Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-03-08
FRIDAY. MARCH 8, 1919.
Enter RoosexeIt.

Theodore Roosevelt announces himself
a candidate for the Republican nomina-
ton for the Presidency. His action
comes as the elimination of a most tense
situation that has prevailed for weeks
With his apparently unequivocal
declaration against third term, made
in 1904, yet on record, and with re-
peated statements to close personal
friends that he was not candidate, and
that he would view his nomination this
year as calamity" Colonel Roose-
welt on Monday avowed himself a candi-
date, clear through to the finish. He
did this in response to the call of seven
Republican governors, who, with others,
recently held conference at Chicago.
These governors urged him to make his
true position toward the nomination
known.
Roosevelt's decision, while not unex-
pected, from the way things have been
drifting of late, introduces into the
pending canvass possibly into the
coming campaign-a element that will
make the next few months period of
the hottest political fighting known in
the United States for a genera
ton.
But it may as well be conceded that
tojudge Roosevelt by ordinary standards
is mistake. He has no counterpart in
eXistence-if he ever had a prototype
He is almost reckless of what other men
hold dear. The life of ease is not one of
contentment to him. 1t is absolutely
impossible for him to keep out of the
scrimmage. His delight is warfare of
any and all kinds. The field of politics
attracts him as the flame attracts the
moth. He is ambitious; he loves the
spotlight. the acclaim of the multitude
And he loves, with all his heart, power
power to carry out his will; to es-
tablish his views and policies over the
ruins of crumbled opposition; to re-
ward his friends; to punish his OPP
ponents. Theodore Roosevelt has more
of the brute man in him than any public
figure in the world. Like the war
charger of Job, "he smelleth the battle
afar off. And he cannot, he simply
cannot, stay away. "My hat Is in the
ring" he declared last week with true
Western bravado, and this one saying
is as characteristic of Roosevelt as his
very nature itself.
But to be entirely fair, the personal
element alone does not prompt Roose-
welt to his present action. He is not
yielding merely to his lust for battle, or
his craving for prominence, or his love
of power. He feels that he is the
originator and promoter of certain i'm
portant policies in this country, begin
ming back in his second administration:
that Taft, his chosen successor, is not
faithfully carrying them out; that a
very large number of Republican voters
recognize him as their virtual leader in
the acceptance of these policies; that
no one else is so well fitted to present
them in political canvass as he, or so
well fitted to administer them, if final
success smiles on him. He wants to
commit the Republican party to his
views, and he wants the commission of
that party and of the people to carry
them out We give Roosevelt full
credit for sincerity, and do not question
his honesty of purpose. n n
AT the same time it must not be for
gotten that Roosevelt's record, his
ability and his forceful personality are
much stronger than his theories, and he
will captivate thousands who only see
and admire the man. He is favored by
a season of unrest. Deep down among
the people is an impulse to "smash
things" Even the Republican party
will feel the twist and turn of this
element rising to the surface. The
West is seething with discomfort, and
Teddy is its popular hero. We may
find right here in Vermont some sur
prises when the test comes. Randolph
Herald.
The above we think on the whole
is very fair review of the present