The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-08-03
RELIEF FROM BALLINGER.

he news that President lat, IN deciding al
the eleventh hour to request the resignation OF
Secretary Ballinger, supposes that he is acting
for political expediency' is the best proof yet
TO hand that he is no politician. The time has
long since passed when any executive action NOV
ing from the executive toward Bahpger could
be politically profitable to the President. Pol
itics" defeats itself when its motive becomes
clear. Its essential is its timeIiness and its ex
cnse that, whatever its motive, its exercise is
susceptible of construction higher than lis own
ends. When the storm first broke the head
of Ballinger it was well within the province of
the President to guage public opinion and bow
TO its will Now that he has defed the popular
verdict, now that be has made possible win
dication' in the sincerity of which no one be-
lieves, there is not the semblance of politics in
doing as a matter of desertion what ought to
] have been done in the beginning as matter of
sound public policy. The American people hate
gutter and despise dssember Easily fool
ed they may be. but they are not to be placated
once they are enlightened. They have their
opinion of Ballr.ger President Taft, if he is
to be credited with having heretofore acted to-
ward him honestly, has an opinion different from
theirs. The President would be accorded the adj
miration due to a stubborn, If mistaken, man
did he continue to stand by his friend. Hav-
ing now turned upon him, the conclusion is
forced either that he has not been honest in his
defensive course or that be is now deserving a
friend in whose innocence be believes Desirable
~ the radiance of Ballinger may be this latest
act in sordid scandal is as nauseous dose as
tepid water
So far as cabinet officers are concerned they
are not and cannot be- anything more than the
trusted agents Of the head of the executive de-
partment of the government They the eyes
and hands of the President himself. As such,
there is definite limit to the trust which it is
proper for the President to impose in them.
That limit is the point where there grows up as
respects their actions want of public confidence
AT that moment their usefulness ceases. Right
wrong, guilty innocent, wise or foolish
4 they may be- they represent the President The
responsibility is his aud he is Judged by that
standard. Ii is for this reason that the I'm
vestigation" ordered in the of Ballinger
an affront to the American people 1t
effort to impose upon them man in whom they
had lost faith. II was an assertion of willing
ness to put powers into the hands of in
whom they did not believe which they had en-
trusted TO man in whom they had confidence.
At that moment Mr.. Taft himself suffered in
public confidence, not TO say respect 1t will not
II this time serve remotely toward regaining
him his loss to permit it to force him, for 'po-
litcal expediency'', to do what he not willing
in the first instance TO do out of respect for public
opinion.
As guide TO practical politics combined with
stubborn nature, there can generally be found
in the career of Theodore Roosevelt shining OK
ample. Take, for instance, the somewhat SINH
lar case Of Paul Morton Secretary of the Navy,
caught red-handed by Judson Harmon as con
fessed railroad rebater The self-willed Roose-
welt stepped in with brutal promptitude to save
his friend from the consequences of his acts. But
! the political Roosevelt lost time in Kidding
his cabinet of man at whom the finger of the
country was pointing Paul Morton held the
friendship of his chief; for all that he sank from
the surface of politics noiselessly terrapin
slips off log. If you will compare the slight
ripple Of Morton's disappearance with the con-
4 tinued agitation incident to the effort to keep
Balingers head above water, You will have a
perfect illustration of certain differences in
method between one who BY virtue Of political
sense makes even his faults into virtues, and
L other who, for the want of it, frequently forces
construction of his virtues as vices.
The entire contrast is that between the way
Of sweating amateur and the cool adrotness
4 Of professional.
AT any rate, at whatever cost, we will all
breath more freely when Mr.. Ballinger goes back
Y into the open service of the clients whom, in
q pubic opinion, he has never ceased 10 seek to
VI serve. Public patience has been strained, pub
\ III temper frayed by the constant doubt he has
4 Inspired and the constant injection of his per
]. sunslity into the news of the day. If the ten
/ ION hsd been much longer continued there would
- - ndhin& laft - b d0na axnant for