The Peril and Promise of The Present. The exposures, happily, have been so complete and incontestible in character that the old refuge of denunciation and vituperation, under which the criminal rich so long took shelter, no longer affords protection. Moreover, the people are at last awakening; but since the lid has been lifted and the guilty can no longer divert attention by denouncing the reformers, new cries are being raised. We are told that the people are tired of exposures, that the nation desires that silence shall follow the revelations. Mark the fact: the demand is not that those proven to be chronic law-breakers and plunderers of the millions be sent to the penitentiary. Nor is it urged that laws be passed to better safeguard the people. Instead, the great criminals and their army of retainers and servitors have raised the cry, "Let us alone!" and frequently this cry is accompanied by the threat that they will wreak their vengeance on the people if any effective attempts are made to punish those caught red-handed in the commission of crime. The hope of the enemies of the Republic lies in stopping the agitation before any effective measures to meet the giant evil have been enacted.

If the lid can now be put on; if some pseudo or pretended reforms can be substituted for real and efficient remedies; and if the great criminal and corrupt bosses can compass the election of some one who, while pretending to favor the people, is satisfactory to the so-called "interests" or the corrupt feudalism of privileged wealth, the Republic will be in graver danger than ever before and the prospect of a recrudescence of democracy through peaceful means, or a return of a government of, for and by the people, in place of the present government of corporations through political bosses and moneycontrolled machines, without the shock of force, will be far less probable than at any preceding period. No one knows this fact better than the criminal rich who are to-day so brazenly demanding a cessation of exposures and of the prosecution of the great law

breakers.

On the other hand, if the lid can be kept off, if there is no cessation in the work of unmasking evil conditions till the public sentiment is so aroused that no half-way measures will be tolerated, a great step will be taken in the interests of democracy.

But the present demands more than

mere exposures. They are vitally necessary, but they must be complemented by fundamental measures to root out the evils and by the election of statesmen who not only are honest and loyal to the people, but who see the root causes of the evils and who have the moral courage to stand resolutely for genuine and not make-believe remedies.

In these things lies the promise of the future. There can be no doubt but what the people are rapidly awakening. A new and a great hope is filling the minds of millions. Moral idealism is again taking possession of the brain and heart. But the hour is as crucial as any in the history of the Republic, and for those who still believe that democracy or a genuinely popular government can yet be rewon for the people without force or bloodshed, it is impossible to overestimate the momentous character of the present struggle. It is therefore well that we have a strong, fearless and thoughtful writer making the quest for a real Moses for the present crisis.

President Roosevelt Under The
Searchlight.

Mr. Steffens begins his search for a statesman wise and brave enough to meet the present crisis, by a vivid pen-picture of President Roosevelt as he has known him since he entered political life as a New York police commissioner. It is fortunate for the President that the writer is a strong friend and admirer of Mr. Roosevelt. It is fortunate for the cause of truth that Mr. Steffens' close observation of the President during his public career has been complemented by a series of personal interviews stretching over a number of years and capped by a recent conversation in which the vital question under consideration was fully canvassed. And finally, it is fortunate for the Republic that the interviewer is not one of those blind Roosevelt angel-painters of the Jacob Riis variety, but instead he is enough of a patriot to place the nation's weal above personal admiration; enough of a philosophic statesman in spirit to follow the trail of corruption to its common source privilege, which enables the few to levy tribute on the many, and especially that most odious form of privilege that gives to the few monopoly rights in great public utilities or natural monopolies which are essential for the needs-monopoly rights which enable cunning, unscrupul

ous and daring buccaneers of commerce to plunder the producing and consuming millions at will by extortionate rates, by stockwatering, legislative protection and legal immunities, extortionate salaries to favored officials, and various other unjust and morally criminal practices.

Mr. Steffens' long years of search into the conditions productive of corruption, graft and the deterioration of moral idealism in American municipalities and the Republic at large, have made him an expert in this realm. His superb courage in uncovering iniquity and showing the real source of public corruption has already made him a marked man among the criminal rich and republicwreckers.

In making his study of Mr. Roosevelt the writer throws some luminous side-lights on the President's mental make-up and his actions in certain critical moments, that will explain much to thousands who have been greatly perplexed at the President's vacillation, shifty actions and compromising in moments of victory from time to time.

