The age-herald., 1898-08-09
R. A. ALGER VS.
 THEO. ROOSEVELT
BY ARCHIBALD W. BUTT.

where the fight between Secretary Alger and Colonel Roosevelt is going to end and i what political changes il will bring about 1 or what futures mar, if not completely ruin.
 l At present the friends of Roosevelt have the whip handle and there will be no ef- i fort spared to shove Secretary Alger from l the cabinet The fact that the letter was a personal one to the secretary and was
 written in a confidential vein, makes 1t appear that the secretary acted in bad l faith if not through spite in making it i public. There is nothing too hard which l is not being said against Alger just at pres l ent in some quarters. General Alger has l not been popular member of the cabinet, and since it was known that he had been called into McKinleys council there have l been detractors who have been predicting l his undoing and by his own methods. All ger is somewhat of fox. He runs pretty fast and often takes queer turns and rounds strange fields. Every act of his has been under suspicion, and he has been watched with argus eyes. He got a bad reputation in timber deals in Michigan, and, by the way, General Shafter was mixed up in these as his partner. But beyond talk there was noth- ing more for his enemies to take hold or, and after trying unnecessarily to smtrch l his military record, he rode into public office. little lame in public confidence 1t must be admitted, however.
 When war was declared his enemies seized on the old feud between him and General Merritt to show his smalness of character by pointing out the fact that the secretary was using his office to revenge himself upon the erstwhile enemy.
 General Alger met this attack by urging the appointment of Merritt to command the expedition to the Philippines, one of the most important details of the war. But the enemies of Alger still kept on the track, and when contracts began to be let they dropped hints that the administra- tion had better keep it's eye on Alger. Up to date there has nothing come out here. As far as is known Secretary Alger has Kept himself above suspicion. but he has not escaped calumny. Now that some thing is at last fastened upon him, 1t might be well to know something of the inside history to 1t all in order to be un- biasedin passing an opinion upon the men. When the army gets down on a man they are flends in pursuing him. Alger has not a frank ktNay with him, and one easily be- comes prejudiced against him. The friends of Roosevelt will be re-enforced by the enmies of Alger, not because they hate Roosevelt less, but that they hate Alger more.
 There are a lot of good things to be said of Alger, but we are now only looking for the worse. Every one is looking for the best in Teddy Roosevelt. The impression is being created that he is being perse- cuted. Well, Roosevelt is capable of per- scouting others, but not of being perse cuted. Hehas a way of wanting to be the w,;oie thing. It was so when he was in the civil service commission and again when police commissioner. He has a way of throwing away the lemon just before the last particle of juice is extracted. He was made assistant secretary of the navy, played leading role-in fact hogged the stage to that extent when it might have been imagined that he was the only sou brette on it and that Long was a piece of stage furniture merely. He did efficient work no doubt and for many reasons 1t would have been well had he continued there. Then he took up the role of soldier and strutted his time there, and after the fall of Santiago he wept for other fields to conquer. In spite of the fact that he says his men were in almost a dying con- dition, he asked for them to be sent to Porto Rico. Not accomplishing this, he got up the Round Robin that portrayed ls,a ta tba al that his men be brought home at once. The juice was all out of the Santiago lemon and the skin was no longer any good. It was proper enough for him to want to go Santiago, but there was ho need to employ the means he did to get there. Secretary Alger was out of humor with him more on account of the Round Robin than anything else. His protest was re- garded as a slur upon the war depart ment and an attempt to smirch its man. agement.
 Everybody within the next two or three weeks will shy one brick at Alger for luck, but there are two sides to every tale of woe. I believe that Alger will be made the scape-goat. In the first place, Roose- welt has the ear and heart of all the peri odicals in the country. The newspapers will be generally divided, though it is fact that most of the correspondents in Washington have espoused the cause of the Rough Rider The average corre- spondent, however, is usually against those highest in office. They are the easiest at- tackled
 The controversy will prove an important one, if not historical one in the re- publican party. From now on there will be two factions with the official party here, and it would seem they are to be ir- reconcilable Roosevelt wants to be gov- ernor of New York, and Tom Platt don't want him to be, for the reason chiefly that Roosevelt has little respect for bosses. AL ger and Platt great friends, and the latter has led Alger to believe, so I am told, that he can some day get the nomi- nation for president One New Yorker said the other day:
 At present Platt is leading Alger in green pastures and by still waters; but