The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-26
POLITICAL POINTS

the stage and therefore Force him 10 DC come candidate against Rooseven' These stories have come more or less di- | rectly from two persons whose names l could mention, and who are unfortunateiy | more or less close to Senator Hanna, put | who do not, as know, represent his views | at all.
 l Various persons for purely selfish req l sons have been busily engaged for weeks | and months in endeayoring to create breach in some way between President l Roosevelt and Senator Hanna. The mo- l tives of these, persons are often curious l and different. There is little crowd or | small bore politicians. all of whom hall | from Ohio, and who were to a certain ex- l tent natural benefciaries of the original l Mckinley movement, who, not being able
 to escape from their own diminished hori. l zon. they have conceived the idea that l they might add to their own fortunes by securing the nomination Of another Ohio | President in place of Roosevelt. It is this little coterie, have been informed, whicn has gone so far as to send absurd type written letters to disaffected white Re- publicans, and some ignorant black ones in the South. The reflex of these letters already has appeared in Southern Demo- cratic newspapers. and this is exactly was aiming at.
 There is a small contineent of more or less particular friends of President Roose- welt which has been making trouble by bringing to the White House mysterious intimations of plotting going on in behalf
 
 people in entirely negative. They fear their influence with the President will be diminished in case he should strike up a close friendship with So strong chaI- acter as the Senator from Ohio. These people conceive 1t to be for their own in- terest to keep Roosevelt And Hanna as far apart as possible, and they are largely resp9nsele sIS for a many hs current stories newspapers controlled absolutely by this element in the party.
 All these are side currents in the polit- ical ocean. The great gulf stream which is fomenting the talk of Senator Hanna as an adversary of the President flows directly from a vast circle of boodling politicians. most of whom live in South ern States. They are not any more inter- ested in Hanna than they are in Roose- welt What they want is contest, be- cause without contest the States or dis tricts they assume to control have no pe- cuniary or political value
 Southern Republican politicians, few whites and many blacks have nothing to live for so long as there is only one can didate for the Presidency within the party line They were bitterly disappointed be- cause William Mckinley was nominated by exclamation at Philadelphia, and on general principles they would be glad to have a law passed forbiddihg all nom- nations by exclamation. Throughout the Southern States, without a single excep- ton. this poodle element is doing its best to provoke some kind of opposition to
 
 couraged the Hanna boom as something strictly within the line of their own bus mess. '
 This does not mean there is not genuine admiration for the resourceful, bold, and blunt Ohio Senator. Every politician re- cognizes this fact. Senator Hanna has grown wonderfully in the affections of the American people, and If, as an original proposition, he had entered into the fight for the nomination with Roosevelt he would have made things interesting, to say the least.
 I have no possible authority to spea ' for Senator Hanna, but I believe am correct in saying that he personally re- sents this talk about his candidacy, and there is scarcely contingency under the present conditions which would induce him to become candidate against the President. MT. Hanna opposed a pledge by Ohio to the President simply because such a course was not in harmony in any way with the ordinary political meth ods. He knew one State Convention could not bind another and he did not wish Ohio to tie itself hand and foot so far in advance of the time when any decision as to the Presidential nomination would be- come necessary.
 have the strongest nossihle reasons to believe that Senator Hanna is generc,, loyal to the President, aId he never has made the slightest plan to secure the Presidency for himself. Not only is he not responsible for the current stories, but he certainly feels they are calculated to put him in the position of contemplating unusual treachery. His personal friends all declare Senator Hanna has been giv- ing President Roosevelt all the weight Of his personal support in and out of the Senate. There have been differences of opinion between the men, but there never has been a time when there were indica- tions of a rupture.
 In spite of afforts to make trouble, they have been drifting steadily together in- stead of drifting apart, and probably un- derstand each other better than they did Av-Aa Committed meets on December Il it is quite probable that Senator Hanna will take occasion to make his position per- fectly clear and to show he Is not, has not been. and will not be a candidate for the Presidency.
 At this same meeting also it is believed something will take place which probably will indicate the choice of the leaders for the second time on the ticket. The Pres ident's closest friends and advisers unite in saying that Senator Hanna can name the man for second place if he so desires. There is an apparent trend of sentiment here towards Senator Fairbanks. The names of four Western Governors, Her rick. Durbin, Van Sant, and Cummins, have been suggested from time to time, but no one of them appears to arouse any extravagant amount of enthusiasm. The Fairbanks talk, however, recnrs again and again, and appears to have a per- manency not possessed by the mention of any other of the candidates. It is sad that Senator Fairbanks will be slow to accept the place, but his colleagues in the Senate certainly would exercise upon him the strongest kind of influence, because they naturally would prefer one of tn .r own number as presiding officer. On all sides there is a feeling that President Roosevelt would strengthen himself if he could have as his running mate some man who was closely identified with Mo inleys interests.
 Herrck and Fairbanks were both conf dential friends of the martyred President, Hnrptnk n " banks is an older head and would cer- tainly attract the support of a great many people who have been taught to believe President Roosevelt is unduly impetuouI, but who would be more than satisfied to vote for so conservative a man and so aoic a representatlve of the great commercial