The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-06-20
The President Is in Control of
Chicago Convention.
Every Move Is Made Under His
Direction
ALL UP IN THE AIR.
Fairbanks Silence COmplicates
Vice Presidential Matter.
His Friends Are Urging Him to
Make Announcement.
NEW YORK UNPLEDGED
Odell Says Delegation Has Not
Reached Determination.
Says There Is No Occasion for
Any Hurry.
NEW YORK UNPLEDGED
Odell Says Delegation Has Not
Reached Determination.
SAYS There Is No Occasion for
Any Hurry.

Chicago, une 20.-If one would
bring before his minds eye a definite
picture of the Republican national
convention of 1904, all one has to do
is to imagine a huge elephant moving
along with reluctant though obedient
stride. and Theodore Roosevelt sitting
on the back of him, goad in hand.
Roosevelt is smiling that well-known
smile of his-the smile which years
ago led Roscoe Conkling to speak of
its owner as that dentifcial young
Inan''-but the mien of the elephant
o. is sedate, sober, resigned, at times al
most sullen. He obeys, but he is not
overhappy. He turns to the right or
left, stops or advances, kOwtows or
snorts according to the word that
comes from his master on the fighting
bridge, but he is not enthusiastic
about it. In the first place, this is a
new master, and the beast is not as
yet fully accumstomed to his style.
And in the second place, there are
moments in which this great elephant
shows an intelligence almost human
in that he refuses to get gay and
joyous over a sure thing.
Fairbanks Causing Trouble.
Chicago, June Ex-senator Fair
banks continued silence regarding
the vice presidency has caused some
of his strongest supporters in his own
delegation to advise him to make an
announcement today that he would be
glad to have the nomination. A meet
ing of some of his friends including
Representatives Watson and Hemen-
way and Chairman Goodrich of the
Indiana state committee, was held in
Senator Fairbanks room early in the
day, with the object of settling on
whether he ought not now to say that
ne IS a candidate The decision will
probably be communicated to the In
diana delegation, which meets this
forenoon.
New York has not determined
whom it will support for vice presi-
dent, said Governor Odell today; sit
IS not pledged TO Fairbanks, Cannon
or Hit There is plenty of time to
think it over, and there should be an
The New York delegation meets to-
night.
Delegates Nearly all In.
Forenoon trains today brought in the
stragglers and the ranks of nearly all
the state delegations have been filled
with the arrival of DELAYED deIegateS
We're eliminated all obstacles to the
holding of caucuses. State headuuar-
ters were sought and the programme
of the day ascertained. 1t developed
that most of the caucuSes would he
held late in the day or tonight and
nothing remained for the new comers
but to take their places in the hotel
lobbies and discuss the absence of con-
tests, the inactivity of DELEGATIONS and
the small attendance.
Fog hung over the city at dawn
but this was dissipated by the sun
which drove back the clouds and left
a cheerful day. 1t is a day which would
draw the crowds to the open Iobbies
and the sidewalks without even the
game of politics for a magnet But
despite all this the picture is not vet
recognizable as true convention
scene. In the corridors of the principal
hotels where the states have establish-
ed headquarters is missed the buzz of
conversation proceeding from councils
behind closed doors, pass groups of ma
tiOnal figures and one hears laugh
which follows a. story well told. The
utter absence Of sharp political work is
noticeable and forces the realization
that everything is fixed.
Old Timers Absent.
One Of the absentees is the man who
has ATTENDED every Republican con-
vention since Lincoln was nominated -
but that is only another Illustration of
the quletness of convention eve.
Some Importance is attached to a
desultOry discussion of Senator Fair
banks probable reasons for declining
to talk about the vice presidency and
or Lne WISDOM or MS reuCence. Were
1t not for the gossip he has furnished
and the little furry raised by the pos
sibility Of tariff revision and reciproci-
ty creeping into the resolutions in a
form obnoxious to stand patters.'' pol
itics would be a dead letter in the Re
publican convention this year
Though most of the states will eau
Gus today and the convention begins to-
morrow, the hotels are not crowded,
they are not even we'll filed.
No contest for first place on the
ticket and apparently none for the sec
ond, no occasion exists for marching
clubs of enthusiastic shouting thou
sands headed by bands, nor for other
organizations which customarily add to
the din, the blaze and the excitement
of a convention. They are not needed
and they are not here. One square
from the lake front hotels, the only
SIGN of a convention is straggler of
an adventurous turn, who is known as
a delegate by the badge pinned to his
lapel.
One Band Arrives.
Among the arrivals were "a delegates
from the Kings county, n. Y. including
ex-Iieutenant Governor Timothy L.
Woodruff.
Two hundred and hfty-one members
of the Young Mems Blaine club of
Cincinnati. accompanied by band Of