The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-12-11
The Madness Of Roosevelt.

Not a few people at Washington
hold seriously to the opinion thai
Theodore Roosevelt is insane on the
subject of woodrow Wilson. They are
right as far they go, but they do not
go far enough. The fact is tina,
Roosevelt is possessed on the subject
of the presidency. He is firmly per-
suaded that of all the men who have
held the highest Office in the Ameri-
can government but three were fltteo
for it, Washington, Lincoln and him
self. All others before him were IN
competent, and all since have been
pretenders. Of Washington he is not
entirely cer-ein, perhaps, and it might
be said that to Lincoln alone does ne
accord full tribute, which is but nat
ural, as he clearly regards hlmselI
not merely as the successor but ac-
tually the reincarnation Of the Eman-
cipator. His rabid disposition to-
ward Wilson is due to the same rea-
son as his hatred of Taft, Whom ne
himself put into the presidency. It
would be the same no matter who
occupied the White House. The bare
fact that a man dares to be president
makes him detestable in Roosevelt S
eyes. The Office is and Of right ought
to be his, to have and to hold for his
natural life.
It is not hard, then, to understand
the Coloners latest outgiving, IN
which, to support his contention that
President Wilson's fourteen points
have not been adopted as the basis Tor.
the world peace, he demands that
the United States accord primacy OF
the. seas to Great Britain and de-.
clares that the part of America in the
great war was hardly more than
negligible and that we should do moth
ing more, at The peace conference than
support the allies In. all their demands
and contentious, because they saved
US from the Germans In spite. of the
essential Prussian cast of his mind,
Roosevelt is, perhaps, a good Amer
lean, and itewonld. not be fair to con-
clude from his latest utterance that
he does not take pride in the great
achievement Of his countrymen in the.
war. It is not. because. it was an
American achievement that he BELT
ties the performance and recommends
political vassalage to the allies, but
because: the performance was rend-
cred under the. leadership of Mr..
Wilson. ;. Col. Roosevelt has been
plainly .sedttious in some Of his ut.
terances during the war, and it is not
therefore, surprising to find him. con-,
temptuous and disloyal after the war
to the men who won it, and false to.
the future they; made for. their coun-
try. It, is all due to Wilsonphobia.
The Colonel has, however. at last
gone the limit. It was all very well.
while the war was in progress, TO ca1l
for more and more of, effort and insist
that enough was not being done TO
achieve victory. That was well calcu-
lated to charm the mass and marshal
a following against the admfn1stra-
ton. But when, in order to score
against Mr.. Wilson,. the Colonel lays
it down that the American army play
ed only an inconspicuous part in the
war, he is fairly plunged into a whirl-
pool he can never come out from
whole. He has overreached himself
last LA 1oAV WllSI Ic IQnS 1ot
the presidency again against all COM
ers, let him go before the country, in
which those two million gallant men
who carried the flag to France, are
again in civic status and armed with
the ballot, and maintain his thesis that
they did a very inconsequential
thing, and that their achievements
won for their country the privilege
only of holding the allies stirrup, and
let him see what will happen to him
and his political ambitions. He may
be left in all confidence to the mer-
cies of those splendid men who fought
at Thierry, at Cantigny, at Belleau,
at KENNEL. at Buzancau. and in the
Argonne Let him make his lament
to the army; let him tell it to the
Marines.-Charlesto Post.
FRENCH WHEAT HARVEST.
More Than Hundred Thousand Acres