The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-06
CHATTER xaX.


| What man of you having an hundred
7 sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not
leave the ninety and nine in the wilder
| ness, and go after that which is lost, IN
| til he find it?-St. Luke xv:41
THAT is an elegant article" said a
reader of the State Journal the other
| evening around his fireside as he
dropped his favorite paper, after pc
rusing a comment on Roosevelt's de-
| claration that his hat was in the ring,
| to discuss current affairs with his
family.
Il know what you mean by an ele-
giant article said his wife. You
mean an article wherein the writer
agrees with you"
| That Intelligent lady hit one nail on
the head. Whatever the reputation
| of women in general is for hitting the
wrought iron nail or the thumb nail,
this matter of elegance thus often
| finds itself in the same category as
4 Handsome is that handsome does"
as Goldsmith so beautifully puts it.
! According to this writer, the speech
delivered in Chicago last night by Col
! onel Roosevelt's personal friend, Hen
~ L. Stimson, secretary of war, was
an elegant one.
He remains a sincere friend of Col
| onel Roosevelt, but cannot support
! him for the presidential nomination.
I am here tonight" said Stimson
| TO speak for the denomination of
President Taft. 1 am now and always
have been a Progressive
Il am for Mr.. Taft because 1 be-
lieve he has faithfully carried out the
progressive faith of the Republican
| Il 4 iSt n stands
for orderly, permanent progress in our
national government; and that to re-
fuse him the nomination on the asser-
tons that have been made against
him. would be blow to that progress
and would put premium upon nasty
and unfounded criticism.
Il entered into public life under
the inspiration of Theodore Roose-
Welt. l am a firm believer in the
great national policies for which he
has fought: and I now remain his
sincere friend But I believe that
those who are forcing him, contrary
to his original intention, into the arena
against Mr.. Taft, are jeopardizing in
stead of helping the real cause of pro-
gress in the nation"
SO Secretary Stimson goes on in his
elegant address, consistently holding
to his admiration for Roosevelt and
his advocacy of the denomination of
Taft.
There are many sincere friends of
the ex-president who believe that he
has been misled by over Jealous
friends who with Governor Stubbs'
take the absurd position that crisis
exists today like the crises of the Rev
dictionary and the Civil wars!
This paper believes with Secretary
Stimson that Colonel Roosevelt has
been forced, contrary to his original
intention, into a position that is alb
solutely untenable.
The colonel has been driven to one
explanation after another. This paper
holds to the opinion, which it has al
WAYS held, that Colonel Roosevelt was
not a candidate and did not desire t.
be a candidate. and that if he could
have been permitted to pursue the even
tenor of his rugged way, that when
Taft is nominated in June next, that
Colonel Roosevelt would have been
found, and will probably yet be found.
to be one of his loyal supporters.
But Colonel Nelson of Kansas City,
Mo-. Governor Stubs and William AL
len White of Kansas and Medill Nc
Cormick, formerly of the Chicago Trl-
bune, Clifford Pinchot, formerly of the
forestry department, and others have
persuaded Colonel Roosevelt to really
believe that with this third great crisis
in the nation that he must lead the
country out of the moraSSeS and
sloughs cf despond to a solid national
COlOnPf
Roosevelt to believe that unless he gave
them his consent to accept a nor1ina-
ton. should it be rendered him. that
he would be Sinking a duty, thing |
incompatible with the high position
which he has filled and with his esti-
mable character.
This paper is thus disposed to blame
these uneasy deserters of LaFollette, !
rather than Colonel Roosevelt. much as
his yielding to their opportunities l.
to be regretted.
Criticism of the course which Colo !
mel Roosevelt took in opposition to his
own declared wishes and in Difference
to the desires of others. has written
the colonel in the width and breadth |
of his political activities to realize |
with George Eliot in Daniel Deronda !
that There is a great deal of unmap- |
ped country within us which would have
to be taken into account in explana- |
tom" so that the colonel must not be |
altogether surprised that with all if |
these explanations, following one upon |
the other. during the past five or six |
days that men are not driven to the |
position taken by Alexander Pope
wherein he says: For thee explain |