The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-07-02
WHAT WILL ROOSEVELT Dor

Speculation is rife as to what atti-
tude Mr.. Roosevelt will take on the
political issues of the day. Will he
join the insurgents or will he approve
of the work of the Taft administra-
ton?
There is no, telling what turn polit-
ical events may take but if Mr.. Roose-
welt follows a consistent course, which
is more than probable, he will approve
of the work of the man for whose cleo
ton he fought so hard. When the
last campaign was on Mr.. Roosevelt
assured the voters of the country that
they could put no better man at the
helm than Mr. Taft and the voters of
the country have been disappointed
President Taft realizes this and though
he has attempted to explain away
their disappointment he has not been
very successful.
Mr.. Roosevelt has stated that he will
not talk politics for two months.
Whether he will come forward and
take decided stand then is a ques-
ton. However, the ex-president is by
nature a man Of very decided action
and he is more likely than not to make
his attitude plain. If he does, the
natural and consistent thing for him
to do will be to deliver q carefully
prepared address in which he will re-
view in detail the work Of the Taft
administration and make a strong en-
deavor to justify It,
On the other hand Mr.. Roosevelt is
rot likely to hit the insurgents very
hard. Many Of the men who have won
that name are strong admirers of the
ex- President. Mr. Roosevelt knows
this and he is fully aware that by play
ing his hand skilfully he can be in
strumental in restoring harmony in the
ranks of the Republicans. That he
holds an enviable place in the affec-
tions of a large portion of the people
cannot be denied and if he has any
thing to say in the way of vindicating
the present tariff law his utterances
will receive careful consideration. But
whatever he will be able to do in this
direction it is certain that he cannot
convince the1 people that it is a good
law nor will fts be,a any satisfaction to
them to have him say, as President
Taft did, that 1t is the best law that
could be made in the circumstances
The high cost of living has become so
grim a reality that nothing less than
downward revision will appeal to the
people. OF course there is the tariff
commission which no doubt will be
pointed out as a sure cure for the tar
| if evils. But who is going to believe
that it was lack of knowledge of the
cost of production. manufacture, and
so forth, that made the present tariff
schedules so oppressive? 1t will be
hard to make the majority of the peo-
pie believe that it was anything else
than the influence of corporations that
was responsible for the present excess
sive rates and a tariff commission is
not likely to counteract this influence.
That Mr.. Roosevelt will ever be-
come a candidate for the presidency
again does not seem probable. If he
should receive the nomination and
then fail of election, which would not
be an impossibility. he would go into
| obscurity. The mo third term" prece-
dent Is so we'll established that should
Mr.. Roosevelt enter the race that alone
would add vastly to the uncertainty OF
his success. Popularity too is an un-
certain asset and the man for whom
the crowd clamors today may be for
gotten tomorrow. Mr.. Roosevelt can
no longer be attracted by the honor IF
being president since he has twice en-
| joyed that distinction. If he is un-
selfishly DESTROYS of serving his coua-
try he can do almost as much in his
private capacity as he could in Office
and the probability is that he will not
risk the uncertain outcome of trying
to be president third time.