Mr. Steffens quotes from an interview with the President in which the latter declared that he does not claim to represent public opinion. “I am no demagogue," exclaimed the Chief Magistrate. "The public interest, not public opinion, is my guide."

The question naturally arises in the minds of many readers at this point: Is not that precisely what the Emperor William would have replied if the same question had been asked him? And if public opinion or the people's wishes and desires are not to be considered by the Chief Magistrate or the people's servants, what becomes of popular rule? What differentiates a Republic from a monarchal despotism, in so far as the obligations of the public servants are concerned? Mr. Steffens does not seem to realize this vital fact, perhaps because another fundamental weakness of a more personal character as it relates to President Roosevelt is at once suggested to his mind as he proceeds to consider this declaration in its bearing upon Mr. Roosevelt and the present crisis. "The leader," he holds, who follows this doctrine, "should have either a pretty definite philosophy of the philosophy of the common good or a substitute. Mr. Roosevelt has the substitute. He is no philosopher, as he well knows.

"His is not that sort of mind, he said, when

I asked him my leading question. He admitted that he does n't know what the matter is, fundamentally; and that he does not know what to do about it, fundamentally. He wishes he did. . . . He bent forward in the attitude of attack.

"All my life,' he said, 'I have been striking at evils; here; there; wherever they have shown a head to hit, there I have struck, and with all my might."

The President in this declaration states only a half-truth. He has attacked more or less resolutely many evils, when his own friends were not supposed to be implicated and when his own interests would not be jeopardized; and when the political machine has not been antagonizing him, he has been strangely solicitous for its safety. One or two instances of scores that might be cited will serve to illustrate this fact.

When Mr. Parker, speaking by the cards, charged that great corporate interests were contributing to Mr. Roosevelt's campaign fund, the President, though his own intimate friend and a member of his own cabinet, Mr. Cortelyou, was the fat-frying campaign collector, promptly, circumstantially and savagely denied the charge. No more positive denial could have been framed than was made by President Roosevelt when he threw the lie direct into the teeth of his opponent. Yet after the election, when official investigations showed that Mr. Parker's statement had been absolutely true and that interested officials of the great insurance corporations had wrongfully mulcted the treasuries of their companies of the trust funds to further the Republican party, did Mr. Roosevelt punish Mr. Cortelyou for falsifying to him in regard to this serious question? No. Mr. Cortelyou was promoted from PostmasterGeneral to the most important position in the Cabinet, with the possible exception of that of the State portfolio, which was already held by a gentleman who had long been the most active and efficient handy-man of the law-defying bosses and corporation interests in the nation's metropolis.

Again, no man has ever more savagely denounced the secret rebates and rebaters than President Roosevelt, yet he gave a cabinet position to one of the most successful rebaters in the land, and when the facts given under oath were brought to the public before the Interstate Commerce Commission, including Mr. Paul Morton's own damaging admis

sions, which proved how he had systematically indulged in rebating for the benefit of his railroad, President Roosevelt promptly gave him a clean bill of health.

Similar cases might be multiplied. These, however, will serve to show that the President has been far more discriminating in his hitting at evils and evil-doers than he would have the public believe.

But the most important revelation made in the above extract is the fact that the President is not a philosophic statesman; that he is painfully superficial; that he is ignorant of the fundamental causes of present evil conditions, after all his years of political life, in which, at first, he appeared in the rôle of the enemy of corrupt machines and political rings; later as a defender and beneficiary of the organization. Yet he confesses to ignorance as to fundamental causes and, remedies. This confession is almost incredible. It shows an ignorance that is exceptional among intelligent students of political conditions who do not hold briefs for great corporations and the political bosses who manipulate the money-controlled machines. Further light on the superficial character of the President's statesmanship is shown in the following extract from one of Mr. Steffens' interviews with Mr. Roosevelt. This paragraph is also interesting as giving the genesis of the famous "square deal" phrase. Mr. Steffens describes how during the Roosevelt-Parker campaign he called on the President to try to persuade him to ask the people instead of the corporations to contribute to his campaign fund. He found the President interested in political, but not at all in economic problems underlying political questions. And he then uttered this reproach:

"Mr. President, I do n't believe you will ever solve any of our real problems. You merely stand for a square deal.'

"Down came his fist upon the desk. He sprang to his feet. He had n't heard or he did n't heed the reproach. No, this man of action seized, as he always does seize out of books and men, that which he had use for, and that alone.

