The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-10-11


. s,naL, southern state, ,r0utd riit
i,olu run for the Presidency. Theodore
Roosevelt ia Atlanta
The ex Presdent in making tins remark Id
what Presidsn, Paxton, of The Atlanta Chamber
of Commerce, calls his usual enthusiastic man
ner-. probably told the truth with the reservation
that the contingency mentioned was moi aeso-
lutely necessary to the qualification OF bis WISH
He would willingly run for the Presidency
Southern States or Southern states Al d
time when all uncertainties of politics counsel
caution in declaration combined with an
aencc in preparation. 1t was happily conceived
that the distinguished predecessor should guam
fiedly express an evident ambition. i he At
ianta folk who fear that the Colonel intended MS
statement TO be confidential need have no tear
s,f lis publicity having wounded their guest. / he
Colonel is irving il on here there, and other
where Every feeler Of his political senses Is
aquiver TO guage the tide Of opinion. Every nerve
il tight strung All who have ever undergone
the pangs OF suspense will sympathlze with this
sminent man of instant action now forced nm
Enthusiastically 10 wait and watch.
Bur the rcnlalk undoubtedly came from the
heart. II expressed not only the ambition OF
Roosevelt. but that Of every Republican ffesi-
dent, nor excepting Lincoln. II visualizcd the
lsopc Of d new victory over a people who nave
never yet been conquered. It suggested the I'm
position Of an alien will and foreign prnci
lle upon people consistent 10 their past while
thoroughly in touch with the present and the
progress uf the future Looking about al the
..largest crowd that had ever been massed IN
Atlanta the Colonel no doubt felt IN, pang Of
sesire inseparable from this dream. He voiced
ii in the equivocal phrase that may mean 50
much. that could be taken as meaning little.
Ent behind i was the admission by shis most
confident Of all men that there one thing, al
least, that even he was unable to accomplish.
All people familiar with the psychological con
5.Iition Of the country mus have foreseun tire
spectacular success which the exPresidents
Southern trip Is proving The fact of the inn
alense crowds was 3ne easily discounted. j he
enthusiasm was TO BE- expected. Roosevelt car
sics 10 the Southern imagination his very clear
md distinct appeal The mass Of Southern peo-
,le undoubtedly take him at the high valuation
Df his own estimate. They believe in his en-
tiusasns and condone his inconsistencies. They
give him credit for ideals and purposes III way
that is All unconscious evidence of their own
purity of aim and motive. The reception which
Roosevelt gains in the South, which he has III
turn slandcred and cajoled, is the best possible
testimony to the real ''nationalism' of the peo-
ole of this section II shows that the South is.
in spite OF It's long term of involuntary isolation.
he most broad minded and the most forgvng Of
sections 1t shows that it can subllmcly forget
and thai il possessed the rare power Of forgive
ness But this does not imply that the South
il ready 10 surrender jot or title of Its old time
principles. Against every drawback every mis-
understanding, every misreprese nta1on, The
South has prospered. 1t has come to a state Of
Independence II can cheer whom ii pleases.
for whatever quality appeals to it. 1T is free
to think and to speak and 10 act. Its liberty Of
expression is boundlcss But Just because the
South could now break its solid tradition with
srf danger Of racial or institutional disintegra-
sion, just because there is no longer room for
he application OF caste or the charge of treacll-
prr against the membership Of party, Is no
reason why the Southern people should depart
the principles on which they have been raised
saad in which they believe. The South stands
for the law and rho constitution. II holds
lanaciously 20 the older ideal of government.
in the belief that that ideal is broad and elastic
nough for any growth Of power consistent with
democratic fundamentals. 1t may cheer Theo-
slore Roosevelt, or any other man with new
gospel, for the worth that his manhood holds.
But it will not endorse the things for which
lie stands, insofar those things tend TO destroy
pr imperil the old thought and the old faith,
The ex-President will doubtless conclude that
lie will run again for the Presidency. When he
does so, he will find the South that cheered him
standing as Of yore,-confdent or hopeless, but
sternly and righteously- the preservation Of
tho Government against private exploitation or
personal ambition.
ROOT AND THE SUPREME BENCH