Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-23
G0RMAN IN CHARGE
Is so at Judge parker's Urgent
Request.
TAGGART'S TROUBLES
COULD NOT MAKE THE MACHIN-
ERY WORK.
The Senator's Policy Will Be to Attack
the President as an Un-
safe Man.
TROUBLES

Now that Senator Arthur Pue German
has practically taken charge of the demo-
cratic campaign, leaders in this city are
ir a constant state of expectation and
are looking for developments which they
hope will give a direction to the efforts
of the party that will result in bringing
forth distinct political issues. There has
been constant complaint that the de-
mocracy has been unable to rally under
any well-defned issues for this campaign
1t is to Senator German that the lesser
leaders are looking to change this con-
dition and to provide shibboleth for the
democratic party that will call forth en-
thusiasm.
The circumstances of Mr.. Germans Sc
lection for the office of chief advisor and
practical boss of the campaign have never
been explained. 1t is the result of an
urgent request on the part of Judge
Parker, the democratic candidate for the
presidency. Judge Parker simply laid
the case before Mr.. German of the ut
most Importance and practically told him
that in his opinion the democratic cause
would meet defeat if he should decline to
take the helm and guide the democratic
ship through the uncertain waters in
which it was voyaging.
The occasion of Judges Parker'S urgent
request to Mr.. German was when the demo-
cratic candidate recently visited New York.
Inere was Inen, as puDl1Shed at the Tune,
conferences among the democratic leaders
of such number and length that the judge
hardly had time to give sufficient attention
to his meals. He put the situation as he
saw it before Mr.. German with such
gency that the Maryland senator could not
decline to comply. The national committee
lacked a leader who could command atten-
ton and whose opinion would be accepted
as final many points at ISSUE 1t was
seen that the mere election of Mr.. Thomas
Taggart to the craftsmanship did not con-
stitute him a leader with sufficient power
to command the attention of his party.
Mr.. Taggart's Difficulties.
Mr.. Taggart candidly told some of his
friends that he realized the enormous task
that he had undertaken, but that before his
election he did not fully appreciate all the
difficulties he found after he took the chair
| manship. Taggart is a man of nerve and
| confidence He feels, and has from the first
| felt that he could direct the campaign all
! over the country. But after he assumed the
office at the head of the committee he dis
covered that somehow or other the ma
chinery did not move at his touch. He
saw that men who were expected to CO.
operate with him were lukewarm and In
different
1t was not long before he realized that the
campaign tagging and that he was
without power to put life into it. His clos
est friends declare that he had good many
sleeplesS nights. He was easily boss In In
lack weight. He acknowledged that when
Mr.. German in the headquarters he
commanded attention to a greater degree
than the chairman himself, and he was not
long in making up bis mind that he would
give Mr.. German abundant authority If he
would come into the management of the
campaign and help bring order out of chaos.
Taggart told Judge Parker he wanted to
secure all the advice possible from such men
as Senator German, and intimated that he
would gracefully give up the management
OF the campaign in the east if Mr.. German
could be induced to take charge of ii. 1t
was with such a feeling on the part of the
chairman who felt that he was out of his
depth that Mr.. German induced by
Judge Parker himself to take charge.
Mr.. Germans Policy.
Those who know Mr.. German best know
that in the past he has believed that the
| best way to elect Judge Parker is to talk
about the unsa feness of President Roosevelt
and to endeavor by every means to make
| the voters of the country feel that if the re-
publican ticket is elected some disastrous
act may be performed by the President to
bring the country into trouble. Those who
are well informed about events in the demo-
| cratic fold declare that Mr.. German has
been a strong advocate of focusing the
campaign on the claim that Mr.. Roosevelt
| is unsafe and it is said 1t has been Mr..
German, as much as any one else, who has
| advocated the publicatio of an attack
| the President in relation to the opinions he
| has expressed in his literary works. From
now on it is understood the democratic
policy will lean largely to a personal attack
upon the President
| 1t is expected Mr.. German will spend most
of his time in New York city at the head
quarters of the national committee. At the
headquarters there has been a great deal
| of indifference toward the democratic con-
gressional committee and comparatively
! little financial support has been given the
congressional which located
| here. The committee has consequently is
sued but very limited amount of cam
| paign documents, and while it has been con-
stantly expected that there would be
enlargement of the work of distributing
| the documents, that expectation has no1
| been realized Generally this Indifference
| toward the needs Of the committee has been
| attributed to Belmont and Sheehan who
| have regarded the control of the House of
Representa- tives rs of secondary considera-
| ton. Now that Senator German is DOM
| inant, so far as the campaign in the east is
| concerned, greater liberality is anticipated.