The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-06
PRESIDENT MAKING
 STIRS THE WEST
REPUBLICANS BUSY DISCUSSING
 CHANGES OF CANDIDATES.
Railroads, Deeply Interested in the Re- suit, Conducting "Bureaus of Edu- catiOn"-La Toilette, Fairbanks, Shaw, Taft, Cummins, De- neen and FOraIker Mem
 tiOned as Fossil
 biIitfee,

Chicago Special to New York Herald.
 Republicans of the West are already making and unmaking presidents for 1908. Not alone the shrewd, ambitious party leaders who are always "in the hands of their friends" but the rank and file of voters as well are figuring on the nomination of @ man to succeed President Roosevelt.
 Never was there a time in the history of the party organization when there was so widespread and so active an in terest in the question so long in ad- vance of the hour of choice.
 Better than any other interest, ap- parently, the railroads of the country have sounded popular sentiment and read the signs of the time. Their long distance forecast is that President Roosevelt, however much 1t may be against his will and wish. will receive the command of the voters to run again, and that If he sticks to his prom ise and absolutely refuses to be a can didate pressure will be brought to bear on the party to choose a standard bear CT who will perpetuate the policy of the present administration.
 So sure are the railroads of this that their defensive and offensive alliance is already in hard working order Herein lies the significance of the new Bureau of Statistics. Information and Concili- ation recently organized and now in operation throughout the country. There Is enough agitation of the rail- road question in Western States to show that If this question is not satis- factorily settled during the administra- tion of President Roosevelt it will be bequeathed to the next administration as one of the leading issues, if not the most important one. At least that is the way 1t looks in the West.
 Alarmed at the immense popular ap- proval behind President Roosevelt in his railroad rate policy and fearing that the companies are to be shorn of power and vast revenue. the railroad inter ests have undertaken a Campaign of education" and a policy of conciliation with shippers and the public generally. Bureaus are being established in every considerable shipping centre in the country. They are in charge of experts whose business 1t will be to keep in close touch with the people. to find out what the people complain of and what they want and try to reach a satis- factory settlement with them without the necessity of having the Interstate Commerce Commission as an intermedi- ary.
 Discussion of Presidential candidates Is based on the hypothesis that the West will demand a man as courageous and as good fighter for the people as is President Roosevelt. Candidates are pluming themselves along those lines. They are watching the experiment. of municipal ownership in Chicago. They are keeping tab" on the railroad cam close and careful study of the rail- road rate sentiment as 1t develops in the various State Legislatures. | Trust legislation and discussion ev- anywhere interest them. Kansas and Standard oil, Iowa and the tariff. Wis consin and the railroads. Missouri and the lobbyist, the border States and Canadian reciprocity-all these matters are scanned for evidences of drifting and changing popular opinion. especial | ly for any departure from stand pat and conservative policies.
 Some of the Possibilities.
 Governor La Toilette. of Wisconsin; | Vice President Fairbanks and Governor Deneen. of Illinois; Secretary Shaw and Governor Cummins, of Iowa, and Sena- tor Foraker are chief among those mentioned as good Western Presiden- tial timber.
 To Governor La Toilette Is given the distinction of being most like Presiderk Roosevelt In personality, in frank rela- tionship with the public. in political daring. In fighting stamina and in the nature of the issues he has fought out for his constituency Because he Is like the President the brusque. plain speaking Republican voter. and even the Democratic voter of the West likes him and believes in him.
 More than any other man in the coun- try. not even excepting President Roosevelt, Governor La Toilette is identified with the cause of government regulation and control of railroad rates. He took up the cudgel long before the President did and was obliged to wage war on the strongest political combina- | ton in Wisconsin--the combination di- rected by the railroads. He has just won great victory in the Legislature and his success has advanced him inn measurably as a Presidential possihil- ity in the minds of Western citizen- ship.
 N MT. Taft's Chances.
 Secretary William H. Taft has friends Iscattered all over this part of the coun-