Evening star., 1914-06-05
Americans, Like New Zea.
Ianders, Conservative Even
in Their RadicaIism.
new ZEALAND'S HINTS.
IN AMERICAN POLITICS
Roosevelt, Taft and Bryan Barred as
Candidates in the 1915 Presi-
dental Campaign.
Editorial Correspondence Of Tho Star.
BY THEODORE W. MOVES.
May 81, 1913.

Nay Il, 1913.
The New Zealander Is conservative even
IN his radfcalism. So is the American.
The hint on this point given by the ex-
ample Of New Zealand meets here with
hearty and quick response.
New Zealand, for instance, approves the
spirit and purpose Of the Henry Georxe
Doctrine but makes vital notifications in
its practical application, stopping far
short OF the single tax. and now revolts
at the Matchmaking OF land It has also,
as we have seen. resisted the strongest
pressure to adopt the initiative and re-
call.
So in the United States, though the ma
ttonal movement is distinctly progressive,
TINS movement is modified by the national
tradition not to go to extremes in any
thing, and the national habit of checking
Its radical movements and drawing the
and disconcertingly.
Ihus the American people, though cod
ding the silver mine owners and obliga-
tion-shirking debtors up to certain
point, put their foot down on debase-
ment of the currency on the 16-to-1 basis
They Indicate that they draw the line
at all forms Of confiscation of private
property without compensation. whether
open or disguised, whether of the living
or the heirs of. the dead, whether by the
coarse and direct methods Of the earlier
days. when the man to be robbed was
beheaded preliminary to the approprta-
ton Of his property, or by modern meth
DDS like that of which the possibility was
recently suggested by Vice President
Marshall OF permitting the man whose
possessions are coveted to die a natural
death and then confiscating his property
hV danrrinD hiS haira tho right RI inherit
Though suffering from railroads abuse
of power and eager to regulate stringent
ly and to punish. they baked at Bryan's
suggestion of government ownership OF
the roads. The signs clearly indicate that
recall of judges and judicial decisions is
under the popular ban, though the drift
of public sentiment is steady and un-
mistakably toward an increase Of the df-
rect power of the people In government
and toward vigorous opposition to control
of the government by combines of special
interests.
Standpatism in excessive protection is,
in essence, a form Of radicalism which
the people have repudiated. The nation
has desired to create and foster home
industries and to protect the wages and
working conditions of American labor.
but the movement in response to this
popular impulse has been carried to ex-
tremes and obstinately held there, with
the result Of a reaction SO violent as to
threaten to destroy the whole protective
policy and the political organization iden-
titled with it. The suggestion Of expert
ence and Of political history is, however,
that the movement to correct and punish
the radicalism of standpat excessive pro-
lection will in its turn sweep past the
point at which the national interests are
best served and itself push to radical and
injurious extremes; and that there will
then follow condensation, and the
pendulum of public sentiment will swing
part way back again.
Among the peculiarities Of the recent