The Washington herald., 1912-08-09
Mr.. Roosevelt's Caesarism.


give picturesque titles to his platitudes
hence we are not surprised to hear hin
call his latest ebullition a Confession
of Faith" 1t is quite different, how
ever. from his Columbus Charter OF
Democracy" At that time he tried to
become the candidate of the Republi-
can party. Now he says that that party
is "a husk with no real soul" (Mr
Roosevelt, of course, being the soul. y
What does he say:
1--WE propose boldly to face the real
and great questions of the day, and not
skillfully to evade them, as do the old
parties"
Brave words with which he starts his
confession" And the first thing al
most he does is to dodge one of the
leading questions of the day. namely,
currency reform. Few men fully I'm
derstand the money issue in all its rami-
fcations. Everybody, everywhere, hun
gers for information. 1t must be ad-
mitted that in their platforms neither
Republicans nor Democrats were out
spoken on this plank Had Roosevelt
seen fit to censure them. to either ap-
prove the Aldrich plan or offer some
rational substitute, he might have found
willing ears, perhaps even synpathizers,
to that extent. He was just afraid to
grapple with it, for he has very decided
ideas on the subject, or else Perkins
would not be one of his strongest pill
larsl
OF course, Roosevelt is the platform.
Nothing disapproved by the delegates
could have been kept out of it, had
he insisted upon its insertion. How
could it have been otherwise, seeing that
he formed the party, he held his own
convention. he made his own ticket, and
he constituted himself the embodiment
of every issue
His general denunciation OF the old
parties was not unexpected, but the pub
lie wants something more than Jgener-
alities. II wants suggestions of weight,
sense, and import, and We scan the
2I.ooo words OF his speech in vain for
tangible remedies, for a plausible ex-
cuse for the legitimate existence of his
new venture
He indorses with enthusiasm the in
itiative, referendum, and recall, also the
Presidential primary This in itself
would simply prove that he is not post
ed on party issues when he meets one.
In some States the initiative and refer
endum already are in good working or
der. How can they become a new po-
litical issue? Being adopted, there is an
end to them as an issue.
So did the Massachusetts minimum
wage law get itself adopted without a
new party. Industrial insurance and en-
ployers' liability will come as civil serv-
ice and conservation came They will be
brought about as the States demand
and need them, but they cannot be
made new national issues.
When advocating Federal commits
sion to manage the trusts, Mr.. Roose-
welt oonfounds natural monopolies and
artificial ones A railroad is a mat
ural" monopoly, but trust is not Any
railroad is one big unit. The different
plants of the Steel Corporation, for in
stance, are separate units under an ar
tifcial control. His only trust remedy
as stated is Federal commission,
meaning, of course, more power to the
Chief Executive.
His tariff discussion is weak. Tender
to his old friends, the protected inter
ests, he urges tariff commission"
Mr.. Taft would be satisfied with just
tariff board, but Roosevelt advocates a
commission. Why? More power to the
Chief Executive and restriction to court
decisionsl