The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-03-25
BENNINGTON, VT. MARCH rs, 1912
RoosEveLr,s CANDIDACY

lential campaign between the supper ,
ers of Taft and the supporters OF
Roosevelt that it is growing more
md more difficult to distinguish be-
.ween actual connection and the
mere strength of prejudice. The dis
,ussion runs altogether too much toI
the superlative degree to be illum-
mating, and violence of feeling makes
much of the argument so abusive as
to carry no weight whatever,
The following from last weeks is
sue of Life is a temperate statement
and stands out with a remarkable
strength when compared with the
per.fervid, white-hot screams of pas
sion which mark il they do not adorn
most editorial columns these days:
ut may be that Colonel Roose-
yelt's present candidacy may be use
full to the country. There is chem
ical process called precipitation. the
dictionary says it is "the process by
which any substance is made to sep
arate from another or others in solu-
ton and fall to the bottom" The
usual way to bring it about is to drop
some new stuff into the mixture.
"The Colonel is an unriyaled pre-
cipitator In the current political SIT
uation there are a surprising lot OF
substances in solution and the mix
ture is mighty turbid We want to
clear it up, separate the policies and
methods that we want from those
that we don't want, and have each
group cluster around the man who
may best and most safely represent
It. The instant the colonel dropped
himself into the mixture active agi-
tation ensued and the substances be
gan TO group. The collapse Of La
Toilette had left the Progressive Re
publican substances without anything
to draw to. Immediately some of
them began to group around the colon
ell, while the Conservative Republi-
can substances moved briskly apart
from them in the direction of Mr..
Taft. A corresponding agitation is
proceeding in the Democratic mix
ture The progressive and conserva-
tive particles are finding their own,
the Bryanite substances darling tow.
ards Wilson and Clark, the un-Bryan.
lied ones toward Underwood and Har.
mon. Pretty soon we shall all know
where we are and how many of us
are there. That is what We want to
know. After the conventions We shall
be able to determine which candidate
suits us best. and then doubtless
there will be considerable disinteg
ration OF groups and substances de
tached from one will merge in an
other And il it happens that 1
considerable number OF substance:
from all the groups are repealed by
both candidates. maybe they vii
group together around third candid
ate that suits them.
I'VE shall see how IL comes out
and no one is Offering with confidence
to tell beforehand what we shall see
but the colonePs candidacy seems 4
us to be facilitating the processes.
The papers at this writing ar
wasting some space over details o
the Colonel's Eruption that are unlm
portant 1t makes no difference a
all whether or not he told this o
that man six months ago that h,
wasn't going TO run. No doubt ST.
months ago he had no conscious In
tentlon of running. They talk a grea
deal of his bad faith with Taft w
did not think ourselves that he woul,
overcome the objections that mus
have existed in his own mind to be
ing a candidate against Taft. The
must have been very strong. Their
were personal reasons a.plenty VIII
he should not run against Taft. bu
as we see II there were no compellin
moral reasons why he shouldn't Tn
presidency is too large a matter to d,
pend upon the continued chummines
of chums. II the colonel thought tina
on the whole the judge had fiatte
out that he had not played the han
that was dealt to him and could nc
play IL. that he had not furthere
and could not further policies whic
In the Colonel's opinion were necei
sary to the well.being OF the countr
and that he hadn't IL In him to fee
and see and act as existing condition
demanded, then certainly it was nc
ethically wrong for the Colonel, |
default OF a satisfactory substitut,
to butt In and do his best to sen
the Judge a-packing.
I'VE don't ut all doubt that benin
the Colonel's action were all the col
siderations noted. and n multitud
OF others. OF some OF which he wa
conscious, and OF Others not. On Ell
ioal grounds We don't mind his bu
ting Judge Taft out n he can.
But we don't want the Judge pt
out unless we can get more sati
factory man In his place, and for on
part we are not anxious at these pr
sents to have In the White House
vehement radical reformer Radio,
reforms are coming, not only her
but all over the world. coming fai
and deep and plenty, but as for thos
that are coming here. we had rath,
that they come to the president tina
from him. a good many citizens Re,
that to a certain extent the presldel
cy like the courts and the church.
an asylum Of conservatism, and tn
It's Office Is partly to hold on to VIII,
we have. We don't expect the churc
} es to be fully up to date In religion
nor the courts In Justice. and thel
are many who prefer that the pres
dent should not be boisterous inn
: vator In government Reforms mul
come from the outside aud the olii,
OF roformers Is to stir them up. al
cuss them and get them into shat
and threaten to knock the onicil
head on OF anyone who does not a
cept them. But the president one
elected, Is president OF the who
country, bound. Il Is true. to car,
ont the tdana ~ t.lf.t ~. .t...t...