The sun., 1912-07-12
Tho Niorai Law In 1876 and I0I .

Tho Moral Law In 1876 and 1912.
In this campaign THEopoRE RO Sc
WELT is no more Republican than WoOD-
ROW WILSON is. Mr.. ROOSEVELT has
parted company. formally and prob
ably forever from the Republican or
Ganization. with its legal designation,
its cmblcms, it's ballots, its voting rncch-
Rnism. He has left the Republican
party for his own reasons and on his
own account; and he is accompanied
by small but interesting band Of per-
sonal adhercnts who hope to bull moose
themselves into political prominence.
business advantage or satiation of vim
dictivencss, IA the case may be. Moth
ing in the present affairs of this or any
other planet is palmer TO sight than the
fact of the complete separation O. Mr..
ROOSEVELT and his following from the
Republican party.
This is country of political freedom
Any Republican who desires To accom-
pany Mr.. FMNN, Mr.. PINCHOT. Mr.. GAR
FIELD. Mr.. PERKINS and Mr.. AII.EE into
Mr.. ROOSEVELT new independent In-
litical organization with view to maxi
ing MIR. ROOSEVELT again the President
OF the United States is M perfect liberty
so to do. If the seeding Republican :
purpose is sincere he is entitled to re-
spect for his departure, whatever may
be thought of his judgment and per-
ception of human character.
In his desperate purpose to attain
for himself another term in the White
House, or failing in that to wreak final
vengeance on his old friend TAFT. Mr..
ROOSEVELT is now said to be plotting
the overthrow of the electoral system.
The thing would be incredible if there
was not so much evidence of it, coming
just now from SO many States
If anything not written in law is fixed
IVY H'ilu cNtIl tilt dSSdult 'l Nbl''tIlit nc
tivty il is the moral obligation that
binds the Presidential Elcctor to vote
in his turn for the regular ticket Of the
party which chose him to perform that
duty. Talk about the original scheme
of the electoral colleges is nonsense at
this period of the republics life. Il is
scandalous business when candidate
for President on an independent ticket
sets about pcrsuading friends of his
that the requirements of personal honor
and OF invariable custom may be set
aside for his benefit. No Presidential
Elector has ever been so base as that.
We wonder il Mr.. ROOSEVELT and the
ingenious opportunists who surround
him at Oyster Bay and in tho patio OF
the Outlook remember how this system
which they would now suddenly and
violently rcpudiate withstood the great
est strain that ever came upon it. In
1879 the technically formal returns from
all the States of the Union, including sew
eral States in which Fraud had been man
ifestly triumphant, indicated 1856 cleo
toral votes for RuTHERFoRD Is. HAYES
and 1874 electoral votes for SAMUEL j.
TILDEN, ma iority of one for the Re-
publican candidate. Hundreds of thou
sands of honest Republicans believed
that Mr.. TILDEN had been fairly elected
and was entitled to be seated. We
doubt not that good number of the
Republican Presidential Electors them.
selves shared this conviction. The pos
sibility of correcting an obvious out
rage by an cxpcdient which should pro-
cure justice at the expense of what
was described as a merely constructive
wrong was discussed far and wide be-
fore the electoral colleges met in their
respective States. If single Hayes
Elector had then rcpudiated the noral
obligation binding upon him and had
exercised his legal right under the con.
stitutional provisions and voted for
TLDEN the majority of one would have
been reversed. Mr., TILDEN would have
become President Even under this un.
parallcled temptation to achieve the
greater right and justice by the mean,
suggested the electoral system stood
unshaIcn and unbrokcn. Not single
Republican "l"c'or. though convinced
oi Mr.. TlLpEN's right to be President
dared face the odium that the be
Iayal Of duty, even in cause SO good