Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-09-12

Washington, Sept. S.-Nobody doubts
that Vice-President Roosevelt, if he
/ should be called to the white house
would make a clean sweep of the pres
ent cabinet, that he would make revo
lutonary changes in the personnel OF
| officials holding presidential Offices
not alone IN Washington, but all over
the country, that he would immediate
~ enter upon reforms in the war and
| navy departments, with both of which
he has repeatedly quarreled in the
past, and that he would revive ques
lions and issues which have been part
| ly suppressed by the friends of the
| present administration.
! Mr.. Roosevelt's campaign for the
presidential nomination in 1904. which
he has been carrying on with charac.
teristic vigor ever since last March
has committed him to groups of repub.
Gcan politicians all over the country
who have not enjoyed favors at the
hands Of the present administration
1t is recalled that when Chester A. Ar
| thur succeeded President Garfield, fol
lowing the tragic death of that presi-
dent, the first thing he did was to sur
round himself with an entirely new
cabinet. President Johnson followed
the same course after the death of
Lincoln.
1t is true that President Roose-
welt, owing to the short time that has
elapsed since he was inaugurated, has
had none of the friction with this ad-
ministratiOn that Johnson and Arthur
had with Lincoln and Garfield Seem
lngly his relations with the president
have been as cordial as they could be-
But it does not follow that he is as
friendly to Mr.. McKinley's advisers as
he is to the president A cabinet so
completely identified with President
Mckinley as this cabinet has been
would hardly be acceptable to a new
president. Their designations, which
would be presented, as a matter of
courtesy, would be accepted and all
extraordinary session of the senate
called to confirm the nominations of
cabinet officers and such other Off
Gals as the new president might see
fit to appoint.
The president, it is believed,
would feel a sense of keen enjoyment
in accepting the resignation of Secre-
tary Long Of the navy department,
with whom he quarreled almost con-
tinually during the entire period ne
was assistant secretary. His impul-
sive disposition, coupled with his de-
sire to accomplish something tangible
in directing the affairs of the depart
ment brought him into conflict with
Secretary Long frequently. 1t is gen
orally acknowledged that ii the Span
ish war had not happened just at thl
time it did, and thus offered an oppor
tunity for Mr. Roosevelt to organize
his regiment of rough riders, he
would have been forced out of the
navy department by Secretary Long.
Mr.. Roosevelt has never been an adj
mirer of Secretary of State Hay, and
that gentleman would have to surren-
der his portfolio. He has disagreed
with Hay on almost every question
that has received the consideration OF
the state department. He regarded his
course in negotiating the so-called
Hay-Pauncefote treaty as wholly I'M
American, unwise and even unpatriot-
ic. Mr. Roosevelt took his stand with
Senator Lodge of Massachusetts on
this particular bit of diplomacy and is
still in sympathy with the senator's
purpose to demand that the isthmian
canal shall be constructed wholly as
an American waterway without ask
ing the consent of Great Britain or any
other nation.
Indeed, his relations with Senator
Lodge are of such an intimate nature
that there is hardly any reason to
doubt that he would invite the senator
to enter his cabinet as secretary Of
state. Mr.. Roosevelt became candi-
date for vice-president at the urgent
request of Senator Lodge, who assured
him that he was the one man in pub
lie life who could endure being vice
president without injuring his chance
to become president later on
Officeholders in Washington are
afraid that a change in the white
house will mean almost a clean
sweep in Offices that are not protect
ed by civil service. They feel as
sured that the vice-president's polit
ical advisers will exact full recon-
pense for the work they have per-