The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1912-10-03
COL. ROOSEVELT
AND SOCIALISM,
DEDS G. CO. GASP WITH AMAZE
MENT" AT HIS RADICAL
THEORIES.
UPTON SIHGLAIR'S PROPHECY
As to the Former President-"One CT
the Most Aggressive and Nest
Strenuous Propogandists"
of Their Party.
(By james Boyle, Gov. McKinley's
Private Secretary

Private Secretary
Mr.. Roosevelt's farewell address"
to his countrymen before sailing for
his African hunting expedition in the
spring of 1909 was a fierce denuncia-
ton of Socialism But many of his
points of view have changed since
then; and it is not unfair to inquire
whether he has not become an uncon-
scious Socialist during the interval.
Certainly some of the leading Social
lists of the country so express them
selves. The Socialists, however, do
not intend to vote for ROoscvcIt;-in
the first place, they have their own
candidate, tried and true" and sec.
ondly, they doubt the sincerity Of the
conversion of their former strenuous
critic.
1t is interesting and somewhat IN
structive to know what the Sociali-t3
now think of Theodore Roosevelt
The appeal to Reason" the most
extreme and the most widely ci.cu-
lated of the Socialist pap,r5.--yf
which Debs, the Socialist caniidata
for president, is one of the ejitor,-
in speaking of the Chicago Bull
Moose platform. declares that many
of Roosevelt's theories are so radical
that they make the Socialists gasp
with amaZement" In a signed com.
muniCation to the New York Times"
Victor Berger, the only Socialist
member of congress, says that EOose-
welt will go down in history as one
Of the most talented, but most incon-
sistent politicians our country has
ever had But he will also be remam-
bered as one Of the most strenuous
propogandists for the Socialist party
ever known"
On August Goth the cleveland
"Leader'-the principal organ OF the
Roosevelt third party in Ohio--had a
very remarkable wireless personal
mcssage from the American Socialist,
Upton Sinclair, dated August 2rrh, at
Hclversum, Holland. In tlat COM
munication Sinclair prophecies the
election Of Woodrow Wilson next No
vember but he also predicts that
"Wilson will be helpless except for
minor administrative reforms, be.
cause it is inconceivable that the Old
states rights, anti-federal Dcm0c-
racy, can grapple with the enormous
problems of our modern centralized
Industrial machine But - an d
thoughtful men should read, study
and inwardly digest" this prognoeti-
cation by our Revolutionary Social
ist:
Roosevelt will educate the people
and perfect his party. His victory in
1916 is inevitable. He will then set
about the job, and the result Of the
G"et of'octtvn LEGISLATION will be a
panic, the like of which America hos
not yet seen, with unemployment uni
versal.
There will be one of two things
to do: Turn back, suppress strikes
and political agitation, and establish
an empire Of wage slavery, or 50.
cial democracy.
(Which Roosevelt would prefer to
do in the final crisis l once tried to
get him to tell me- but not with en-
.: DIT f,4 ,t-iI1 Ia I
know positively, because in the back
ground there will be million mem
bers of the Socialist party, also ten
million wage workers, organized
upon industrial lines and welding
the threat of a general strike.
The revolution will be acComp-
lished because of that, not because Of
the VOWS, however sincere, Of those
who stood at Armageddon in Chi
cago."
One does not have to accept the ex-
treme conclusions of the Socialists
quoted above as to Theodore ROose-
welt to justify the criticism that the
former president has lost his bear
ings." He and his followers can well
join in singing:
I'VE don't know where we're going,
But we're on the way!"
In their complete mental surrender
and selfabnegation to their Idol, the
third partyites showed the spirit ami
mating their souls when, led by Bev-
eridge of Indiana, they feryidly sang:
Follow, follow,
We will follow Roosevelt,
Anywhere, everywhere,
We will follow him.
Follow, follow,
We will follow Roosevelt,
Anywhere he leads us,
We will follow him.
And these men were free and in