The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-05-02
" ALL STREET
DISLJKES TEDDY
His Stand on the Railroad Merger
Has Made Him Unpopular
There.
Prediction Is Made That He Cannot
Carry New York for Re-
election.
Hanna Is the Choice of the Capital
istic Republican Element
for President.
New York Sun Special Service.

New York Sun Special Service.
Chicago, May 2.-Willam e. Curtis in
a New York special to the RecOrd-Herald
says:
Over in Washington we have heard a
good many reports from New York recent
ly about opposition to the denomination
Of President Roosevelt among the business
element and many predictions that even
If he secures the support of the delegation
from this state to the national convention,
he cannot carry it at the election-and it
Is assured that without the electoral vote
of New York no candidate can be elected.
Colonel Kitchener of Indiana, who spent
sevral days in this city last week and
talked politics with a number Of repub-
lican leaders as well as business men,
told me that he was very much i'm.
pressed with the extent and force Of this
hostility, and has advised those who
are supposed to be looking after the po-
litical interests Of the president, that
the fences of his own state should be i'm
mediately repaired. The grounds of OBJ
lection to the president both among the
politicians and the business community
seem to be vague and unreasonable, Col
onel Kitchener says, and it required a
good deal of close questioning to draw
them out. The general sentiment, how
ever, seems to be based upon his hostility
to the trusts, and much Of it can be
traced directly to the decision of the
COuilS LII lie CITedI INOTCIeTll merger case.
At the same time, it is admitted that
President Roosevelt had nothing whatever
to do with the enactment Of the law upon
which that decision was based, and that
the legal advisers Of Mr.. Hill warned him
that the scheme was illegal before he be-
gan to carry it into effect.
The president is responsible, no doubt,
in measure for pushing the matter be-
fore the courts altho the litigation
originated in the state of Minnesota and
the initiative was taken by Governor
Van SAINT. Attorney General Knox and
his associates In the department of Justice
have certainly pushed matters with con-
siderable energy with the presidents ap-
prevail and he has been exceedingly anx-
ious to obtain a judicial opinion upon the
legality of the consolidation of the North
ern Pacific and Great Northern roads.
He may, therefore, be considered particeps
criminals, tltho he could have stopped
the litigation even if he had desired to
do so. Hence it seems unreasonable 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 president among the
pGpulationrof Wall street.
It is quite singular, but not I'M
reasonable, for Mr.. Roosevelt's critics to
express a preference for Senator Hanna
as a presidential candidate. Almost every
time you ask one Of them what republican
| he would prefer, he will reply, Somebody
| like Hanna" Yet Mr.. Hanna was a
| member Of the committee that framed the
| antitrust legislation enacted by the last
! congress and a member of the conference
| which finally decided upon it's terms Mr..
| Hanna is in full sympathy with the presi-
| dent in this matter and is quite as guilty
of the crime Of which the president is
accused No other republican is men
toned, and when you ask if Fairbanks
or Spooner would be acceptable, the multi
millionaires and the monopolists seem tc
have very little knowledge or opinion OF
either Of them. It is also somewhat
| singular that while the octopi and yam
pires of Wall street are lambasting the
| president because the antitrust legisla-
ton and policy Of the administration has
been so thoro and severe, Mr.. Bryan and
other democrats are ridiculing it as an
empty pretense and an attempt to humbug
| the people If Mr.. Bryan could hear some
of the octopi talk he would suspect that
| there is mistake somewhere and might
change his opinion as to the hum buggine
part Of the business.