Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-12-30
Roosevelt for Presidency


(The New York Tribune IS said 10
be the only daily newspaper in New
York to support Taft in 1912. Now
pit is booming Colonel Roosevelt FOR
the presidency. The Saturday News
does not endorse the views promul.
gated by the Tribune, but il repro
duces them below to show q tendency
in certain quarters to Formulate an Isl
sue for the next presidential election
Editor.3
Dc. the republican leaders In Wash
lington desire to make Theodore
Roosevelt the republican candidate for
president In 1867 Do they desire to
see Mr.. Roosevelt nominated and
electedf
Colonel R~oosevelt,s weaknesses are
better known than those of any other
American, The ear since he left
the White House have been years
which have s~ubstracted from rather
than added to his stature as d public
man. There have been times In the
past three years when his fellow oun
trymen have been almost convinced
that his usefulness was at an end.
But In the last few months there
has been no mistaking the fact that.
there has been a real change In pub
lie opinion, and lei who were long
and s~teadfastly opposed to Mr.. Roose.
welt as president and as a candidate,
are daily confessing TO change Of.
opinion and feeling.
The reason is simple, and 1t Is ex.
planned by an almost uniform state.
ment. Thousands and thousands OF
Americans believe that if Theodore
Roosevelt had been president OF the
United States there would have been
no Lusitanias tragedy. Those who
hold that the tragedy was inevitable
believe that without war and without
peril of war Mr.. Roosevelt would have
obtained from Germany q disavoWal
and a guarantee against repetition
of the crime.
There is one point on which Mr..
R~ooseyelt's strength has never been
questioned: He Ia a patriotic, loyal,
aggressive American. He has from
the beginning Of his life stood con
sistently and sturdily for al Ameri-
canism which is the natural outgroWth
fof the Amercanism Of l775 and 1861.
AT all times, under all circumstances,
without hesitation and without quail,
cation, Colonel Roosevelt has cham.
pioned. fought for served. an idea
4 of national honor which down
to him from other generations Of Am,
orleans.
{ In the present crisis in American
history, when we are involved in q
! dispute with Germany, because Ger
, many has murdered American citi
zens; when we are facing q situation
I OF anarchy and domestic strife al
home. Colonel Roosevelt is the one
American who has, without hesitation
and without thought Of the politica.
effect of his words, spoken frankly.
Other public men have cayilled and
cTawled. They have no dared to SAY
1.-THE invasion OF Belgium was a crime
even though not q crime calling foI
+ political Intervention on the part 81
7 the United States, because such d de
~ciaration would repel German.Ameri
! can votes. They have not dared II
g assert that all that America stood fol
T in history and tradition was at stake
on the European battlefield, and tina
{ our aus was the cause Of France anc
e OF Great Britain. But Colonel Roose
welt has said it's saying 1t. Other
men in public life and Office have mis-
taken the condition of neutrality fol
| THAT OF neuter, and the mistake flows
) from political anxieties and concern
for hyphenated votes.
Now, IL the republican leaders ii
D Washington believe that they car
initiate Mr.. wilson, preserve a dis
Greet silence upon the things that are
uppermost in the minds and hearts
j of Americans without repulsing those
! OF the German-Americans, invite te
t the republican party the votes d
those German7Americans who are an
{ cry at Mr.. Wilson for the little he has
done to preserve American self-re
| spect, while enlisting the support Of
those who regard his ours as COW.
ardlv3 fhaY aTe making q grave and q
i fatal mistake.
81 The Issue Of the mex campaign
Will not be the tarif. 1t will not even
be preparedness. 1t most assuredly
VIII not be Mr.. Wilson's Mexican pol
] Icy. The issue Of the ext election
will be the preservation Of American
J honor abrcs9 and American existence
81 - 4 --~ M - G,