The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-10-15
DEFENDS ACTION OF.
ROOSEVELT IN NY.
ellison Gardner Says Former Presi.
dents Course Was Clever Bit Of
Political Strategy.

BY gibson GARDNER.
WASHINGTON. Ocr. IT. r. and
the New York platform have certain
ly kicked up . fuss.
Maybe Roosevelt isn't guilty. And
whether he IN or not, it's customary
to hear remarks the cuss will make
before he pays the penalty Of his In
discretions.
How do you reconcile that Sara
toga plank with your western speech
esq" the colonel was asked at Atlanta.
II do not reconcile them" he re-
piled. ION Tat part Of the platform
must refuse to be judged by what
the platform said, but must Judged
ny what I myself have said"
When asked for q further explana-
ton. Roosevelt said:
Il have nothing more to say except
that In my speeches at Saratoga and
Syracuse l said about the tarifY and
the administration exactly what I said
In my speeches at Cincinnati, Sioux
Falls and Sioux City"
mot guilty" says Roosevelt. "Somo-
body else made those planks and put
them into the Saratoga platform.
can prove an abb"
At Sioux Falls. on Sept. 3, Roosevelt
said:
With the present tariff there is
grave dissatisfaction. The system on
which II wac made IL wrong. Il en-
courages scramble Of selfish inter
ests, In which scramble the all-import-
ant general interest OF the public Is
subordinated. II instead of
square deal we ge. a crooked deal,
the tarin becomes very emphaticaliy
a moral iss e."
And in the Roosevelt speeches there
have been but scattering crumbs Of
Taft Endorsement.
So there you are. Roosevelt does
not reconcile and does not adopt those
declarations In the Saratoga platform
He specifically repudiates them. He
says they do not express his beliefs
They do not and they never did.
I wired the colonel at Hot Springs,
Ark. and had this reply:
II assume you have not seen my
Atlanta speech. No one can misun-
derstand that speech unless he does
it dishonesty and OF deliberate pur-
pose"
l have quoted the substance of his
statement at Atlanta.
But I have not had to trust to the
lame and inadequate press report
and telegraphic communications alone.
AS luck would have II, Clifford Pinchot
arrived in Washington on the heels
Of long personal talk with Roosevelt
in Atlanta. So the facts were carried
straight.
"Col. Roosevelt has no defense for
the tariff planks in the New York
platform" says Pinchot. Those
planks were not OF his contributing.
Roosevelt won his craftsmanship and
primary nominations fight. One thing
he did not win was q tariff plank In
harmony with his ideas AZ expressed
In various speeches delivered In the
west. II must be remembered that
Roosevelt Is making the fight In New
York which Cummins, LAFollette and
others made and won years ago in the
west New York Is only beginning to
assert itself as a progressive state.
am disposed to give Roosevelt credit
for what he has won and not to be
too critical Of his failure to win all.
Seems to me there Is some reason
In that.
But he could have got a better
plank" says the man who Is still mad.
Maybe he could.
He evidently didn't think so. He
had the fight to make. and he loaded
up with as much OF q fight as he
thought he could get away with. He
took on the primary plank, the chair
manship, the candidate and the key
note speech. He got away with this
and made New York Except this Taft
tariff plank progressive. He didn't
feel like taking on a fight for an anti
Taft and an anti-tarin plank. Consid-
ering the margin by which he won,
that would probably have spelled de-
feat.
He would have stood discredited In
his own state. Would the progressive
cause have profited by that?
And finally, fellow citizens. what
good 10 the darn plank to anybody
anyway?
No amount of rosewater can make
the Taft Administrations record smell
sweet: and rosewater sprayed by jim
nv Woodruff has no binding force on
Col. Roosevelt.
n the sentiments of that tarih
plank we're the sentiments OF Col.
Roosevelt--or II he adopted them even
by silent acQuiescence--I should be
In favor Of the lynching. But he alb
lures. He didn't say 1t. He said the
contrary thing at three different times
and places. So, In my opinion. he has
proved an abb.
Besides, see what Taft's friends are
doing to T. r. A man should be
Judged also by the enemies he hat
made. Does II look as II T. r. and
Special Privilege were In partner
ship? So long as Wallst. froths at
the mouth at the mere mention OF T.
r.. is II likely that the peoples cause
is suffering at T. RS hands?
Personally. don't believe It, and
am not In favor Of the lynching.