Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-04-23
a%M~1-A
Roosevsit's "chanse."

[Collier's Weekly.l
OF the attacks being made upon
Colonel Roosevelt, for accepting the
position of leading standard bearer of
the republican progressives, few con-
tain anything except stupidity. One Of
the favorite lines Of assault discusses
his so-called disloyalty. Mr.. Roosevelt
went a long distance in forcing the
nomination of Mr.. Taft, and later in
helping to secure his election. because
he knew that the policies which ne
had begun were opposed by the pow
ers of the land, and he felt that, as
the people wanted him to be president
again, he had a right. in declining
himself, to insist upon q man Of his
choice. During the campaign Mr.. Taft
maintained the same enthusiastic har-
mony with the colonel which while
working under him he had always
shown Immediately after the election
he said he owed more to him and to
his brother. Charles P. Taft. than to
anyone else. This close conjunction of
money and progressive leadership was
naturally something Of a jolt, and it
was followed Immediately with reiter-
ated statements from Washington that
Mr.. Taft was going to conduct his own
administration. The colonel had al
ready planned to go out of the country
for year, in order not to embarrass
his successor, SO this declaration of
independence seemed trifle superflu-
Gus. 1t was followed soon by a change
in cabinet plans, which, at least in the
view of Colonel Roosevelt and many of
his supporters, amounted to retire
ment from a definite understanding.
With great rapidity intimacies were
formed between Mr.. Taft on the one
hand and the leading members of the
Old Guard on the other. At the same
time the progressives, practically as
one man, found themselves unwelcome.
The president was cold. Mr.. Wicker
sham was busy reading them out Of
the party. the patronage was USED to
defeat them in their home states. Pres
ident Taft, let us concede. means well,
but his backbone is not Of iron. and
he is far from Independent Of the in
fluences closest to him. The railroad
bill as introduced was clearly be-
trayal, and it was saved only by the
insurgent leaders. The Payne-Aldrich
bill disguised public opinion. The con-
servation controversy meant that Mr..
Taft was standing by Secretaries Bal
linger Wickersham and Wilson, and
thereby threatened to undo the most
i'm portant Of all the Roosevelt policies.
When the colonel reached Europe from
Africa he received visits from various
Typical Of what they said
is the following appeal made in Lon
don:
Colonel, when you went away I
hoped you would not be active in pub
lie life again. 1t seemed little unde-
sirable that the public should look too
much to one man. The situation in
Washington is so bad, however, that
my view of your duty has changed.
You forced Taft on the people. 1t is
doubly incumbent upon you, therefore,
to help to protect the people from the
consequences"
Mr.. Roosevelt was extremely unwill-
ing. He expressed. with clearness and
eloquence. the delicacy of his position
and the unwisdom of tempting fate.
When he reached the United States,
however, the men who had stood near
cts to him thruout his career urged
him into the New York fight and then
kept at him. When Senator LaFollette
was their chosen leader they found
Colonel Roosevelt willing to pay high
tributes in the Outlook" and in
speeches to what Wisconsin had done
and what LaFoleltte had done. They
decided that dual conflict between
LaFollette and Taft would end In the
nomination Of Taft, and they there
upon insisted upon Roosevelt's coming
out. He hung back, and gave many
powerful reasons, yielding in the end
with misgivings. The colonel has al
ways known all kinds of men, but
those who have been constantly in his
house, talking politics, history. and
economics, have been men Of progress
and free thought. Where the intinates
of the president have been men Of the
typ Of Aldrich, Hammond, and Sher-
man, those Of Mr.. Roosevelt have been
type Of Aldrich, Hammond, and Sher-
field. What is loyalty? Is 1t sticking
to an official who, in the most mo-
mentous Of crises, fails to stand for
what as a subordinate he has seemed
to support; or IL 1t to stand by ones
principles, and by the great body OF
ones trusted friends? What should be
thought Of Mr.. Roosevelt If, after MAX
ing q mistake in the selection Of his
successor, he had refused, on grounds
of his own personal safety, to help the
earnest body of republican progressives
to undo that error, and to assure to
the American people. as far as posi-
BILE, the continued strength and success
Of the progressive movement?