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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 1906)
' vPsT,,FT;?rv ' f rlj . --V r i S! "fSt, I' MAY 25, 1901 r The Commoner. ''i rwT!Mjf-r. puemHjij'?-' , v ' Twrsr ffflK". 4 The Press on the Roosevelt-Chandler Episode Every newspaper has, of course, something to say upon the sensational developments at the national capitol, with respect to railway rate legislation. The following are extracts from some of the newspapers, and these may be accepted as fairly representative of the general tone: The Houston, Texas, Post (Democrat) says that the controversy "puts the president in a very sorry light before fair minded men of in telligence, and is calculated to shake the public confidence of the president's soundness of char acter." Referring to Mr. Roosevelt the Post says: "He has made a mess of the rate bill by sur rendering to the enemy when he might have won a great victory, and he has put himself in a worse light by challenging the veracity of one of" his best friends when every material circumstance points unerringly that his friend told nothing but the truth.' The New York World says: "A president jof the United States is ex officio a person of un impeachable veracity. When an issue of fact Rarises between him and another person the pre sumption must, .always be that the other person misunderstood-what the president said. A presi dent of the United States is also above political trickery. When it would seem that he had de liberately betrayed certain of his followers the presumption must always be that they took too much for granted. Probably the disinterested en thusiasm of the democratic senators led them to believe that when Mr. Roosevelt solicited their support he was in closer sympathy with their ideas of rate regulation than he actually was. They thought he preferred the kind of rate bill he seemed to want, passed with the aid of Democratic .votes, to the kind of rate bill he seemed to want, passed entirely by Republican votes. They believed he was working for a rate regulation bill instead of some sort of tinkered-up measure that would help the Republicans in the fall cam paign. The Deniocrats now charge that they have been tricked by, Mr. Roosevelt. If anybody but Mr. Roosevelt, had dealt the cards .we might agre,o with the.ni, that the presence, of six aces in, the,, deck, was a. susptqiou& circumstance, but, as we have already said, a president of the United States is incapable of political thimblerigging. It must have been 'a square deal' 'even if the cards came from the bottom of thej)ack." The Kansas City Journal, a republican paper that has strongly leaned to the railroad side of the question, and has been disposed to criticize Mr. Roosevelt's advocacy of railroad legislation, denounces former Senator Chandler as a man "eaten up with disappointed ambition.' The Jour nal says: "At the same time, President Roose velt may well learn a lesson from this incident, which will teach him to be more careful in future about turning , his back upon honored members of his own party and seeking the support of out siders and political enemies for his , measures." The Joplin, Mo., Globe (Democrat) says: "But Roosevelt has. weakened. He has goue over to -the camp of the senators who are notoriously representative of the powers with whom the presi dent has been pleased to appear as opposing. He has disappointed his Democratic ,supporters in the senate upon whom he relied when there was no one pise upon whom to place reliance, and he has disappointed the rank ,and file of citizens who have taken his square. ,de,al conten tions for sincere convictions. Roosevelt, as he stands today, is. an advocate of the unconditional right until it cornea to a show-.down, ,when he weakens badly and inexcusably." The New York American (Democrat) says: "Nobody in his senses, we take it, will suppose that Senator Tillman told anything but what he believed to be the truth, when on Saturday he re counted .to the ienate how President Roosevelt, through ex-Senator Ohandler, negotiated for D,emocra,tic support ,of a real r(ate bill ..criticised Republican railrc-altf senators by name," and then himself went over to them'"and tlie cause of the corporations." The New Orleans Times-Democrat, (Democrat) eays: "For somet reason the opinion is .growing that for a man'iii exalted offlplal position to deny a thing is final, but ex-Senator Chandler will not be content to accept that view of the matter. He is quite capable of defending any ppsition he may occupy, arid', in the instant case the sur rounding facts $eem to be with thQ , ex.-Senator. jfhere is the manuscript of the attorney general, for example, which was read in the(" senate and which i in tW.ppsession of the South Caro linian. There Is me' record of the rate bfll before the senate and the president's various utterances en that subject.. The fact that Mr. Moody, the secretary of tho president, entered into the 'con spiracy' will Indicate to tho impartial mind that he did so with tho consent and at the request of the president." The Evening Wisconsin (Republican) pub lished at Milwaukee, says: "The object of this precious farrago' is to produce a coolness be tween republican leaders that will tend to dis rupt the republican party. Tho probability is that there is some fundatlon of truth for what Chandler reports, but that he has not fully and accurately reported the president's talk, and that the effect of his statement is to convey a wrong and injurious impression. While the democratic coterie is making faces, the republicans will go ahead and make a rate bill. That is what the country wants." The Pittsburg Dispatch (Democrat) says: "But Mr. Tillman finds .it a good rule in politics as in business, to take nothing for granted. He is, therefore, now able to produce the documents giving Mr. Chandler's report of the president's advice sent to Tillman. Mr. Chandler permits negotiations published at the time the exhibit is this publication, thus corroborating the state ments and as they agree with the news of tho impressive. Where Mr. Aldrich is likely to find his joke turned upon himself is in the exposure of senatorial manipulation uncovered In the