. The
EIkins law, aimed at preferential re-
bates, which have been the curse of
our transportation and our business;
law which made the
supervision of railroads more effec-
tive. and the pure food law, which
has been, in the highest degree, bene-
ficent to the masses of our people,
are all monuments of the policy and
the labors of the Republican party.
The president, who has led his party
and the people in this great work, re-
tires, by his own determination, from
his high office, on the fourth of March
next. His refusal of denomination,
dictated by the Ioftiest motives and by
a noble loyalty to American traditions,
is final and irrevocable.. Any one, who
attempts to use his name, as a candi-
date for the presidency, impugns both
his sincerity and his good faith, two
of the presidents greatest and most
conspicuous qualities, upon which no
shadow has ever been cast. That man
is no friend to Theodore Roosevelt and
does not cherish his name and fame,
who now, from any motive, seeks to
urge him as a candidate for the great
office which he has finally declined.
The president has refused what his
countryman would gladly have given
him; he says what he means and
means what he says, and his party and
his country will respect his wishes as
they honor his high character and
great public service.
His Policies VIII StAnd.
But. although the president retires'
he leaves his policies behind him. TO
those policies the Republican party
stands pied pledgSea Sssrn we reeardiess % alike Of
the radicals of reaction and the radi-
Gals of revolution. We must hold fast
to that which is good while we make
the advances which the times de-
y,,ond