The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-17
THE PRESIDENTS YACHT;
 TlLMAN'S TYPEWRITER

l
 If Senator Tllman franked a type writer through the malls he showed as strange an Ignorance of the true na- ture Of the franking privilege as the I bucolic visitor to the city who blows out the gas. In either case the very nature of the act rebuts the presump- tion Of an attempted fraud, for 1t would be as absurd to suppose that the blowing out of the gas was a fraud upon the hotel as to assume. mat the l franklng of a large box of mercnRn- disc was with the purpose of defraud- ling the public revenue. The very na- | ture of the parcel thus deposited In the mails would clearly indicate that At was not correspondence.
 Theodore Roosevelt iB in any event l in m position to attack Senator Till- man for the use of public property for private purposes. No President since the foundation of the Government ever used public property for his private manner than the present President: Mir. Roosevelt has made the United States navy the plaything of hls chil- dren, With him e public trust has al- ways been q family picnic. Nearly every college boat race at New Lon don has witnessed the use of Gov ernmeht ship by the President For the
  expense of the Treasury of the United States. A considerable portion. of the American navy has by Presidential order paraded at the expense or the taxpayer in front of the -Presidencs summer cottage in order that ne and his friends can vary the monotony of midsummer by parade of warsnips and the welcome sound of the Presi- dental salute. Until Congress pro- vided for his unofficial travels MT. Roosevelt, in the same spirit Of econ omy. compelled railroads to furnish him and his friends with free trans portation. notwithstanding the rigid prohibition by the interstate commerce laws of any preference to any clti" zen. The unprecedented use of the American embassies in Europe to gio" rify the Roosevelt family, while excit- ing the hilarity of the European royal families, shocked those Americans at home and abroad who, knowing the facts. behild the dignity of American character lowered by the insufferable snobbery of aping the etiquette of royal courts.
 When Mir. Roosevelt went to Panama one vessel would not sufice for his glo- rifcation, but 1t must needs be escorted by a convoy of two other warships, that his appearance in Panama might be regal in character. The very med als which have been struck off by the Panama Commission as a reward for faithful service bear Mir. Roosevelt's face in relief. When before did any American President ever use public funds to execute a medal primarily for his own glorIhcationg The T and my people" which for the first time In American diplomacy was used by him in a diplomatic communication was more than jest, for Mr. Roosevelt .zaa. Aha nhIaP aarvanf of the State its ruler and has claimed all the per- auisites which attach to royal power. Four more years of this counterfeit royalty and the republic would have been, in form and method. a bastard monarchy.
 of the Presidential office justifies the free use of public property for private purposes. The Sun Is not at present maintaining that 1t ia unwise for this Government to place at the service of the President one of It's ships for his hours of recreation. but such dedi- cation of public property to private use sh ould be by act of Congress and not by the act of the President or his su- bordinates; and as Mir. Roosevelt's misuse of public property has been without the justification of any law, his attack upon Mir. Tillman for the use of a frank in the transmission of typewriter comes with very poor grace. The transmission of the type writer had at least the justification that 1t was in use in the discharge of official duty. The use of naval ves- sel to witness a regatta at New Lon don was an unwarranted waste of pub lie money.
 As Mr. Roosevelt by his vindlctive l attack upon Senator Tillman in the matter of the typewriter has brought before Congress the whole question of the misuse of public property for pri- vate purposes, we shall be surprised if Senator Tillman or some other member of Congress does not offer a resolution to investigate the use by Mr. Roose- welt of public property for private nurnoaes