The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1912-03-01
ROOSEVELT IN THE RING.

publican presidential nomination in
opposition to President Taft. In his
| reply to the seven western governors
who met in Chicago, Col. Roosevelt
has probably taken the most critical
| step in his career-a step which is
| bound to be of historical moment and
one which is likewise bound to be a
| pivotal point i'm his life. There are
those who will contend that this step
will mean added fame for him and
added usefulness to his country, just
as there are those who will contend
| that in ii he has made his greatest
mistake. History alone can deter
mine which contention is right.
The situation is one in many ways
unprecedented in the history of this
government. 1t is filled with dramatic
sidelights. We have the man who
made Taft president and endorsed
him as one of the ablest statesmen
the country had produced now enter
ing the arena, within three years, to
unseat the man whom he had so
strongly ana so confidently recon-
mended for his successor. And we
have determined movement to pre-
vent electing to a second term re-
publican president-anOther unusual
procedure.
The break between Taft and RoOse-
welt came, it is said, over the reap
pointment of Garfield as secretary of
the interior. 1t is declared by people
| on the inside at Washington that
| Roosevelt demanded the reappoint-
ment of Garfield and that when Presi-
dent Taft declined to accede to this
demand Roosevelt became angry and,
leaving me white house on Inaugural
ton day, never returned.
Many republicans. admirers of both
Roosevelt and Taft. had hoped that
Roosevelt would not desert Taft in
his campaign for denomination. They
had seen in the situation an oppor-
tunity for Roosevelt to fix himself in
delibly in history by declaring that
he was for Taft, that the time had
come when republicans must unite in
| battle for republican principles
against the old foe of the democratic
party, and that he meant what he
said on the night Of his election, Nov.
s, 1904, when he declared The wise
custom which limits the president to
two terms, regards the substance and
not the form and under no circum-
stances will / be a candidate for, or
accept, another term" Those who
hoped for this climaX-and they in
cluded ardent admirers of Col Roose-
welt as well as staunch friends of
President Taft'S administration-saw
under such a solution, united re-
publican party absolutely sure of sue
cess at the POLLS in November. And
with Col. Roosevelt doing battle
against his old friend for the nomina-
ton, they see a divided party, no
| matter what the outcome at Chicago.
with hard fight for election, regard
less of whether the nominee be Taft
or Roosevelt.
There are republicans who believe
that conditions demand Roosevelt's
election to the presidency, regardless
OF precedent, and that he is the only
man with whom the party can win in
November; just as there are those
who contend that no crisis exists TO
justify Roosevelt in asking third
| term, that President Taft is an able,
honest, constructive statesman who
has carried cut the pledges of the re-
publican platform and that he is by
every line of reasoning entitled to
the endorsement of his party and to
reelection.
In many quarters it is believed that
the tariff and the trusts will be the
paramount issues of the campaign.
And while Roosevelt's pre.convention
boomers will attack President Taft
because he signed the Payne-Aldrich
tariff revision measure and vetoed
the democratic revision bill, and be-
cause the cost of living is high, Taft's
friends will reply that Taft has done
more than Roosevelt ever did on both
tariff revision and the trusts; that
Roosevelt lodged the tariff revision
issue for seven years, never once
meeting the situation, but leaving it
for Taft, and that President Taft's
enforcement of the Sherman anti
trust law has been very much more
aggressive and more effective than
anything that Roosevelt did to solve
the trust problem during his seven
years in the white house.
Direct issue may be found between
the two candidates, since Roosevelt's
Columbus speech, on the recall of
judges and the initiative and referen.
DUN, Roosevelt having taken the
stand in favor OF these doctrines
while the president has all along been
against them.
1t is said that Col. Roosevelt in pri- |