Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-09

CHLlc INC tIulc Ol HIS SItAuAA6 III LIS
dignity He would not do a thing or
say a word After that came the
period of contingencies. Roosevelt
would not lift his hand, but, of course,
If the united voice of mighty people
summoned him as the zone man in
sight" he could not refuse. But pres
emily even those professed hesitations
and ,scruples were abandoned: the
Columbus address was an open bid for
the presidency: and now comes his
acceptance of the first formal
proposal that he be candidate
for the nomination an accept
ance tantamount to a frank avowal
that he wants the presidency
consurnedly and will move heaven and
earth to get it. What light all this
throws upon the long and despicaple
intrigue in which this frankest and
most generous of men has for months
been up to his neck!
Another aspect of the heavy re-
spc rsibility which Mr.. Roosevelt light
heartedly assumes Is that of splitting
asunder the PARTY which has showered
honors ,lpon him and to which he has
rrofessed gratitude and devotion. TO
dash it to pieces now Is but trifle for
his ins;lri;,te ambition He has delayed
so long in coming out from his cover
that a fierce confess within the party
is today inevitable. In the struggle the
organization may be crumpled into a
heap, the party principles trampled
upon, undying bitterness and rancor
may be developed, republican hopes
may visibly turn to ashes-but what
does this matter to the man who is SO
eaten up Of selfishness and conceit
that he thinks of all men and of all
parties as only tools in his hand, to
be used as long as convenient and
then thrown on the junk heap?
The heaviest part of the RESPONSE
bility which Mr.. Roosevelt undertakes
goes, however, beyond persons or
parties. It touches the good OF the
country. At the moment when success
was about to reward the painful striv-
ing of finance and industry to- recover
from the heavy blows they have suf-
fered, when business men were re-
porting the disturbance of presidential
year to be less than was feared, Mr..
Roosevelt invites us to plunge into a
vast upheaval. He would call upon all
the winds of social passion to blow
and crack their cheeks. He would give
us series of explosions, and would
precipitate a contest that would shake
the land. If he has his way instead OF
slow recuperation we shall have a
period Of fear and ferocity, of I'M
scrupulous appeal and incendiary tao
tics. But it is not to be believed that
he is going to have his way. Even II
he terrorizes or tricks the republican
convention into nominating him, or if
he sets himself up as the Independent
candidate of all the disconnected, he has
the sober sense of the mass of his
countrymen to reckon with, and upon
that he cannot again impose. For 1t Is
no more the Roosevelt of old going
forth in shining armor to overthrow
his opponents He is known better
now; troops of friends are walking
backward from him with averted
gaze; his reckless craving for power
is at last disclosed. What was said OF
Charles Fox, after he had made. be-
troyal of his friends and his party,
may now be said of Theodore Roose-
velt: .He felt that he had done some
thing that required defence; the
mouth still spoke great things, but the
swell of soul was no more u.