The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-11

to the pernicious prejudices of partisans in the enemy's ranks or to the inconsid. crate reflections of those who do not un dersfand him. He has reached poinl where he may regard his nomination by his party as settled. and now the next thing is to obtain elecs.ion by the people His first work was with his party-to win Ns greatest prize. the nomination. He reached that goal from the incomparabls vantage point afforded by his ofice-dis- pensing powers.
 His latest task is to convince the people of the United States that he is fit to con tinue President when they have had an opportunity to displace him for possi- ble better man. Having mastered the difficulty of obtaining enough votes tG Convention his attention Is turned to the mightier undertaking of making himself stronger than his party. He knows very well that Mckinley could ,i not have ,n peen sss, two elections among Democrats over the money question. He ks seeking to mSke himself stronger than his party: He has gone after Democratic and independent votes. He has been heard to express the opinion that in the event a Democrat was nominated who represented either of the factions that split them in the last two elections. he would get many ballots from the dissatisfied element.
 The fact Is. President Roosevelt, with this vote-winning purpose designed to gather in all who perchance will be not disposed to support the choice of the next Democratic convention, Is just now cher stunts. s He S saw how v weiI 'i 1t nJ appearea to take with the people when he acted in the anthracite coal strike and he has ever since borne 1t in mind and fondied it as a fine and lustrous stroke of states manship.
 This will account for his proposition that there shall be non-partisan investi- gation of the criminal wickedness in the Postoff1ce Department. It win explain also the pyoposition that the currency partisan commission to be provided by Congress. There Is no doubt that Presi- dent Roosevelt Is man of his own no- tions In this emergency of winning the election. He Is receiving no counsel from the really conspicuous leaders of his party and he Is taking the initiative from among the mediocre crowd of sycophants about him and means to lead to his own triumph. Not forgetting that he has play gram, let 1t be borne in mind that the ides of November. 1904, when all the peo- pie will take hand in the ballot-casting. are yet to come, and the latest twist of Rooseveltism will be apprehended, and approved or discounted, as the case may be.
 But as to how the old parties will take the game of non-partisan executive con- duct is only to be learned by testing Will the President succeed any better than he did with the first Congress with which he had to do? Several things he pointedly asked of 1t which it failed to give him. Now that he means to ask 1t to cast aside it's everyday political clothes and array it. self, as 1t were. in the chaste raiment of non-partisan dress, 1t is all new business the outcome of which 1t is not easy to forecast.
 On the single proposition that the Post. office Department investigation should be the work Of non-partisan commission a member sententiously said to your cor respondent:
 Maybe Mir. Roosevelt can get what he wants if he will eliminate the Democrats and wipe out the Republicans in Con- Pgress."
 That remark would seem to indicate how the non-partisan business strikes the average Congressman.
 R. H. Watkins