"That's it,' he exclaimed. 'A square deal. That's exactly what I do stand for. And I shall say so in my next public utterance.' "And he did. His next public statement was his famous reply to Mr. Parker, and he wound it up with 'a square deal.

Mr. Steffens feels that the President, blindly striking at evils instead of battling against the fundamental evil, represents the great masses of American people. They, too, have no clear idea of the underlying or fundamental cause of evil conditions. But the case is not the same, for the people have long been confused by the "kept" editors and other hired agents of the "interests," and they have not been behind the scenes as has President Roosevelt. On the subject of attacking the consequences rather than battling against causes, Mr. Steffens observes:

"What are good men doing, separately, everywhcse? Like the President, they are hitting at heads, striking at evils. Who is looking for that Evil which is the source of all our superficial evils? No one. are all fighting the consequences, not the causes of our corruption. In one place the reformers are closing saloons; in another they are trying (in vain) to send big rascals to jail; in still others they are beating the boss. Good work, yes, but who is dealing with the system that supports the liquor interest and causes intemperance? Who is proposing to deliver from temptation the men who offer bribes and take them? A few men are just beginning to look behind the political boss to the business bosses who 'keep' the organization. How many are asking what it is that turns our ablest and most courageous business leaders into enemies of the republic?

"Half a dozen. And the President is not of them. I put my favorite question to him one evening, and he listened to it, sunk deep in his chair. Here it is:

"What does it mean that in all our citiesall that I have studied-the public-service corporations are the principal sources of political corruption?'

"He did n't know."

The case of the average man on the street and that of the President are in no way analogous. Everything that a prostituted press could do, everything that political machines could achieve and that the money of the privileged interests could accomplish to influence public opinion has been employed with the one object in view of misleading and confusing the people. The position of the

millions has been that of an audience in front of a company of jugglers who by the aid of confederates and assistants behind the scenes are able to mystify and perplex the audience at every turn. But President Roosevelt

has been behind the scenes for years. He knows as well as does Lincoln Steffens or any other intelligent student of political evils who has come into intimate touch with present-day political life, that the corrupt political rings derive their sustenance from corrupt business rings seeking privileges at the expense of the people; that the success of of the corrupt boss depends on the money he receives from the enemies of the Republic for the making effective of the money-controlled machine.

The time might have been when Mr. Roosevelt did not know this; but is there any friend of the President in the land to-day who imagines that he is so feeble-minded that he does not know these things? Indeed, Mr. Steffens cites an incident that occurred years ago that would have opened the eyes of any man who wished to see.

He shows how Mr. Roosevelt was approached when young in politics, by the offer of a bribe in the form of a most advantageous business connection or legal partnership, if he would stop fighting the political ring. It was all right "if he was only seeking applause or political promotion," to use Mr. Steffens' words. "But if he was sincere, he ought to wake up and realize that the 'political ring' he talked about was only part of a business ring, and that this big business ring controlled everything worth having in life in New York: political offices, business opportunities, big retainers in the law, social position-everything, and that he could n't get anywhere without 'standing in"." Roosevelt in that day had not been seduced. He had not yet become an opportunist politician. Mr. Steffens cites another incident which it seems would have opened the eyes of any one who did not wish to be blind, but space prevents our noticing it at length.

beat a few bad measures; passed a few good ones, and I satisfied nobody; neither my party, nor the reformers, nor myself. So I made up my mind that I, Theodore Roosevelt, the man, could do nothing in this world; but that as one among many, as a politician, with a party back of me, I might do something, by choosing among the good things those which might be put through, and among the bad things those which might be beaten.

Here we find the statesman becoming the opportunist politician. Here we have the key to Rooseveltism and the chief reason why a very large section of the plutocracy has always been staunch for Roosevelt. And this also explains why Roosevelt, while pretending to want real reform, has eschewed real reformers in selecting his counselors. Men like LaFollette and Governor Cummins have been passed over and in their stead he has selected Root, Cortelyou, Taft, Bacon, Knox, Lodge, Spooner, and others who have been either master bosses or leading handymen for the law-defying corporations.

