The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1906-2016, 1914-04-22
THE ROOSEVELT PLATFORM.

THE ROOSEVELT PLATFORM.
At the Indiana state convention o.
the Progressive party. held on satur
day, Senator Poindexter, of Washing
ton, presented the candidacy Of Col
Roosevelt for President and outlined
the platform on which he should run
it is reasonable to suppoge he was
speaking. on both points, with author
ity, and the utterance is Of more than
casual political interest. That Col.
Roosevelt would be q candidate for
President in 1916 has been generally
accepted but there has been no very
definite indication Of the issues upon
which he would make his campaign.
Senator Poindexter has presented
some Of these with marked directness.
There is nothing new In the gen
eral declaration that the Progressive
party puts forward the proposition
that the activities and agencies Of the
Federal government must be enlarged
and extended" That is Characters
tic and an essential Roosevelt doc
trine 1t Is only general statement
Of the desire for highly centralized
and more autocratic form of govern
ment, in aggressive contrast to the
Jeffersonian ideal of the least possible
for free people. At the
bottom Of this demand, on the part OF
the Rooseveltians certainly OF this
leader-is the question Of trusts and
corporation regulation generally, a
regulation by executive authority and
discrimination instead OF by precept
and Jaw. II involves the idea OF dis
tinction between good and bad trusts,
with which the country is familiar
through demonstration Of favors to
certain large interests, that were
friendly to us"
A new point, however, is introduced
in the fiat declaration for exemption o?
American shipping from canal tolls
made by Senator Poindexter. By this
declaration the Progressive party ia
out upon record against President Will
sons policy Of repeal of the clause
giving special advantage to American
ships in the use Of the canal, ire pee
tive OF terms of the treaty with Eng
land. Plainly, this is an opportunist
issue, aud it may be made a very pop
ular one too, with large element, in
It's appeal TO gingoism Reference to
Shylock England" by Senator Pom
dexter shows the direction this is like
ly to take. Along with this Is opposi.
tion to the proposed payment of $780,.
10000 to Columbia in compensation
for the wrong done In the seizure OF
the canal zone. THIS was to have
beon expected from the following of
Col. Roosevelt, under whose admin
lstration the outrage was accom-
plished 1t Is coupled, however, with
the tolls question to make up a gen
cral issue on the canal, in a demand
for the definition of that as a distinct
and unequivocal American waterway.
There are, of course. political posi-
bllities OF rather low order in this
issue. and 1t is interesting to ncts
that they are to be made use of by
the Roosevelt party. 1t is not unlikely
Mat this structure will be capped by
an aggressive declaration on the sub
ieet Of Mexico, depending on the out
come OF the situation sttll under de
yelcpment with relation to the mat.
ter, Senator Poindtxter has lifted
only corner of the curtain but
enough has been revealed to make II
reasonably certain that the Roosevelt
candidacy is to Involve an appeal IL
an extreme and aggressive American.
ism, as we'll as TO class antagoniarl
which characterized the Progressive
CAMPAIGN OF 1912.
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