Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-12-20
rur "Mav on HORSEBACK"

After the Nurfoudcf uI the iuHt OF
the confederate armies and the alarm
that peryaded the country following
the assassination of President Lin
coin. Europe looked 10 see an Ameri-
can Cromwell stalk upon the stage.
For three or -four years. Europe was
not sure the ghost Of one*mun power
had been effectively laid. One OF the
great generals. Grant, sherman or
sheridan would be certain TO force
the event. or be forced by events, TO
Intervene with the military arm TO re-
store order. to rct up an authority
in the place OF one that could not
survive great war.
nut the armies Of Grant and sher-
man wore quietly dissolved. The gov
ernment AZ Washington survived the
assassination Of one president and
the attempted Impeachment OF an
other. Il even survived the dark days
Of reconstruction and ku-kluxism In
the south. During NIL OF these trying
times. army and navy were at all
times subordinate 10 the civil gov
eminent. No Caesar or Cromwell APP
pcnfed.
The south survived the reconslruc-
ton period and the odious carpet
bag rule imposed by the misguided
viclors through The unrestricted en-
reimbursement OF the negro and the
Acknowledgement OF the men who
had been In arms against the govern
ment For a time the southern states
were treated MS conquered pro-
vlnees.H The north went through a
succession Of savage political fights,
nut no IMAM on horseback rode
through Pennsylvania avenue to over
awe congress with bayonets or TO shut
the president in the White House.
The government endured these Sc
we're teata. because the people Of the
country were then, ns now. really a
aeif-novernlng people. The idea OF q
Caesar. a Cromwnll or Il Napoleon
really never occurred TO any one Of
the victorious captaIns. The soldiers
Of the army. citizens first, would not
have tolerated any Decentralization
on the pnrt Of their commanders to
the constitutional government. They
would have greeted any such move
ment a. preposicrous. 1t would have
had no place In the Psychology Of the
American people.
The republic that isn't afraid Of
the man on horseback" IL a repub-
Tic In the sense that Rome was not
that the English commonwealth Of
Cromwell was not, that the first and
second French republics were not.
The third French republic was haunt
cd by fear OF the survivors of the
Durhona and the Bonapartes. II sus-
peeted Marshal Mcmahon and Gen.
eral Boulanger. But. when 1914 came,
with the hour Of greatest stress e
the nation, France did not turn e
any man on horseback for delivery
from the German invasion. There hai
been no talk OF the man on horse.
back. From these facts we may con
clude that the third republic Is rea
republic
Fur three or four years. II wa'
something Of fad among some peo'
pie to talk OF Theodore Roosevelt a.
Il would+be man on horseback" Am
bilious as the colonel was, aud ssss
be still. II Is but fair 20 him to say
that probably no such thought ever
entered his brain, Had he lodged
such insane thought. at It's first mani
festation, he would have been de-
serted hv his followers and his former
roughriders would have arrested him
on lnnncy warrant and conveyed
him 10 a hospital for the dangerous
~ insane.
After the war IN Europe Is over
Il will require only o few Years fol
the elimination OF the man on horse
hack from Germany and Austria
and his nower for evil viii be dimin'
ished even in henlghted Russia, HIS
dav nnon the earth. except in eoun'
tries like Mexico, and Venezuela, i
about ended.
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