The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1912-03-07

will help to make an irreconcible break
in the party.
Meanwhile he will continue to pose
as the only real Champeen of the
Peepul and will never miss a chance
to stab Taft, If necessary to misrep- |
resent Taft's views and lie about him,
he will do that, as he did in Columbus, !
when he stamped the President as one
of these eminent lawyers who more
or less frankly disbelieve in our entire
system of American government" /
who believe and sometimes assert !
that the American people are not fit F..
ted for popular government" Of
course Mr. Taft never said anything
of the kind. What he did say was
this:
Popular government we all believe
in. There are those of us who do not
believe that all peoples are fitted for
popular government. The fact is, we
know they are not. Some of us do
not dare say so, but do, and the ques
ton whether a people is fitted for
popular self-government so as to make
that government best for that people
is determined by the ability of the
majority of that people to place upon
itself the restraint by which the mi
nority shall receive justice from the
majority. It is the question of self
imposed restraint that determines
whether a people is fit to govern IT.
self
The reference plainly was to the
FilipinOs, and was i'm perfect accord
with the utterancos Of Roosevelt while
! he was President But the Roosevelt
papers misluoted the words. and
Roosevelt himself did not scruple to
make use of the perverted report. He
also whacked Taft again when, refer
/ ing TO the provision for the recall Of
| judges in the Arizona Constitution
which Mr. Taft, in the exercise Of
/ what he believed to be his sworn
duty, vetoed, he said: Neither I nor
any one else within or without public
life has the right to impose his pref
erence upon any community when the
question is as to how that community
chooses to arrange for its judicial
functions
But these were only watts of his hot
air, His main point, as we have said,
was to make an irreconclable issue,
and this he did by demanding popular
referendum of court decisions-a pro-
posal which he is fully aware Taft will
not stand for. So he rides deliberately
for a fall in the Republican conven-
ton.
Suppose Roosevelt fails to force a
compromise. Suppose Taft is renomi-
mated. What then? Clearly it will be
up to the Democrats. Roosevelt will
have succeeded in labelling Taft a con
sentative Much ugly feeling will have
developed among his blatant support
: ers. Hopes will be fostered and en-
tertained that the Roosevelt following
d and perhaps Roosevelt himself, will
support thoroughgoing radical. That
will be Bryan's opportunity, and that
is why Bryan approves Roosevelt's
speech. He thinks it will give him
control Of the Democratic convention.
r What conservative, he will demand.
} can beat Taft? Only radical, with
the help of the Roosevelt element, can
! win. That will be the line of argll-
1 ment, and it may prevail If not, if
I Bryan as well as Roosevelt shall be
: turned down by his party convention,
r the way will be clear for a union of
r the radical forces within the two par
S ties and for "a bully time"
In any case no stone will be left un.
S turned to defeat Taft's reelection
a Why? What is the basis of Roosevelt's
! vindictiveness? Does anybody know
J. Is it because the President would not
be a servile proxy? Or is it purely
+ personal? And is the grievance real
S or imagined? The truth, We suspect
will come out in time We hope
p soon.
f Meanwhile what do self-respectine
:, American citizens, and especially the
Il great body Of sober and loyal Republi
Il cans think of II ALP We shouId raallN