The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1912-03-14
l
Of Nominee
SHOULD. BE LEEr 10 THOsF:
WHO CAN ELECT HIM, SAYS
OSCAR STItAUS.
Government Founded
Upon the Pinin And Simple Principal
! or the Rights of the People to
fetcrminc for Whom They Shall
Vote.


Vote.
q, Manchester, N. H., March 9.-In a
big meeting held here last night, the
Honorable Oscar S. Straus, formerly
SECRETARY commerce and Labor, re-
Gently, United States ambassador to
Turkey, and a permah hent member of
The Hague Tribunal, had this to say
on the presidential nomination:
The great principles for which
Senator Clapp pleads and for which
your young but distinguished Cover
nor so boldly stands lead us back into
the promised land, that land where
virtue was vitalized and the moral
conscience of the people was vitalized
under the seven years administration
OF Theodore Roosevelt (Appiause. J
This government was based and
founded upon the broad principles of
the rights Of the people. 1T was a
plain and simple principle. That
principle >cannOt be maintained SIM
Fly by giving the people the right to
vote. They must haze the right TO
determine ioh0 they shall cote for amt
that right IS and has been largely TAX
en- d1cGy from the people. and instead
OF these men like Senator ClGpp and
others being reactionaries they are. the
real conservatives to lead the people
0dcb to those principles 1ohefe then
ShGI be. endo1ced ,lCith those funda-
mentdt principles that are inherent
ana ABSOLUTE IN u Democracy.
On the tenth of February last the
Republican governors Of seven states
who assembled at Chicago for the pur-
pose of considering what will be best
for the country and would most likely
insure the continuance Of the Iepub-
lican party addressed a letter to ex-
president Roosevelt and appealed to
his sense Of public duty not to decline
the nomination for President coming
as voluntary expression Of the wish
es of the majority Of the Republican
voters Of the United States. Mr.. Roose-
velt replied that in the interest of
the people as a whole he would ac-
cept the nomination for President If
rendered him and that he hoped that
the people might be given the chance
through direct primaries to express
their preference as to who should be
the nominee Of the Republican presi-
Dental conventions. Because a Presi-
dent has been a President for four
years, no matter how good a Pres
ident he has been, that is no reason
Why-he should have another four
years, and the people Of this country
can secure somebody whom they thflk
Will make d better President-The
0Hace OF the President is pre-eminent-
III the peoples office md the peODIc
shOuU haze the unrestricted right to
select their nominee.
1T Is claimed not only by our DO
lltical opponents but by some Of our
friends that while freely admitting
all this to elect Roosevelt again would
be violation Of cherished precedent
against third term. That is a sub
Ject | want you to thoroughly under-
stand. There has been a great deal
Of mystification on that subject and
fled In the headlines Of the press, that
is controlled by interests which speak
and split out spiteful untruth against
Theodore Roosevelt. Let us see what
the truth is. BY Article 9 of Section
| OF the Constitution Of the United
States 1T Is provided that no persCA
holding any office of trust or profit
under the United States shall be ap-
pointed as a Presidential elector. The
purpose Of this provision clearly was
to prevent choosing President or re-
electing one without regard to the
welfare Of the people, but with only
regard to such electors personal in
terest in order to prolong their con-
tinu&nce in office. One thing is clear
that this practice Of President using
the power Of ofFice-holder to gain a
denomination should be effectuallv
prohibited in accordance with the
spirit if not the very provision Of the
Constitution itself. The RcputKcd1a
party shoulM not forget Nut methods
sWch as these outraged Dub1ic Seuti-
| n1ent IN the time Of Harrison ami the
result rdS that he WGS defeated a1,l
deSe'Ued 10 be dcfedted. President
Taft has recently called the genuine
Drogressives political emotionalists or
neurotics. If this be neurotic emo
{ tiOnalism then this is another name
| for arousing the spirit of patriotism g