The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-27
UNCovERING THE CANDIDATES.

! names of those who will likely be
/ candidates for the presidential nomina-
| ton in the Democratic National Con-
vention. It has received replies from
! correspondents in all Of the forty-five
states, the correspondent. in most
cases, residing in the principal city OF
| his state.
| One of the things which the let
| ters of these correspondents disclose
! is that about all of the Democrats in
most of the states favor the nominal
! ton of the man who stands the best
chance of carrying New York. An
| other thing is that no Democrat seems
! to think it would be advisable to
| bring Mr.. Bryan to the front in 1904
| The very general sentiment seems to
! be that it would be best to let him
remain in the background during the
next national campaign.
1t seems that there are nine states
that have ''fayorite sons" that is,
each of the nine will bring before the
convention the name of a candidate
for the nomination. This list shows
that the Democratic party is well
supplied with presidential timber.
The candidates which seem to have
the strongest hold upon the Demo-
Gratis are Senator German, Judge
Parker, Mr. Olney and Judge Grey. 1t
| seems to be agreed that Mr.. Olney
will go to the convention with pref
ty nearly the solid support of New
4a
| toned oftener than any other can
didate in the states in which there
is protection sentiment among
Democrats. Judge Grey will have the
support of the Delaware delegation.
There seems to be a widespread feel
ing that he is popular with the labor
! element of the country.
The impression is pretty strong
| among Democrats in some parts of the
! country that Judge Parker can carry
New York if any Democrat can. That
impression is doubtless due to the fact
| that he carried the state once, and
that he is much more popular now
with New Workers than he was then,
mainly because he is better known.
OF course the information furnish
ed by the correspondents of the Times
cannot be regarded as very valuable.
They gave the sentiment among
Democrats in their immediate vicini-
ty. The feeling in st. Louis, for in
| stance, may be very different from
that in other parts of Missouri. The
same may be said in respect to New
Orleans and the rest of Louisiana, or
Atlanta and other parts Of Georgia.
Still, it, is probable that the Times
summary is about as near the actual
condition of Democratic sentiment in
respect to presidential candidates as
it is possible to get it in the present
uniformed state of that sentiment.
-E-o-s
TAFT's DEPARTURE FROM MANILA.
The accounts from ManiIl leave no
doubt that Gen. Taft's departure from
the Philippines was genuinely regretted
by the Filipinos. They have the ut
most confidence in the present head of
the Philippine Commission, Gen.
Wright, and believe he will do all that
can be done for their advancement,
but they had a real affection for Gov.
Taft. AS a matter of fact, he had
found a way to reach their hearts. He
made himself one of them, as it were,
from the very beginning of his admin
istration of Philippine affairs. He
treated the men and women just as he
treated American men and women, and
that pleased them. When he made
tour of the provinces and banquets were
given him, he danced with the native
women and joked with the men. That
was something the Spaniards never did.
At first they couldn't understand him,
but they soon learned to appreciate
him and to know that he intended
to treat them justly. Consequently he
became popular.
The speech he made at banquet just
before leaving the islands, at which
there We're present 400 of the leading
Filipinos, was calculated to give them
the impression that government
would be theirs within a comparatively
few years. OF course, he didn't tell
them that it was the policy of this
country to give them their independ-
ence as soon as they were prepared
for it, but, if he was reported corr
rectly, he did tell them not to think
of independence until they were much
better educated, certainly not until the
children now in the schools were active
in the affairs of life.
The inference from the foregoing is
that they were expected to infer that
government would be theirs when
they were capable of managing their
public affairs. 1t is question what
the policy of this country with respect
to the Philippines will be a generation
hence. If the. islands should continue
to be burden probably there would be
no unwillingness to grant the Filipinos
independence, but if they should be de-
veloped and become profitable possess
sions difficulties in the way of grant
ing the people independence might APP
pear.
At present the Filipinos, according to
Gov. Taft, Notwithstanding the bubonic
| plague, the cholera and the famine
with which they have been afflicted
within the last year or two, are far
more prosperous than they ever were
before. They are just now threatened
with misfortune because of the low
prices of their products, but they can