Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-01-29

Especial Washington letter.
* WHATEVER else may be said
AN of southern Democrats,
" they are undoubtedly trav-
cling in the right direction,
80 far as the nomination of their Of
fcers is concerned, bringing them
closer and closer to the great body of
the people by discarding the old dele
gated convention system and adopting
the primary method. General primary
election laws, well grounded in all
their provisions, have been adopted in
Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina
and Virginia for the nomination of all
officers from governor and United
States senator down to constable and
justice of the peace. South Carolina
has been making the experiment for
several years, and South Caroffnians
declare that it works admirably. In
the other states named it is yet in an
experimental stage and will be watched
by the whole country.
Frederick's Statue.
= Kaiser William has presented the
United States with statue of his IL
lustrious and mighty collateral ances-
tor, Frederick the Great, which is to
be erected on the grounds of the war
college in Washington. The location
for the statue is perhaps as fitting as
any that could be found in America
for one Of the greatest soldiers of mod
ern times. Some very good persons OBJ
ject to receiving Frederick's statue at
oil, on the ground that he was a hered-
itary king, imbued thoroughly with
royal ideas, but that he was soldier
of the first rank will be denied by no
one familiar with history. He was
born king-a fact for which he was
in no way responsible he laid
the foundations for the great empire
over which William reigns. That the
kaiser presented the statue to this
country in order to cultivate our
friendship there is no question-an-
other effort Of his to show that Ger
many is not hostile to the United
States, as is so persistently asserted by
a lot Of Anglomaniacs, who are in
slant, in season and out of season, in an
endeavor to stir up strife between the
fatherland and America. So far their
efforts have proved abortive, but once
or twice they came near creating at
least strained relations. One of the
most interesting papers ever written
in this world is Macaulay's essay on
Frederick the Great, which will well
repay perusal even after the lapse of
more than half century. 1t shows
him as one Of the brayest, most per-
sistent and most invincible warriors
of all time. During the seven years
war, when Germany was small king
dom, he fought at the same time the
French, the Austrians and the Rus
slams, held his own against them all,
was sometimes defeated, but gave
them many sound beatings and in the
end stood forth victorious. He was a
king, it &c ....ue, but he was q great king.
A Fight.
Unless all the signs are deceptive,
there is fight to the death on between
President Roosevelt and Senator Mar
Gus A. Hanna, with the chances in fa-
vor of the former. incidentally the
war between Hanna and Foraker will
be renewed. The latest news from
Columbus and elsewhere indicates that
Hanna has entered the presidential
lists. A Republican national conven-
lion without Foraker as one of "the
Big Four" will be much like the play
of Hamlet with the Prince of Den
mark missing, and yet that is precisely
what will happen, according to recent
Columbus dispatches. The Buckeye
"Big Four this time is to be Governor
Herrick, Ex-Governor Nash, General
Charles Dick and George B. Cox, the
Cincinnati boss. Senator Hanna doesn't
want to be delegate ut large and is
determined that his hated rival, Sena-
tor Joseph Benson Foraker, shall not
be. So If Joseph, who is the boomer in
chief for Roosevelt in Ohio desires to
sit in the convention he will be COM
PEELED to butt in az district delegate,
which will be great humiliation to
him. Hanna and Foraker were never
friends, and Hanna's dislike for him
was intensified last summer when For
aker helped Roosevelt in his great coup
Of forcing Hanna to declare for the
president at the state convention and
in forcing the convention also to do
likewise, but that was when Hanna
was scared about his senatorial cam
vass. He is In different situation
now, having just been reelected by the
largest majority ever, and he proposes
to even up things.
The devil was sick:
The devil monk would be.
The devil got we'll:
The devil a monk was he.
There are also other pointers show
ing that Hanna is candidate for pres
ident. The other day, out in Indiana,
ut the Republican district conventions
to elect new state committeeman, senti-
ment was divided between Roosevelt
and Hanna, the latter appearing to
have the better Of 1t. In this a man
with half an eye can discern the fine
italian hand of Senator Fairbanks,
who pants after that presidential nom
nation himself even as the hart pant
eth for the water brooks. 1t would
seem from that that Hanna and Fair
banks have an understanding and are
fighting in pairs to do the president.
But If. anybody imagines that the
strenuous young man in the White
House is letting anything go by default
he is badly mistaken-away off his
base. The suspicion is deepening into