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The Press on the Roosevelt-Chandler Episode
Every newspaper lias, of course, something:
to say upon the sensational developments at the
inational capftol, with respect to railway rate
legislation. The following are extracts from some
of the newspapers, and these may be accented as
tfairly representative of the general tone:
The Houston, Texas. Post (Democrat savs
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
slight by challenging the veracity of one of his
ibest friends when every material circumstannG
points unerringly that his friend told nothing
tut the truth.'
The New York World says: "A president
f the United States is ex officio a person of un
mpeachable veracity. When an issue of fact
irises between him and another person the "pre
sumption must, .always be that the other person
iisunderstood? what the president said. A presi
dent of the United Sta'ces is also above political
trickery. When it would seem that he had de
liberately betrayed certain of his followers the
(resumption must always be that they took too
gmuch 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 ho seemed to
want, passed entirely by Republican votes. They
believed he was working for a rate regulation
bijl instead of some sort of tinkered-un measure
f; that would help the Republicans in the fall cam
paign. The Democrats now charge that they have
been tricked by, Mr. Roosevelt. If anybody but
Mr. Roosevelt, had dealt the cards .we might
agre.o with them that the presence, of six aces
in.,t,he,;deck was a suspicious 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 the pack."
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 gone 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 uppn whom he relied when there
was no one pise upon whom to place reliance,
and he has disappointed the rank tand file of
citizens who have taken his square, .dqal conten
tions for sincere convictions. Roosevelt, as he
stands today, is. ijin advocate of the unconditional
right until It cornea to a show-.dbwn, ,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 senate how President Roosevelt,
through ex-Senator Ohandler, negotiated for
Democratic support ,of a real rate bill 4 criticised
Republican railrjoaYT senators by name," and then
himself went over to them "and the cause of the
corporations."
The New Orlpans Times-Democrat (Democrat)
Bays: "For somet reason the opinion is .growing
that for a man'in exalted official 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 rieem to be with the , ex,-Senator.
Tjhere is the manuscript of the attorney general,
for example, which Vas read in the J3ejiate and
which is in the1, ppgsession of the 'South Caro
linian. There is the' record of the rate bill before
the senate and the president's various utterances
en that subject.. The fact that Mr. Moody, the
secretary of the president, entered into the 'con
spiracy' will indicate to the impartial mind that
he did so with the consent arid 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. The probability ia
that there Is some fundation 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 the
impressive. Where Mr. Aldrich is likely to iind
his joke turned upon himself is in the exposure
of senatorial manipulation uncovered in the mud
dle. In view of Tillman's disclosures there" can
Mie 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) says: "Wrath prevails in democratic senatorial-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 conversational 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
The' Topeka Capital (Republican) says: "A
Kansas man brings back word from Washington
that the correspondents laugh in their sleeves at
Roosevelt.' The Roosevelt belt is said to lie, now,
west "ofc the Mississippi. Still very few people-are
big enough to -'give tba laugh' to the man who,
whatever other things he has done, put an end
to the Russo-Jap war and brought six years of
peacein: the anthracite coal regions."
The Kansas City Post (Democrat) says: "His
Jfriends 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
re'eognteed, and recognised 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
Roosovolt as an Invertobrato animal. The peoplo
know bettor."
Tho Columbus, Ohio, Press-Post (Democrat)
flays: "Senator Tillman seems to have obtained
possession of 'Tho Big Stick which President
Roosovolt has wielded in such a spectacular man
ner for many months. And another thing, tho
southern senator seems to have enough witnessoi
. ffovo hIs iUBt cla,m not ouly t0 tho possession
of the historical implement but also to his right
to wield it on one Theodore Roosovolt, prosident
of the United States, who seems inclined to dodge
the attacks of the implement, which ho has him
self used with such evident enjoyment."
The Providence Journal sns: "Without ac
cusing Mr. Roosevelt of any conscious Insincerity,
c must be admitted that ho has a habit or talk
ng on all sides of the question 'thinking out
loud,' his admirers call it. in this way he gives
one man to understand that ho agrees with him
and then assures another, who holds directly op
posite 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 Ib brought
homo to him ho takes refuge in angry .denials of
the opinions attributed to hjm."
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 ex-Senafor
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. Tho 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
the real truth. Even If the president had said
what Mr. Chandler alleges It would, signify noth
ing. He is to bo judged, not by any casual ob
servation made wider a possible misapprehension,
but by the record."
The Philadelphia Record says; "But a presi
dent who, insists upon talking a .great 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."
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