The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-04-28
THE POLITICAL MANIAC.

The unscrupulous terocty OF Nol'
Roosevelt in his Presidential campaign
must necessarily mako the sober, sound
Judgment of the country suspect that
his mind is dcrangcd He has been pa
rading through the country for weeks,
heaping abuse upon President TAFT and
his administration, misreprcsent,ng the
President, and doing everything that
lie could to discredit him before the
country, even to indulging in false
hoods which he knew were falschoods,
and yet which he deliberately used
And now. when President Taft turns
upon him, and shows the falsity Of The
charges he has been making, Roose-
Welt puts mp whine that he is abused
and vicionsly attacked, assuming that
the campaign has Just begun. and that
President Taft is the aggressor.
All this is grotesqucly ridiculous.
Roosevelt has been no passive candi-
date. as he said that he would be, but
has been on the stump vigorously and
rocklessly assailing every one that
seemed to stand in his way. He has
been unsparing in his criticism and con
demnation, and has not in the least re-
garded the rules Of honor or truth. nor
is he regarding these rules now. He
reiterated the charge i'll his speech at
Worcester, Massachusetts, that the De
partment Of Justice acted in collusion
with a Democratic Senator in produc-
ing the correspondence in the Har
vester trust case, paying no attention
to the denial of that Senator. But,
first of ALL Roosevelt denied that there
was any such correspondence; and now
that il is produced, he charges a vio-
lation Of ethics and Of honorable con-
duct. That is, be expected all con-
cerDcd to let him get away with his
falsehood in denying that there was
such correspondence, since he seems TO
have imagined that the rules Of honor
and privacy would close the mouths of
those who knew about the correspon-
dcnce. it was, therefore, deliberate
attempt on his part TO make the public
believe lie, supposing that he had
the mouths Of all concerned closed
through the principles Of honor. And
yet he himself has never at any time
been in the least reluctant to violate
the laws of courtesy, ethics, and honor.
and TO misrepresent and make public
private matters and private correspon-
dencc. He is himself free lance, a
freebooter, amenable TO no laws what
ever, but anxious to hold others to
every law that Will bind them, to his
believe in the idea that any one claim
ing equity must do equity, but he wants
others TO do equity while be violates
every equitable principle. Others must
be bound, but he must be free, regard
ing no law and no obligation Of honor,
equity, ethics, or good faith. And all
the time he assumes that he is being
even when he himself de-
livcrs the first blow.
Roosevelt continues his clamor that
the big interests are against him; but
the fact is the big interests, so far as
they have spoken, are for him. His fl.
nancial booster is Perkins, late of the
Morgan interests and Of the Harvester
trust, concerning which one of the
specific controversies has arisen, and
there is no big interests in the coup-
try that compares with the Steel Trust
IN magnitude and power. But Col.
Roosevelt Is the special pet of that in
terest, and il was he that set it upon
its feet and gave it the tremendous
power and monopolistic control that it
has, Under these circumstances. what
utter hypocrisy it is for Roosevelt to
talk about big interests being for Taft.
The big interests arc for him unques-
tionably. and it is largely on their ac-
count that bis candidacy is pushed,
They reasonably conclude, from the
Harvester trust case, that none OF
them will be prosecuted if Roosevelt
can be elected President.
The maniacal frenzy with which
Roosevelt makes his assault upon Presi-
dent Taft and upon Republican leaders
generally, shows him at his worst. He
is reckless, utterly unscrupulous, aud
openly oblivious of any restrictions
with respect to truth, friendship or
ethics. His frantic denunciations Of
everybody that is in his way mark
the decadence of his prestige, and in
dicate his knowledge and resentment Of
the fact. The people, whom he pre-.
tends to be anxious to serve, but whom
he has been shamelessly attempting to
deceive, do not come to his support as
he expected they would do, but which
they cannot possibly do in view of his
attempts to oYerturu republican insti.
tutlons and set up personal autocracy
of his own, dangerous alike to popular
rights and TO the Republic itself. We
look 10 see Massachusetts give Taft a
solid delegation next Tuesday. and to
see from thenceforward rapid dccad.
cnce Of the Roosevelt prctensons.