The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-08-27
mi NAN.

In the New York muddle the figure of Will
liam Barnes, Jr.. begins to stand forth with a
conspicuous isolation that is not altogether I'M
admirable. Barnes is typical of what the sup
porters of Roosevelt would term the reactlonary
element. From his lips fall all the old platitudes
with which the "Old Guard in State and Ma
ton have for years boosted their cause. He ex-
presses the orthodox fear of business" at inn
pending new conditions. He secs in the move
ment for reform only the activity of mar
plots who are needless of the ruin which he sees
that their activities foretell. lie twists the CRU
SADIE for the reformation of corporate practices
into the desire for industrial and commercial
disintegration. Barnes stands forth unrepent-
ant, unashamed, voicing the old cry with peren-
NAL enthusiasm.
For all that, Barnes, as We said, is at pres
ent in an isolation that is not exactly grand,
but at least comparatively admirable. He is the
one figure touched with bravery in all the crew
that are going about with knives that are one
day half drawn and the next hypocrltically con-
cealed. He is the one man who not only de-
clares that there is a fight, but declares himself
a fighter From President Taft and exp resi-
dent Roosevelt, to Sunny jim" Sherman and
Timothy Woodruff, up one side and down the
other, Barnes is the sole individual in a war
already declared and waging whose position ia
exact and unequivocal. There is little doubt
that Mr.. Roosevelt had Barnes definitely in
mind when he recently referred to Crooks
within his own party. There is general opinion
to sustain the Colonel in this respect in his
diagnosis. Yet Barnes is saved by the frank
ness and sincerity with which he offers battle. He
may be,-and doubtless is-a political crook,
but his methods are those of the highway man as
opposed to those of the sneak thief or the en-
bczzler. Should Barnes win, treachery will have
had no part in his victory; should be lose. he
has at least provided himself no vantage ground
from which to declare himself in sympathy with
that against which he plotted.
Consider the ramihcations of this most re-
markable political fight since David Bennett Hill
attempted to destroy Cleveland by means of the
famous snap convention: Colonel Roosevelt
is offered an affront, which every man engaged
in offering appears to have carefully plotted.
but which every solitary p%lotter, except Barnes,
instantly attempts to eyade. President Taft
with his undigniied letter. Sherman with the
heterogeneous silence of which political goats
alone are capable, Woodruff with squeal 50
blatant as 10 draw contempt. range on the one
side Of a conspiracy without the bowels of cur1r.
age on the other hand. Mr.. Roosevelt and his
following, the Colonel, by the use of unmistak-
able declarations of what he himself is going
to do announcing his candidacy against the man
he elevated 10 office, and yet accepting the timid
loyalty of that same man to himself, with all
the implication of a reciprocal loyalty which his
every public expression denies' A pretty fight
this, to involve in its Janus-faced attitudes, It's
petty treacheries, its Judas-kisses and its assas-
sins knives the two highest executive officers OF
the country, and its ambition-smitten sole ex.
executivei
Barnes may not stand for anything that is
good or worthy in politics. He may stand fol-
everything that is reactionarv and corrupt. Blu,
he stands. He scorns an ambush. With weap
ons drawn he challenges the path. Holder of q
profitable Federal Office. he deliberately puts
himself in opposition, not only to Roosevelt. but
10 the sa%critcial fears of Taft. Barnes finish
is written clear. He is what his arch-enemv
would call an a~tavistic figure. But in a situation
where it seems that no one can recognize his foe
till he feels the knife OF a seeming friend, he re-
mais the one factor in whom even guile car
ries the similitude of honestly.