The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-03
CROWL AT ROOSEVELT
WALL STREET 1rAoNATEs SAID
 TO OPPOSE HIM.
Make Threat of Revenge-Talk of Fighting His Denomination and Arrayfng the State
 Against Him.


 Chicago Record-Herald.
 Over in Washington we have heard a good many reports from New fork recently about opposition to the renomi- nation of President Roosevelt among the business element and many predictions that even if he secures the support of the delegation from the State to the National Convention he cannot carry 1t at out the electoral vote of New York no candidate can be elected.
 Colonel Kitchener of Indiana, who spent several days in this city last week and talked politics with a number of Republi- can leaders as we'll as business men, told me that he was very much impressed with the extent and force of this hostility. and has advised those who are supposed to be looking after the political interests of the President that the fences of his own State should be immediately repair- ed. The grounds of objection to the President, both among the politicians and the business community, seem to be vague and unreasonable. Colonel Miche- ner says. and 1t required good deal of close questioning to draw them out. The general sentiment. however. seems to be based upon his hostility to the trusts. and much of 1t can be traced directly to the decision of the courts in the Great North ern merger case. At the same time 1t Is admitted that President Roosevelt had nothing whatever to do with the enact ment of the law upon which that decision was based. and that the legal advisers of MT. Hill warned him that the scheme was illegal before he began to carry it into effect.
 The President is responsible, no doubt in measure for pushing the matter be- fore the courts, although the litigation originated in the State of Minnesota. and the initiative was taken by Governor Van Zandt. Attorney General Knox and his associates in the Department of Justice have certainly pushed matters with con- siderable energy with the Presidents ap- provai. and he has been exceedingly anxious to obtain judicial opinion upon the legality of the consolidation. of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads. He may, therefore, be considered particeps criminis. although he could not have stopped the litigation even If he had desired to do so Hence 1t seems un- reasonable to blame him for the decision of the courts. A number of able lawyers still believe that the Supreme Court will reverse the decision, but that would not increase the popularity of the fresident among the population of Wall Street.
 It Is quite singular, but no more un- reasonable for Mir. Roosevelt's critics to express a preference for Senator Hanna as Presidential candidate Almost every time you ask one of them what Republican he woud prefer, he will reply, Somebody like Hanna Yet Mir. Han na was a member of the committee that framed the anti trust legislation enacted by the last Congress and a member of the conference which finally decided upon its terms. MT. Hanna is in full sympathy with the President in this matter, and is quite as guilty of the crime of which the President is accused. No other Re- publican Is mentioned, and when you ask If Fairbanks or Sponer would be accepta- ble. the millionaires and the mono- polists seem to have very little knowl- edge or opinion of either of them
 | ar ,l.s. .I~.. AA-A the octopii and vampires of Wall Street are lambasting the President because the antitrust legislation nnd policy of the administration has been so thorough and severe. MT. Bryan and other Democrats are ridiculing it as an empty pretense and Bryan could hear some of the octopii talk he would suspect that there Is a mistake somewhere and migu. change his opinion as to the humbugging part of the busi- ness.
 When you get down to business and ask what the Presidents opponents intend to do to defeat his nomination and election they will tell you first that the Repub- ltcan national committee will not be able to collect any funds in business circles, and, second that the railroad influence throughout the country will be used against him. Details are not given, but only the general threat that unless he
 
 disposition toward the money interests and business interests of the country the railway kings will organize their em- ployes against him.
 According to the census there are ESQ., 472 men employed upon the various trans portation lines in this country, including cleaners as well as railways, and of course, 1t would be a tremendous force if they could all be arrayed against the President. But, notwithstanding the in- dignation and the expectation of the Presidents critics in this particular, l happen to know that the presidents of several of the largest railway combina- tions in the United States are his warm friends and supporters. They believe that the decision in the Great Northern merger case was not only in accordance with the law as defined to Mir Hill before attempted, but they also believe that its effect upon the transportation problem will be wholesome and beneficial. If MT Cassatt of the Pennsylvant Railroad or MT. Hughitt of the Northwestern or Senator Depew or MT. Ripley of the Santa Fe, for example, would allow them selves to he interviewed on this subject they might surprise people by the express sion of unexpected opinions. MT. Hin was forewarned that he was viola ting the law, and took his chances like the brave man that he Is. Plerpont Morgan's attorneys are said long ago to have prepared for his information and guidance a very able and comprehensive opinion on the sub ject which is now tucked away in one of the pigeon-holes of his desk, and if he read It carefully, as he probably did, he should not have been surprised by the decision of the court. This opinion. knowing Wall Street men will tell you induced MT. Morgan to postpone a similar merger of Southern railways which he controls