The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-09-05
~ APOSTLE OF TRUTH.

Al. ri4en tell the truth sometimes.
Some men, untruthful by nature.
tell the truth often. To show
mans real bent, nothing is more
significant than his incidental state
ments-the little things he drops
casually when his mind is intent on
something else.
Those who have not yet made
up their minds about the truthful
ness of Theodore Roosevelt might as
we'll pause over one of the incidental
things in his long statement OF Fri
day concerning the Acknowledgements
charges. He said:
Like Mr.. Lorimer, Mr. PenrOse be-
gan with a good reputation, and 1t
is only within the last two or three
years that We outside Of Mr.. Pen
roses state have grown to under
stand precisely what Mr.. Penrose is
and what he stands for.
How may that statement fifty be
characterized without the use ct
Mr.. Roosevelt's own short and ugly
word?" If words mean anything,
Mr.. Roosevelt wants the American
people to believe that Boies PenrOse,
whom Elihu Root in 1904 character
lied as the leader of a gang of mas
queraders. a criminal and corrupt
organization, became known to him
in his true character only during the
past two or three years.
This is braZenly false. Boies Pen
rose graduated from Harvard just
one year after Mr.. Roosevelt did,
played the game of "reformer' in
PENNSYLVANIA politics just long
enough to compel the Quay organZa-
ton to receive him. into it's ranks
1t was as an reorganization man that
he achieved high honor in the Penn
sylvania legislature, becoming presi'
dent pro tenn. of the senate in 1889
when Quay held the state within tho
hollow of his hand. 1t was as e.
organiza ton man from this most IN
mercifully organized state that Pen
rose entered the United States SEN
ate fifteen years ago. When Quay
died--in the year of Roots tribute
quoted above-Penrose succeeded q
the leadership, and, in the words OF
"a political chronicler, "out-Quayed
Quay
And as Mr.. Roosevelt, loath to
disbelieve in fellow man and resld-
ing 'outside Mr.. Penrose's state"
has only begun to understand with
in the past two or three years pre-
cisely what Mr.. Penrose is and what
he stands for! Did not Mr.. Roose-
Welt ever happen to talk Pennsyl-
vania politics with any well-informed
republican when he was Governor Of
the state of New York?
Is there in these United States a
voter gullible enough to believe that
the man who was president Of the
United States for nearly five years
after the death of Matthew Stanley
Quay was unacquainted with the
character of the Quay political ma
chine and ignorant of the political
morals and methods of the man who
succeeded to it's leadership-a man
whom Mr.. Quay had trained and who
when Mr. Roosevelt became presi-
dent, had already been in the senate
for several years? What does the
ex-president want us to think of his
own intelligence? This assertion Of
ignorance is the stupidest bit Of
Justification the campaign mas
brought forth. ,---~-s~~s -~sCv::
Long before Mr.. Root publicly de-
nounced him and his crowd in 1904
Boies Penrose, chief leader under
America IS most corrupt machine
boss, was known for the thing nc
was by every intelligent observer of
American political affairs.-St. Louis
Republic.