The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-21
CASE OF HENDERSON
REPUBLICANS ANoERED BY HIS
 ACTION.
Spaker's Destination of Nomination Has Enthused the Democrats and Jarred the Members
 of His Own Party.

Washington, Sept. 2o.-(special)-The al-absorbing topic of conversation du- ring the last days of the week has, Of | course. been the declination of David B. Henderson to accept the nomination rendered him for the eleventh successive timc by the Republicans of the Third Congressional District of Iowa. It is likiy that no political event Of the year caused such e genuine sensation as this action of the Speaker of the House of | Representatives.
 or course there have been times in the past when similar moves on tho part of l well known public men have been fol- lowed by statements by other public men to the effect that such declinations. or resfgnations or whatever they happen to be. were entirely unexpected. which state | ments would bear unmistakabIe ear marks of not being genuine. That Is, the people have not been impressed with the belief that the officials and others inter- viewed meant what they said when they said they were surprised.
 But in the present case 1t was entirely | different. There Is absolutely no reason to doubt that everyone interested in the matter. from the President down. was really startled when the wires brought the news that Henderson had declined to again make the race for Congress | The surprising information was first giv- | en to President Roosevelt while he and | Senators Platt of Connecticut, Lodge, Al lison Spooner and Hanna, were still in | conference at Oyster Bay. There is no doubt of that. Neither the President nor his advisers knew anything of the Speakers intentions The statement that he had declined to run came as shock | to all of them and at first they refused to believe that 1t was true.
 On the day following the publication of the letter of declination the opinion was very generally expressed here in | Washington that MT. Henderson would | :'econsider It was argued that he had sent the letter while under the stress of | great excitement, or something of that sort. and that as soon as the gravity of the situation precipitated by his action was pointed out to him. he would find some means of getting the situation back into such condition would warrant him in withdrawing the letter and prom ising to make the race. It was not very clear how this could be done. but Wash ington people expect much of politicians 1 in such matters as this and were conf1- dent that Henderson would be able to discover some loophole in the now fa- nous letter through which he could crawl back into the contest.
 But now all talk of this sort has died away. The papers have printed dis patches show that the Speaker has de- clined all offers to withdraw from his position. notwithstanding the fact that one such letter was signed by the Presi- dent himself.
 All of which has set official Washington | to asking questions The principal one of these questions has been, What was Henderson's real reason for withdrawing from the Congressional race?"
 | Strange as 1t may seem. Republicans and Democrats alike are practically | agreed on the answer to this question: | There are exceptions to this. of course, for there are some among the members of the dominant party who would refuse to acknowledge anything unfavorable to that party even though positive proof was in their hands. But those who hold the opinon that MT. Henderson's letter | gave the real reason for his action are | decidedly In the minority. The con 1 census of opinion seems to be that he withdrew from the race for the very simple reason that he feared he would be defeated in his contest against Horace Boies. the Democratic nominee. and that. even though he should be reelected to Congress. he might be defeated for the Speakership. In the first place, 1t Is known among those who are in possession of some of the inside facts in the case that Henderson has incurred the en- mity of the federal veterans of the Civil War because of his refusal to allow the consideration of legislation having for its purpose the favoring of old soldiers in all government positions. There is a large per centage of these old soldiers in Hem dersons district and there seems to be little doubt that he feared defeat at their hands this fall. especially since the Democratic nominee was possessed of SO many clements of strength. Mir. Boies is popular and his past record Is de- cidedly in his favor, so that on the VI 'e. there is good reason for the be- h,. that Henderson thought the Demo- crats would win. And to be defeated by Democrat would, of course. be about as much as a man like Henderson could bear.
 there was possibility of his being beaten for the Speakership Is. perhaps. less easy | to believe until the seeker after cause . and effect reflects the unusually friendly attitude of the President toward Representative Littlefield of Maine. Of course the idea may be exaggerated, but , the fact remains that since the now famous letter of declination was publish ed several well informed persons have advanced the opinion that the President was disposed to back Littlefield for the Speakership when the next Congress Is organized and that, with such backing, the Maine man would stand a splendid chance of winning the coverted prize. All these surmises. of course. are based on the assumption that the Republicans will win in the Congressional elections this fall, which assumption, incidentally, becomes almost violent in view of tine developments of the past few days. While during the early part of the week a large ma jority of the Republicans were pre- dieting a victory for their side this fall and doing it without any hesitation what ever 1t is not now difficult to find many of the faith of the dominant party who think that they already see on the wall the handwringing which says that their party Is doomed to meet defeat in November. And the Democrats-well, they could hardly be more jubilant. They believe that Henderson's withdrawal not only means that Boies will be elected, but | that q maio''''- of the Democratic can didates all oN n country will he elect ed The ma, tariff and trusts touched on by Mir Henderson in his let ter. brings the issues of the cam paign souarely before the people and dis poses of all criticism of the alleged ef- fort of the Democrats to give the matter "