Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1912-10-11
Taft-Ni1son-"T. R."
PERSONALITIES Or The THREE CANDIDATE.
AND PARTY RECORDS CoNTRAsrEp.
L.. L n


American politics have never at any one
time produced three candidates for the
Presidency so curiously cOntrasted in tenn
permanent and personality and training as
Taft, Roosevelt and Wilson. In political
opinions there is little of any kind, and
nothing fundamental, to differentiate them
Take any of the leading issues before the
American people and you would probably
find them in as close agreement as three
able men are ever likely to be in agree-
ment about anything. But in individuality
and character and instructive attitudes and
in the way they appeal to people they are
widely separated; and 1t is on these diff
ferences between them that the election
will mainly turn.
| Mr.. Taft we know pretty well by now
rather dull, unimpressive President, sim
gularly maladroit in his political tactics,
well-meaning, and not without some stock
Of executive efficiency, but fiabby in his
convictions and indecisive in his actions,
with no instinct for leadership or for gaug-
| ing public opinion or for comprehending
the heady unrest which is agitating the
society of which he is the chief magistrate,
and probably infinitely puzzled to deter
mine why his personal popularity, which Is
palpable and unquestioned, should be more
than Offset by a positive ferocity of polit-
ical odium.
WAY Or LEAST RESISTANCE.
Within six months of his accession he
hopelessly and irreparably split his party
he signed the Payne Tariff bill, just as he
signed the Panama Canal bill, as the
easiest way out of difficult situation
largely created by his own vacillation; he
failah atfhar IN Or OnnatItntn N
malcontents in the Republican ranks; he
lent himself to courses repudiated by the
average mans sense Of sQuareness his
principal measures came to inglorious ship
wreck he has stood still while the coun-
| try has moved on; and, to crown all, he
has been nominated for the Presidency in
defiance of the clear will of the majority
of his party as the result of degrading in
trigues and fraudulent manipulations, and
by a set Of men who openly despise him.
That is pitiable ending to what four
years ago had every promise of being a
fruitful Presidency. Encounter Mr.. Taft
personally and you take to him at once
great human, rollicking giant of man,
hearty in his manner, absolutely devoid Of
poses and affections, free and frank
talker, without many ideas or much Cul-
ture, but with all the air Of one who rings
true and has the capacity Of rising to the
occasion. Yet as President, a statesman,
party leader and politician he has been
proved an unexampled failure. America
will never again commit its fortunes to his
keeping.
ROOSEVELT, The GLADIATOR.
Confronting him with the sharpness of
gladiator in Roman arena stands Theo-
dOre Roosevelt. He is still of all Americans
the one who rouses the most passionate
detestation and the deepest enthusiasm.
A leader by every instinct of his being,
with an immense relish for a rOugh-and-
tumble fight; campaigner with endless re-
sources Of surprise and entertainment; not
profound or an original thinker or one who
quite gets to the heart Of anything, but a
man Of wide reading and almost illimitable
interests-cowboy and author, soldier and
naturalist. mighty hunter and an I'M
cannily skillful politician, equally in his
element whether he is writing q life of
Oliver Cromwell, or breaking in a bronchO.
or comparing the relative sizes of European
and American mammals, or ruling nation
of 90,000,000 people, or reveling in bout
on the wrestling mat, with the foils, on the
tennis court, at the rifle range, or in a
16-foOt ring.
He is an ordinary man extraordinarily
developed. holding just balance between
practically and idealism, knowing what
makes life worth while, knowing also what
makes government possible. He flashes
to conclusions at bound, and the bound is
sometimes a hasty one he talks In su-
perlatives that often have to be toned
down afterward but in action he Is, as a
| rttIn oauad from, ttav I,xr hio
solid background Of Dutch observation-disclosures
For consistency and appearances he cares
not rap; vital and exuberant, he plunges
toward his goal; when there is work to
be done the one thought that possesses
him Is TO do it; and his headlOng mind
and somewhat hectoring temperament and
demoniac energy will not suffer him to
consider the fears or objections, or suscep-
Utilities of smaller men,
ENEMIES AS WELL AS ADMIRERS.
In this way he accumulates enemies al
most as rapidly as admirers, and there are
many thousands Of Americans who will
tell you that Roosevelt is dishonest self
seeker, a loud voice and nothing more, {
man drunk with ambition and flattery ant
who regard his present campaign for the
Presidency as nothing less than a diabolica
plot against the American Constitution
But all this one may safely dismiss as the
mere fury of craftsmanship. Mr.. Roosevelt
is born crusader, but. unlike most cru
saders, he keeps steady eye on what Is
feasible and expedient. His head strikes
the stars, but his feet are on the solid
earth. and the difficulty that many persons
find In believing that a refOrmer can also
be a man of sense Is the measure Of their
| AfHfnttlfsf L., nd nAi.a Dnnaa.taIA
Robbed Of the Republican nomination
by glaring trickery convinced by the insin-
certify of both the old parties, and keenly
alive to the social and economic injustices
which Cypress the mass of Americans Just
as they Cypress the mass Of Europeans
but which American craftsmanship has
hitherto disregarded. Mr.. Roosevelt has
broken from his old allegiance, has founded
new party recruited from all that Is most
ardent and progressive in the ranks OF Re-
publicanism, has formulated program Of
social and industrial reform that for the
first time raises the condition Of the peo-
ple" problem to the level Of Presidential
issue, and in spite of innumerable Obsta-
cles and in the face OF stupendOus opp0si-
ton will undoubtedly complete the wreck
of the Republican party by polling u con
siderably larger vote than Mr.. Taft.
WILSON A real LEADER Or MEN"
But do not see how he can possibly
win. The winner and the next President,
unless all the signs fail. will be Woodrow
Wilson. He Is proving already an excel
lent candidate; the probability is he will
make an even better President. A scholar
who has never been n recluse, but has
mingled widely and freely with men and
movements: a judicial and incisive his
tOrian and publicist. whose political opn-
ions stand out against rich background
Of reading. culture and philosophy; stu
dent who has gone into things with pa.
tent thOroughness writer and professor
who has applied his knowledge to the dis
cussion, criticism and Illumination Of tan.
9ible measures and events the head OF a
great university and the Governor Of q
great State, who has added to his book lore
a sustained and aIl-round experience In ad
ministrati0n an orator Of felicitOus and
fastidious style, spurning the ordinary clap
trap and vituperation and generalites o.
party rhetoric, making his appeal to rea.