The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-09-13

that of the recall of judicial decisionss
Each item of the program has been
taken upin turn, calculated and utiliz-
ed according to its exact political
value. Everywhere the politician has
been in evidence rather than the re-
former; nowhere more conspicuously
than in the adoption and utiliz alton Of
woman suffrage.
In like manner it is very hard to
reckon the violent inconsistencies of
Mr.. Roosevelt simply as inconsistent
cies; hard, for example, to reconcile on
this ground his TRADES against bosses
with his special instructions to the
boss of Pennsylvania to take an active
part in the preliminaries to the Re-
publican convention; hard to reconcile
his denunciations of the political use
of money by the trusts with his silence
when questioned repeatedly by Mr.. La
Toilette regarding the financial sup.
port of his campaign. The whole at
mosphere of the primary campaign was
charged with exaggeration and mis-
represe tations; misrepresentation
which could be met only by the specific
corrections of the President in person
The constant appeals to the plain
people" came perilously near being
political cant.
AS TO THE CHICAGO REPUBLICAN
CONVENTION
AS the time for the convention ap-
preached numerous claims in respect
to delegates were made which were
proved to be fraudulent In so great
proportion as to cast doubt upon every
claim presented. believe that these
fraudulent charges, urged with such
vehemence by Mr.. Roosevelt cost him
his nomination. Had the campaign
been marked bv strict political veracity
the presumption would have been in
his favor. AS claim after claim was
admitted to be fraudulent the presump-
ton changed to his great moral dis.
advantage. Certainly the subsequent
charges about stealing the nomination
made little public impression, though
there was manifest sympathy with
tAr. Roosevelt's disappointment in view
of his large primary vote in the great
Republican states. As the actual facts
have come out, think that the public
is more and more prepared to acquiesce
in the formal statement of Mr.. Root to
Mr.. Taft: Your title to the nomina-
ton is as clear and unimpeachable as
the title of any candidate since politi-
cal conventions began" That ought to
be cool authority to Mr.. Roosevelt
himself, it was Mr.. Root who gave him
clear title to the Panama canal.
THE PEOPLE VERSUS PATERNALIsM.
In the third place l regard vote for
Mr.. Taft as a vote to protect the rights
of the people as against the surrender
, of these rights to paternalism. The
political record of Mr.. Roosevelt, as
, told in the events of the past months,
showing his steady assumption of the
ways and methods of the politicians,
would awaken grave misgivings were
this an ordinary political campaign.
It is not an ordinary political campaign.
The recent convention at Chicago did
much more than to make Mr.. Roose-
Welt q candidate. even q thirdterm
candidate, for the presidency. It
virtually declared him, after the Ro-
man fashion, to be the one man indis-
penssble to the safety of the republic.
The keynote of Mr. Roosevelt's con-
frssion of faith was the Capitalization
of power; the formula for the applica-
tion of the principle was equally clear
-intrust the power to me.
There is facinstion about the entrance
of new party into the political field
everything new, no inherited evils. no
bosses, no corruption, no feuds, no
pledges except to the people. A pro-
gram Of promises is slluring. I am
profoundly in sympathy with the spirit
of the program of special justice out
lined by the new party. Social justice
is the present goal of all true progress
sivism What guarantee does the party
offer that it can maintain its pristine
purity and fulfill its promises9 The
answer is Mr.. Roosevelt. The answer
is entirely fair. for it is evident that
without Mr.. Roosevelt the party has no
existence. 1t is therefore as fair as it
is necessary to analyze Mr.. Roosevelt's
recent political record, and if one finds
there the signs of political deteriora-
ton to determine his own political duty
accordingly. l have indicated the re-
suit of my analysis.
The Republican party has never put
forth so progressive platform as that
on which Mr.. Taft stands for re.elec-
ton. In fact the controlling question
in the coming campaign is simply this.
What kind of progress do the people
want coupled with the hardly less seri-
Gus question. In what assurances of
progress do the people confide? NV in