When Mr. Steffens recently tried to drive home to the reason and conscience of the President the fact that it is the "system" that must be fought, the President refused to see the obvious fact-the "one thing" to be attacked. And finally he displayed something of the spirit of the much-despised mollycoddle. It was after he refused to see what is so clear to almost every one else who wants to see and who has the slightest knowledge of the actual political conditions.

"He started at me fiercely," says Mr. Steffens. "How can a man fight that?””

Strange question, Mr. President, for you to ask. Senator La Follette has eloquently answered the question; so has Mayor Tom L. Johnson; so has Governor Folk, and so have other great statesmen under the compulsion of moral idealism and faith in the people and the eternal ethical verities. what is more, these men have not only shown how a man can fight "that," but they have successfully fought what Mr. Roosevelt terms "that."

And

master evils and injustices of the day is equally true. And Mr. Steffens' friendship for Mr. Roosevelt, extending over fifteen years, though it does not blind him to some of the President's glaring weaknesses and inconsistencies, is shown in the tribute he pays to Mr. Roosevelt when in the concluding part of his sketch he says:

"The President, then, is simply the greatest of those blind but loyal political leaders whom a blind but encouraged democracy has raised up here and there to lead our first random, reconnoitering charges against the organization of abuses that has taken the place of representative government in the United States. . . . Theodore Roosevelt will Theodore Roosevelt will go down through history as a great democratic leader rather than a great President."

We cannot agree with Mr. Steffens' opinion that Theodore Roosevelt will be known to history as a democratic leader. He has been one of many awakeners of a sleeping nation, but he has been more of a reactionary than a democrat, and, as Mr. Steffens has clearly shown, he himself confesses ignorance of the fundamental causes of and remedies for present-day evils; while he has elected to be an opportunist politician fighting with the money-controlled machine and selecting such reactionary counselors as Root, Cortelyou, Bonaparte, Taft, Bacon, Knox, Spooner and Lodge, rather than leaguing himself with the incorruptible and morally courageous champions of the people against the law-defying and criminal corporations and privileged interests known as the "system." Hence we cannot predict that Mr. Roosevelt in history will be recognized as a democratic leader.

In this connection it is well to observe that Mr. Steffens, even when he quotes from those he interviews, states that he wishes to "insist not on the language, which I am not precise about, but only upon the general ideas suggested to the reader. And there again, my purpose is not only to give the best thought of the man I quote, but to set people thinking for themselves."

Mr. Taft: The Typical Opportunist
Politician.

From Mr. Roosevelt we turn to the man whom the President has selected as his successor; and at the very outset, before noticing Mr. Steffens' characterization and his report of interviews with the Secretary of War, it is well to call to mind certain facts.

All persons who have studied present-day political conditions must have been impressed with the circumstance that since the modern commercial feudalism has arisen and has set out to conquer and gain complete control of the government, the corporation influences, including the political boss, the controlled press and the handy-men of the "interests" are all a unit in opposing any statesman who they find cannot be seduced or swerved from loyalty to the demands of fundamental democracy and the rights of all the people. The only apparent exception to this rule is found where certain political bosses find that an incorruptible popular leader is probably going to win in spite of the opposition, and they desire to be found on the winning side, or when they pretend to favor the popular leader only to knife him when the opportunity is offered.

Now there are and have been many men who pretend to be honest representatives of fundamental democracy and popular rights and who have been very lavish in fair promises, who have, notwithstanding all this, been loyally and efficiently supported by great political bosses, corrupt corporations and their handy-men. But this is because predatory wealth has no fear of these popular champions.

Now among the rank and file of plutocracy's minions, among the great privileged interests, the public-service corporations, trusts and monopolies, the masters of the money-controlled machines, the political bosses and corporation handy-men, the "kept" editors and the apologists for the "system," we find no single voice raised in aggressive advocacy of Senator La Follette, of Mr. Bryan, of Mayor Tom L. Johnson or of Governor Folk. And why? Because the plutocracy understands perfectly well that what these men say they mean; that they are not opportunist politicians; that they are neither fundamentally reactionary nor statesmen who will put the party machine or personal considerations above the rights of the people, above justice and the ideal of equality of opportunities and of rights. With this fact in view, it is very significant that the most notorious political boss in America to-day, Cox of Ohio, is the most active and aggressive champion of Secretary Taft in the Buckeye State. In Massachusetts Boss Lodge, the loved one of the privileged interests of the Bay State, and Samuel Powers, the well-known handy.