Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1911-06-23

President Taft and ex.president Roose.
welt in their addresses to great gather
ings of people on Memorial Day showed
that two men can have the SAME princi-
pie at heart and still express 50 much
difference concerning comparatively un-
important circumstances as to seem to
be actually opposed in both character
aud principle.
The President in his address to the
few survivors of a great war and their
friends did not fail to show the venera-
tion all feel for the great deed OF the
hosts who readily responded to call to
arms when the only possible alternative
to war was the breakup and ruin of the
Nation. But with the extent of the
grievous sacrifice brought to mind by
the commemoration of the death OF
the gallant men, sure at the time that
they were doing a righteous thing to
kill each other, the leader Of today,
William II. Taft, felt ilnpelled to ask
the people to look forward to and help
realize as far as possible still higher
idea of duty than is shown in decisions
of momentous questions by militant
methods. William Taft clearly define.
ated an ideal worthy Of race which
has progressed step by step and not by
leaps and bounds, from barbarianisn
to a degree of civilized, reasoning
humane, noble, manhood. Says the
President "Why will it not show more
love of country to refuse to go to wal
for an insult, and to submit it to the ar.
bitrament of peaceful tribunal, thar
to subject whole people to the misery
and cruelty and suffering and burden OF
national war p In asking this ques
ton really great man asks why the
noblest of all attributes, the love of man
for his kind, should not be paramount
to pride and egotism. The Presidents
position on this question cannot be
gainsaid-why not? Because before
speaking he reasoned "good a, d hard
on all the possibilities that could be
thought to prevent arbitration of every
cause of dispute. Here is an example
of leader doing himself and his fol-
lowers full justice.
Ex-president Roosevelt in his address
to great multitude at Grants tomb in
New York did not do himself justice,
nor did he rate as highly as did William
Taft the intellectual capabilities of q
host of thoughtful reasoning people in
the American population, when he said
81 will stand for doing what is right by
foreign nations but l will always pro-
test against agreements of arbitration
which | know the people wouldn't keep
when the test came. You know the
people wouldn't arbitrate the Monroe
Doctrine nor the question of unlimited
Asiatic Immigration. And then fol-
lowed in the peculiar Memorial Day ad
dress by the ex-president mention Of
many unrelated faults in our national
life, unrelated certainly to memorial
observance. The summary of the ad
dress at hand is no more representativ,
of the heart and mind of Roosevelt thar
red rag or a red cap represents thu
fundamental idea of socialism. Tn,
failure of the ex-president to rise to
great opportunity to do real justice t
himself and his hearers is entirely du
to his habit of Juggling into the consid
Grafton of the arbitration treaty pre-
posed by President Taft the though
that the Monroe Doctrine is one ret
obstacle. But, put the mere possibilit
of a dispute over that idea side by sid
in the account with the spontaneor