Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-05-02
SEES L|NCOLN'S
VIEWS CARBl Ed
SON OF MARTYRED PRESIDENT
AssAIus ROOSEVELT FOR MIS-
REPRESENTATION
LETTER MADE PUBLIC
Robert r. Lincoln Says Father, it Liv.
ing, Would Abhor Doctrines Now
Enumerated by tho
Colonel.

y: Newark, N. j.. April Son his way
north to carry the fight into Massa-
chusetts President Taft made public a
letter from Robert T. Lincoln, son OF
President Lincoln, in which Col. Theo-
dore Roosevelt Is criticised and con-
demned for what Mr.. Lincoln declares
| is perversion Of the truth.
! MY personal feelings" the letter
| reads, are unimportant but | am not
( only impatient but indignant that Pres
ident Lincoln's words and plain views
| should be prevented and misappled be-
| fore trusting people into support Of
doctrines which believe he would alb
hor. living"
Mr.. Lincolns letter was written, he
says, in answer to request for an
opinion of repeated assertions by Mr.
Roosevelt that his attitude on certain
| radical doctrines is supported by the
recorded views" Of the martyred presi-
dent
The letter, in part, follows:
,, Lincoln's Ideal Rule.
THE government under which my
father lived was. as it is now, a repub
lie, or representative democracy check
ed by the constitution which can be
changed by the people, but only when
acting by methods which compel DELHI
GRAFTON and exclude so far as is pos
slble the effect Of passionate and short
sighted impulse. A government in
which the checks of an established con-
stitution are actually or practically
omitted-one in which the people act in
a mass directly on all questions and
not through their chosen representa-
tives, is an unchecked democracy, a
form Of government so full of danger as
shown by history that has ceased to ex-
ist in communities small and concen-
trated as to space. A New England
m O inc Y,-kn1 ho 1>,,t
government in large city or state
would be chaos
"As l understand it, the essence of
Mr.. Roosevelt's proposals is that we
shall adopt the latter form of govern
ment in place of the existing form.
This. in simple words, is proposed
revolution, peaceful perhaps, but a
tionary doctrines which, u If successful,
would abolish the form and spirit of
our existing government and surely, 1
think, lead to attempted relationships, |
resort Is had to what is claimed to be |
the words and teachings of President |
Mover Censured Government.
president Lincoln wrote many let
tiers, made many public addresses and |
was the author Of many documents. I |
do not know Of the existence in any Of |
them Of word Of censure or of COM
plant OF our government or Of the
methods by which it was carried out.
He was sincerely and faithfully obedi-
ent to our constitution. In the single act
tor which he is most remembered-the
issuance Of the emancipation proclama-
tlon-he expressly supported it as an
act warranted by the constitution upon
necessity.
His attitude toward the bred Scott
decision purged as in support of the
oernicious project for the recall by
popular vote Of judges and of judicial
decisions. He thought it an erroneous
decision. but his chief point in refer
ence to 1t was not it's error, but that it
indicated scheme, and was part of 1t.
or the naturalization of human slav-
ery. He never suggested a change in
our government under which the
Judges made it should be recalled, but
said that he would resist it politically
oy voting, if in his power, for an act
slavery in United States
territory and then endeavor to have the
act sustained In new proceeding by
he same court reversing itself.
is there to be found here, or any
where else. support for project to
abolish the essential elements or any
elements Of our constitution? And yet II
he Is cited in support Of such action. {
He loved the government under ;
which he lived and when al Gettysburg
lie prayed Gf may use that word) that
/ government of the people, by the
people and for the people may
lot perish from the earth, he
meant and could only mean that gov
under which he lived is rep t
esentative government of balanced !