The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-01

President of the United States has in some respects greater power than the ruler of any other civilized nation. For that reason especial care should be ta- ken that the office of the President of the United States. except in so far as provided by the Constitution and the laws. become not the position for an exercise of power which. with most honest and patriotic intent. might have disastrous I effects for t.ie country. Such considera- tions must have been faced by MT. Rooss- welt, who is a close studunt of history. Yet the weight upon him in taking the responsibility for one of the most mo- mentous steps in recent political life was increased by expressions of opinion that he had been inspired by the desire to flank the forces of MT. Hanna of Ohio, who again and again has been obliged to correct impressions that he had with drawn permanently from the Presidential race and who had been closely connected with the beginning of the anthracite strike. That opinion treated Mir. Roose- welt as though he was just an ordinary. everyday politician and shut its eyes to this fact:
 'I was a candidate for the nomination for the Presidency In 1904. have been eliminated and am not now in any sense a candidate"
 That opinion, with possibly a thought that the moves for the settlement of the coal strike are but a part of the quiet rivalry of Mir. Hanna and Mir. Roosevelt, became public in a startling way through the publication of the following letter from l.. T. Kitchener:
 Ut Is believed here that Senator Hanna will try to get the Presidential nomina- tion in 1904 and that he expects the sup port of Indiana, Some of the Presidents s friends arc little uneasy about it. Do you think Hanna could take Indiana from Roosevelt or Fairbanks? Kindly let me have your views by next mail if at all convenient"
 The Name of Kitchener.
 Federal officeholders who may have re- ceived a copy of that letter from Wash inHton no doubt recalled the name of Kitchener In connection with bit of ex- ceedingly practical politics about the time that John Wannamaker was loam- ing as ''dead-cinch" candidate of sweetness and light for a Cabinet position under the Harrison administration, and they. perhaps, fell into the notion that Mir. Roosevelt was fixing his fences. But why should they? Why cannot they give man credit for consistency?
 MT. Roosevelt may find it convenient to appoint confirmed spoilsmen to office: he may. as an officeholder. smash into smithereens lofty theories about the sep aration of public business and party poli- tics; he may encourage negro politics in the South and Addicks politics in the North as part of the discoura cement of Hanna politics. Tn these things he may appear to be inconsistent with his past and his present acts may seem to be contradictory of one another. But what are academic theories when party success Is at stake How can a man who Is con- sistent in. his desire to prevent the per- version of the Fundamental principles of the Republican party escape inconsistency in minor details? Mir. Roosevelt's desire In that direction. however. ought not to be taken In impliINtion that fifteen months In the Presidency have convinced him that his own reelection is necessary for party preservation. He must certain ly have thought of such a contingency when. on September 16 1981 he said:
 ''l was candidate for the nomination for the Presidency in 1904. have been eliminated and am not now in any sense a candidate"