Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-03-05
He LIKES TEDDY BUT
HE DISL|KES TAFT
CritiCises Latter for His Greatest Act,
His Patience With Our MeXi-
can NeighbOrs.
(Wrltten for The Joournal)

consciously, during his administra-
tion, set on foot one of the most i'm
portant movements ever attending the
functions of the government That
was the awakening Of the American
people to the great danger of two or
more terms for its presidents. Fur
ther, that Roosevelt had, by exhibiting
an unparalleled personal ambition,
plainly showed the people how far, or
rather, how much too far, an ambi-
tious man might carry the government
with unbridled liberties Of two or
three terms. That such a man might
involve the government into eternal
war, foreign war, or, indeed, might de-
stroy the government itself. That
Roosevelt opened the eyes of the peo-
pie to their (then) present danger in
the person of his own ambitious self
That because of this apprehension
aroused, the one term agitation imme-
no doubt be an early legislative enact
ment at the next sitting of congress.
And so on.
And this about an ex-president who
received 100000 votes at the last
election And about a man who re-
ceived nearly 100000 more votes
than our great, conservative, judicial,
ponderous, luminiferOus, safe and sane
William II. Taft, man Of the 47th
magnitude. When you stop to think
that the heretofore inviolable prece-
dent of two terms meant only two
years more than the siX-year one term,
does this not look like a tempest in
the proverblal teapot.
OF course, these post-mortem edi-
torials are only worth reading be-
cause they serve as an index to the
general stability Of argument adyanc-
ed before election, and upon which Mr.,
Taft was(O elected president And
further, be 1t known that Mr.. Roose-
welt was the first man Of recent years
to be even mentioned for third term.
Yet, such man, with such popular
ity, Is given over to this specious COM
ment.
BY way of depression for a moment,
there are not few American people
right at this instant who would be
glad to have Theodore Roosevelt in
the presidents chair for the sole pur-
pose of dealing with the Mexico prob
lem. We have fair example of the
slow, legal motion Of Mr.. Taft, who
has to refer everything from Alaska
claims to beer kegs to his astute at
torney-general. Roosevelt, with all
his impetuous nature, would better
suit the majority of the American peo-
pie. While Teddy would have jumped
out Of his chair at the first intimation
of Mexican trouble, in that jump he
would have sent an ultimatum and
backed up by both naval and army
demonstration.
Looking once again at the sugges-
tlon of the New York Times from a
different angle, isn't It rather QuixotiC
to tell us in one breath that we have
escaped a dangerous man and in the
next breath inform us that your prop.
osition to forever rid the country OF
any future service Is to start pro-
ceedlng which will require three.
fourths vote of the entire collection
of states in the Union! To keep this
one man out Of the presidents chair
you propose to have the necessary
three-fourths Of As states enlist in or.
der to win the fight. It is too much
like shooting a flea with cannon
There must be something extraordi'
nary about the affair when so gigantic
a remedy must be employed to politi.
cally gterilize such little one man
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