Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-08-03

tration is ended, he will be approach
ing his eighty-sixth birthday. 1t is
no disparagement to this gentleman,
for whom I believe we all have the
highest respect, to say that he shares
the common lot of mortals, and that
the election OF any man Of such great
age would furnish no safeguard to the
American people against the disaster
which would ensue upon the death of
president with successor not COM
petent to perform the duties of the
presidential Office 1t is common ex-
perience that very aged men, however
bright and active they may appear for
brief periods, cannot sustain long con-
tinued severe exertion. The demands
OF the presidential Office upon the men
tai and physical vitality are so great,
! SO continuous and eXhausting, as to be
wholly beyond the capacity of any man
of eighty-five.
"The attempt by such a man to per-
form the duties of the Office would with
practical certainty be speedily fol
lowed by breakdown both of body
and of mind. In contemplating the re-
mote possibility of the election of the
Democratic candidate for Vice-Presi
dent, the people of the country are
bound to contemplate also as a nee
essary result of such an election in
case of the Presidents death, that
others, not chosen by the people,
and we know not who, would govern
in the name of nominal successor,
unable himself to perform the consti-
tutional duties of his office; or worse
still, that serious doubt whether the
Vice-President had not reachd con.
dition of inability within the mean
ing of the constitution would throw
the title to the Office of President into
dispute.
"The serious effect Of such an event
upon the Government business and
upon the business interests and general
welfare of the country, and the serious
effect even of the continual menace of
such an event, must be apparent to
every thoughtful mind.
''In your election, on the other hand,
this chief requirement will be fully met
In the full strength of middle life,
you are prepared for the exhausting |
duties Of the Presidency. Your sue
cessful and distinguished career, the
ability and probity with which you
have already discharged the duties of
high office, the universal respect and |
esteem of the people of Indiana who
have delighted to honor you, the at
tachment of hosts of friends through
out the Union-all assure us that you
have the character and the ability ~
govern wisely and strongly should you
become President Many indeed
among our people have already turned
toward you as suitable candidate to
be elected directly to that great office.
ut is the earnest wish of your Party |
and of many good citizens who have
no party affiliations that you shall ac-
oept this nomination, and that you |
shall be elected in November to be |
the next Vice-President Of the United |
States. In expressing to you this wish,
we beg to add an assurance of our own |
personal respect, esteem and loyalty.
Senator Fairbanks received an ova-
ton when he arose to accept the nom-
inatien. He said:
''Mr. Root and Gentlemen of the
Committee: thank you for the very |
generous terms in which you have |
conveyed the official notification of |
my nomination for vice president of
the United States. The unsolicited |
and unanimous nomination tlby the Re-
publican party is call to duty which |
I am pleased to obey.
81 accept the commission which you |
bring with profound sense of the dig
nifty and responsibilities of the exalted
position for which have been nomin-
ated. My utmost endeavor will be to
discharge in full measure the trust, if
the action of the convention shall
meet the approval of the American
people.
"The platform adopted by the con-
vention is an explicit and emphatic |
Continued on Page Eight.