The Portland daily press., 1900-06-19

tie. Banners are dipped before his por
trait and the mention of his name arouses
enthusiasm. When Senator Foraker con-
cludes his peroration in the convention
ON Wednesday, storm wild and tenn
pcstous will shake the great hall.
But that outburst of enthusiasm viii
be only the forerunner OF tthe pande-
monium that will reign II Roosevelt
should be named to stand beside him in
the coming battle. The stampede in his
favor started yesterday and threw the town
into dellrium. II swept through the deli
egatlons who had come here with favor
lite sons to present. like prairie fire.
Like an immense tidal wave 1t bore
down everything before it. The booms
Of the other candidates collaped like egg
shells when 10 struck them. The secret
was not hard to find. Not Platt and
Quay whose object was to humiliate
Hanna could claim the victory. They
might congratulate themselves that 1t
was their work. But they welded no
magic wand. The secret lay deep in the
hearts Of the Republicans Of the country.
Roose velts name, unlike that OF other
candidates, instantly struck a respon-
sive chord in the popular breast. 1t cap
tured the heart OF the convention. IL
mattered nothing to the rank and file
that Hanna and Allison and Grosvenor
and Thurston and others felt chagrined,
and strained every nerve to stamp out the
fire. 1t mattered not that even Roose-
welt and his friends poured water ON it.
Their efforts were as futile as hand
grenades against n eonflagration. The
people would hear OF no one else. They
wore his picture; they shouted his name
They considered him today as already
nominated. The town was Roosevelt
mad.
The Governor himself was sincerely
anxious TO avoid the nomination. Some
of the friends of the other candidates
emblttered by the havoc his sudden ap-
prearance created with the prospects of
their favorites were harsh enough to in
innate that he had been flirting with the
situation from the first. But his closest
friends knew that honestly he wanted
none of 1t. He appealed to them to stem
the tide and they did what they could,
reinforced at every point by Hanna and
his lieutenants. Gen. Greene in his be-
half, even called upon delegations and
in his name asked them not to support |
him. But the temper of the convention |
was undeniable. Human nature has its /
limits, so at 4 O'Clock this afternoon, af
ter day of terrific pressure from both
sides, Roosevelt issued q statement. |
Though it thrust aside the crown in
words, 1t is regarded as a virtual surren-
der to the will Of the convention.
The inside history of the struggle
which preceded Rooseyelt's announce
nent, the secret conferences of Hanna
and his friends, the joint conferences
and even threats that We're said
to have been used, viii make chapter
forever memorable in convention au-
nails.
Every sort Of story was anoat. 1t was
said that Hanna served notice that Roose-
velt's candidacy although 1t would have
been eminently acceptable at first, put
as 1t was by the enemies of the
did not meet now with
appr oval and that the fight would be
carried to the last ditch. Roosevelt was
said TO have been told by his friends that
to yield would be to stand in his own
light as candidate for President four
years hence; that the Vice Presidency
was political graveyard from which he
could never be resurrected. His place,
they urged, was at the head Of the ticket /
In New York again this fall. In the last
Roosevelt concurred. On the
other hand ii was said Platt emissaries
argued that to turn his hack on the man