The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-22
THE COLUMBUS ADDRESS.

The address before the Ohio con-
stitutional convention at Columbus
yesterday by Theodore Roosevelt was
n masterpiece in statecraft. We be-
lieve 1t will ran with the ablest state
papers of the ahlest statesman this
nation has ever produced. But with
al. it was in IL large sense a pioneer.
II contained much that was familiar
in principle but unfamiliar In term.
His analysis of the basis of the in
i~tiative and referendum and his rea-
sens for their use in this age. We're
new and originally put. His discus
SION of the recall by any other man
w"uld have been daring-almost sem
s"lional-and yet so thoroughly back
eli by logic and plain. hard sense was
his argument that after reading it,
II wonders why it had never been
thought OF before.
Yesterdays speech has been looked
forward to as the keynote in his cam
didacy. 1t may we'll be so taken for
he stated his position on all the live
issues of the present time in terms
hat could not be mistaken and back
ed up that position with the reasons
therefor. But there was not a sen-
tence in the whole address that was
not only %opportune hut demanded by
the occasion. He was invited by the
constitutional convention to address
its members upon subjects which they
were studying. The convention was
seeking information. And everything
he discussed had some bearing on the
problems the convention was trying
to solve. That these subjects were
things which the American people
as a whole are considering only made
the occasion national instead of local.
Contrast this dignIfied discussion with
that Of the president who utilized his
opportunity when invited 20 deliver
an address OF Lincoln's birthday be-
fore a New York club. 10 plead his
WI cause for nomination and to
castigate his opponents, and the ex-
ecutive balance in Roosevelt seems
to FAR urpass the judicial poise ri the
president. Moreover, compare yes
terday's address with the impassion-
ed public utterances Of other candi-
dates in both tho Republican and
Democratic parties, and Roosevelt
stands out cool. fearless and dignified,
but at the same time so far in ad-
vance of the h~ackneyed ideas of the
rthers as to occupy an entirely new
field.
Such is tho man who occupies n
position today that has never been oc-
cupicd by any other. He is in the
midst of a national upheaval that
would have turned any other mans
head. A nationwide public demand
that he accept the greatest gift in the
world. that he consent to an honor
SURPRISING that of any character in
history. yet through it all he remains
h same calm and diRnifed plain
citizen he was a year ago. 1t is these
personal traits which stand out 30
conspicuously in his life that have
caused men who are leaders in poll
tics to cancel their support Of other
candidates and Join in pushing the
fight for his nomination at Chicago
next June.
Candidly. does not the fact that the
people are demanding IA man for pres
fdent appeal more convincingly to the
Intelligence than that a candidate IL
rushing up and down the land beg
ging Tor the office? Have the people
not preached with justice that the
oi'ce nou'u seek the ma n not
the man the office? And is not this
the first time since Washington that
the office is actually seeking the man?
These things reach and influence the
individual intelligence. But there is
q sterner reason for supporting Roos-
evelt and his Columbus speech en-
phasized 1t. Just now the nation
needs a president who is cool, level
headed. vigorous and experienced.
The greatest civic problems in our
national life must be solved during
the mex four years. A crisis IL an.
preaching no matter how much we
may shut our eyes to the fact. There
will be no revolution with the nation