Imperial Valley press., 1912-10-08

are on the side of the future and
not of the past. The Progressive party
is the party of the future, not that
of the past Oppose 1t if you like.
Your choice is your privilege. But
the world will move on just the same.
Not a One-Man Party
The Progressive party is not one
man party, but he would be worse than
foolish who did not congratulate il
on having the friendship and the lead
ership of one of the most wonderful
minds, one of the most wonderful bod
| les, one of the most wonderful nervous
! systems this country or any other ever
has seen. Put before the standpat
man the full tale of the days works
of this one man, the vast range of
his activities, and he will turn away
! from you did the countryman after
a long study of the camel in the me-
nagerie. There amt no such a ant
NAL" he said. For the standpat man
! there ain't no such a animal as Roose-
welt.
| 1t is urged against Theodore Rooss-
welt that he is a selfseeker and thas
I
any man succeeding under the great
law of survival is obliged to be some
what of an egotist. Any great man
| is obliged to be something of an ego
tist. Look on the front page for the
name of the man who has forged for
I ward, who leads where others follow.
Perhaps you will adjust yourself 10
new definition of the term "egotism."
al
tistic
But as to the selfshness, the little
selfseeking which is charged against
Theodore Roosevelt, it is idle to pay
attention to that sort of thing. Since
it is charged in mere assertion, sup
pose we argue about that, and do
not retaliate in like weak assertion.
On La Toilette
Many of US were present at the
fatal Philadelphia banquet February =
1912, when Senator Robert NJ. La Fol-
lette, in the parlance of the day, ''blew
up" If do not care to be so
fiippant, let us call unfortunate and
unhappy that two hours address IN
the wee sma' hours, at the end or
which we saw the bowed and broken
figure of a man who had aspired to
lead the new progressive thought of
his time. 1t is not fair to ask whether
the speaker or his listeners made the
more unfortunate, the more discourte
Gus figure. But at the end of it all,
there was a bowed and broken figure J
of whom many said in sadness, THAT !
is not presidential timber now"
Before February 2, 1912, Colonel
Roosevelt, with many others, was of
the belief that Senator La Toilette
was the natural leader of the prog
ressive movement of this country After |
February 2, 1912, Colonel Roosevelt
and everybody else knew that under |
such leadership that cause could not
win. But the cause was there, the |
need for it to win was as great as |
ever. Do you perchance know of any
other man who better than Colonel
Roosevelt himself, could have stepped |
from the sideiines and gotten into tbs |
game AT this crisis?
When Senator La Toilette at the |
Taft convention in Chicago showed |
what many frankly called personal |
vindictiveness against Roosevelt, what |
many frankly called dog-in-the-
manger attitude. he really hurt no !
one so much as himself. although he
did not help, but wounded, the Prog
ressive cause in which he had labored
so long. He did what he could to give |
another man his proving. He gave
another man full opportunity whether
to hide behind the door or whether to |
come out in the street and meet his J
trouble. Roosevelt came out into the
street.
When Governor Hadley discovered |
that it takes more than a silver voice |
and a set of clean cut, classic features
to make great man; when Borah of /
Idaho concluded that reforms ought to |
be made inside and not outside of the |
old party; when Cummins of Iowa did |
not come through; and when Denee1 |
of Illinois, agonized at finding a fence !
both sides of which he could not oc- ,
these weak kneed folks did these weak
kneed things after the outrage of the |
Taft convention-the people of this |
country concluded that that might be !
politics, but that it was not govern
ment. So they started a new party |
The standpat folk of both the old |
parties cannot understand it. They
cannot understand that a party can
be governed by principle and not by |
policy alone. But the world moves on |
just the same.