mud dle. In view of Tillman's disclosures there" cau be no hope that the senators who have misled the president can deceive the country by the same maneuvers." The Buffalo, N. Y., Evening News (Repub lican) snys: "Wrath prevails in democratic sen atorial circles in Washington over the rate bill. A question of veracity is raised between the presi dent and ex-Senator Chandler, as an in dent to the controversy, though there is nothing to that aspect of the case for the reason that in any issue of that kind 'Bill' Chandler hag not a ghost of a show to be credited even though he has written down a volume of what he remembers of conversations! with the. execu tive. Every effort is made to magnify the dis pute over the position of the president on the rate bill because the Tillman leadership has be come a farce and the senate has resumed its sanity along with republican charge of the bill." The Philadelphia Public Ledger (Republican) says: "The democrats have served their pur pose; they were used as a stalking horse; they have been outgeneraled, robbed of an issue and of credit for the enactment of a tremendous piece of" legislation. Naturally they are angry, hut they were playing politics and the president of the United States can play-politics a little better than the democratic senators or the republican senators." The' Topeka Capltali (Republican) says: "A Kansas man brings back word from Washington that tho correspondents laugh in their sleeves at Roosevelt. The Roosevelt belt is said to lie, now, west oft the Mississippi. Still very few people are big enough to -'give the laugh' to the man who, whatever other things he has done, put an end to tho Russo-Jap war and brought six years of peace,in the anthracite coal regions." The Kansas City Post (Democrat) says: "His friends posed him as a man of iron with a back bone of toughest fibre. And so he is when the ,. waters are smooth, and sailing easy." The Topeka, Kans., Herald (Republican) says: "The democrats in the senate like Bailey and Tillman, have been very enthusiastic sup porters and admirers of President Roosevelt so long as he was pursuing a course that meant humiliation and loss of prestige to his own party. But they very promptly changed their tune when he gave his sanction to the policy of the strong conservative leaders of the republican party which insured the passage of a railroad measure by- the republican majority. Now Bailey and Tillman are intimating that the president weak ened on the railroad bill. When the whole situa tion is in plain view, it can be seen that the democratic enthusiasm for railroad legislation has its origin in politics instead of patriotism." The Minneapolis Journal (Republican) says: "The solid fact is that the country is going to have its aspirations for relief from railroad- oppression recognized, and recognized because the president was loyal to the people .and the rate bill up to the very point of breaking twith the majority of his party in the endeavor to get it." The Milwaukee Sentinel (Republican) says: "Mr. Bailey and Mr .Tillman may scold and argue till the crack of doom; but they will make no headway with their hopeless theory of Theodore Roosevelt as an invertobrato animal. The people know bettor." Tho Columbus, Ohio, Press-Post (Democrat) says: "Senator Tillman seems to have obtained possession of 'The Big Stick which President Roosevelt has wielded in such a spectacular man ner for many months. And another thing, tho southern senator seems to have enough witnessog to irovo his just claim not only to tho possession of tho historical Implement but also to his right to wield it on one Theodore Roosevelt, president of the United States, who seems inclined to dodge the attacks of tho implement, which ho has him self used with such evident enjoyment." The Providence Journal saa: "Without ac cusing Mr. Roosevelt of any conscious insincerity, t must be admitted that ho has a habit or talk ng on all sides of the questlon-'thlnklng out loud, his admirers call it. in this way he gives one man to understand that he agrees with him and then assures another, who holds dlrectl op Pob te views, that 'there is much reason in his sayings.' This holding with the hare and running with the hound naturally produces embarrass ment; and when his inconsistency is brought home to him ho 'takes refuge in angry denials of the opinions attributed to hfm." The Boston Post says: "It is very likely that, as Mr. Chandler says, 'the president has acted on Impulse,' and every one knows that Mr. Roose velt is a very impulsive man. As for ox-Senator Chandler it may bo said that, while not lacking in fire he is loss likely to say things and forget things in an Impulsive manner." The Philadelphia Press says: "Mr. Chandler tells Mr. Tillman, according to the latter, that the president in conversation reflected on Senators Spooner and Knox as injuring the rate bill by their attitude and amendments. The president says that he did not. What of It anyway? The fact that the president is in full accord with Senators Spooner and Knox at the end shows tho real truth. Even if the president had said what Mr. Chandler alleges it would signify noth ing. He is to be judged, not by any casual ob servation made under a possible misapprehension, but by the record." The Philadelphia Record says; "But a presi dent who, .insists upon talking a .groat deal with almost everybody on every subject is certain to be misunderstood and misquoted, and his verac ity and good faith will become Involved when ho plots with senators of all groups for the passage of a bill." SPECIAL OFFER Everyone who ayf roves the work The Com moner is doing 'is 'invited to co-operate along the lines of the special subscription offer. Ac cording to the terms of this offer cards each good for one year's subscription to Tho Commoner will be furnished In lots of five, at tho rate of $3 per lot. This places the yearly subscription rate at GO cents. Any one ordering these cards may sell them for $1 each, thus earning a commission of ?2 on each lot sold, or he may sell them at the cost price and find compensation in the fact that he has contributed to the educational campaign. 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