The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-08
HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLENl

1t is not so long ago that the Smoot
paper in this city considered President
Roosevelt as almost demigod His
person was sacred, his word the law
When gentleman in this city rose in a
convention and said that he felt on
certain subject contempt for President
Roosevelt, the Smoot paper threw I'D
Its hands in horror as If a scandaJous
olasphomy had been committed, bias.
phemy which the fires of hell would be
too weak to expiate.! There has been,
however, a trucking, time-servinp
weakening on the part of that paper
towards Mr., Roosevelt for some time
past; yet 1T was reserved for it's edi-
toriai columns yesterday morning TO
come out IN open scorn and hing de-.
nunciation at its former idol. HThe
Republican party was founded two
years before Roosevelt was born" SAYS
the organ. Again, "Roosevelt was
PRESIDENT of the United States for seven
years and during that time he never
advocated tariff revision, although at
the outset of his career he promised
to send special message to Congress
on that subject" a clear intimation
that Roosevelt was a liar and broke his
promises. Again, the organ says, "In
matters of railroad legislation a long
step has been taken since Colonel
Roosevelt has put aside the insignia Of
office,' and it scornfully asks, "Does
Colonel Roosevelt propose to give the
Insurgents credit for laws adopted
and approved by the regular Repub-
heans?' We should hope not, indeed,
although Colonel Roosevelt or any 9th
er discerning person may well and Just.
ly give the insurgents credit for
putting into the text of such laws tho
chief value which they bear, and where
the insurgents were overridden, the
country is all the worse for it.
The organ concludes that there are
only two ways to look at Roosevelt IS
action. 1t says, He may be attempt.
ing the impossible trick of making the
Republican party turn a somersault
on the tariff question, or he may be
what has so often been asserted, a can
didate for third term" both equally
impossible and scandalous to think of.
And it holds that "there is no middle
ground visible to the naked eye" 1t
explains, however, that its stvision may
be limited" But after all, it seeks to
take that middle ground, and calls
it q Charitable view of Roosevelt IS
s., l.
even the least semblance of respect in
the mind of the Smoot organ, he must
go no further in the way of encourag-
ing the insurgents" In fact, he
must come squarely into the "regu'
lar' camp and "be good
All of which is such a remarkable
somersault that if the Republican
party would perform the impossible
feat which the organ suggests, that
would be nothing as compared with the
somersault which the organ now takes
in its reversal of its attitude towards
Mr.. Roosevelt.
1t has been noteworthy for some time
that the Mormon eulogies on Mr..
Roosevelt had slackened In fervency
and frequency. 1t looks as though the
brethren were turning away absolutely
from their former alteration of Roose-
Welt and are transferring their allie
glance to Taft as being the power on
the throne, and, therefore, more service
able to them in their schemes and
tricks than any past hero could posi-
bly, be.