The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-06-22
WEDNESDAY, JUNE %, 1904
THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
Not for many years has there been
q national convention so tame as that
which is now assembled in Chicago.
It's candidates were nominated and it's
platform was framed before the dele
gates got together. Their assemblage
is purely perfunctory, as their action
will be. They will nominate Theodore
Roosevelt for president and Senator
Fairbanks for vice president, on
platform whose sole positive feature
will be the standpat doctrine. Then
they will adjourn.
Some people call this harmony: and
others, who see farther and deeper, will
call it the necessary agreement which
follows complete subservience to a sys-
tenn of political bossism on one side
and corporate ownership on the other.
It's just twelve years, be it remem-
bered, since last there was a contest in
a Republican national convention for
the presidency. That was the last oc-
casion on which there was the slight
est doubt about the nomination. Mr..
Blaine was the last of the great Re
publican leaders whose personality was
forceful enough and whose independ-
ence was sufficiently pronounced to
give him a following outside the ma
chine. Since that date the candidates
of the party, good, bad or Indifferent,
have been named long in advance by
those whom it most concerned.
The selection of Roosevelt is. Of
course, fOreordained. In his case, be it
said in fairness, that he is the choice Of
the masses of the Republican party
beyond a doubt. Machine or no ma
chine, boss or no boss, they would
name Theodore Roosevelt of their own
motion. He could not have been de-
feated by any other man than the SEN
ater from Ohio who mingles no longer
with the events of earth. For the ben
eft of his party more than of himself,
he has consented to make terms with
the great interests that dominate it.
and all is serene.
The nomination of Fairbanks for vice
president is far more symbolic of pres
ent party conditions. Senator Fair
banks is a man of insinuating address,
of very mediocre ability, a man who
would never have been dreamed of for
the second Office in the country did he
not possess the two essential qualifica-
tions-irst, he comes from a doubtful
state, and, second, he can be, trusted to
do as he is told, and to stand without
being hitched by the powerful inter-.
ests that constitute the Republican
party. There is no popular movement
for him, no enthusiasm behind him in
his own state, and his foregone norni-
nation was made particularly absurd
by his pretense of a shrinking hesita-
ton, in order that it might be said
that this nomination was forced upon
him, and that he might thus be in line
four years from now for the greater
honor which such as he could aspire
to or dream of only because it is within
the gift of their masters.
There is thus no freedom of action
at Chicago, no initiative, no sponta-
neous movement of party will. The
party convention, like the party itself.
has got down to~a business basis. It
resembles meeting of stockholders in
some great enterprise, all of whom
have previously sent in their proxies
and are pledged to vote for a given list.
of directors, who in their turn are com
United to an arranged slate of officers.
The delegates from the several states
will nominate Roosevelt and Fairbanks
because the party managers have SO