Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-31

| elected?' he asked. in a broken. GREATNESS
| way.
| For answer ! could only shake my head
| NO matter who Is the nominee | went
| on after a moment, our party can't win
| hair yielded to the impulse of sentiment
,ahty and turned 10 him appealingly.
| James, said |. why don't you-right
away-before the country sees you are 10
| be denied n renomination-publicly
hounce that you won't take IL I'm any
| circumstances? Why don't YOU devote tho
rest or your term to regainng your lost
popularity? Every day has its throngs of
opportunities for the man in the White
House. Break boldly and openly with Good
rich and his crowd"
| saw and read the change I'm his face
My advice abo1t thu nomination straight
way closed his mind against me. at the
mention of Goodrich. his old notion OF my
Jealousy revived And saw too that con-
/ tact with and use OF and subscrviencc TO
corruption had So corrupted him that he
no longer had any faith IN any method not
corrupt All in an instant | realized the
luli foly OF what | was doing. | felt con-
noeht that by pursuing the line | had In
ulcated he could so change the situation in
the next rev months that he would make IL
impossible for them to refuse 10 renominata
MN, might make II possible for him to be
elected But even II he had the wisdom to
| listen, where would he get the courage and
me Steadlastness 10 act? | gave him I'D
| hnally and forever
man may lose his own character and
sun survive and even go far. But IL he
/
damned. He could not survive I'm n commit
| nifty of scoundrels
burbank sat motionless and with closed
eyes. Tor a long time. | watched the neo-
pie In the throng OF carrIayes-hundreds az
laces All turned toward him. all showing
lnat mingled admiration. envy and awe
wien ,I humanity gives its exalted great.
Inc PRESIDENT The PRESIDENT" | heard
every few yards in excited underton.s
| ana mats were lifting. and once "A crowd
'i I'M. Tnth4 pra partisans raised cheer
he PRESIDENT! Thought. with mourn
iul irony. And | glanced at him.
suddenly he was transformed by an OK
preston the most frightful | have ever
seen. 1T was the look OF a despairing
weak, vicious thing, corncred giving battle
ior It's lfe-like a fox at bay before n pack
OF huge dogs. 1t was not Burbank-no he
was wholly unlike that. 1t was Burbanks
ambition, interrupted at its meal nv the
relentless. sure-aiming hunter Fate
ror COO sake, Burbank | exclaimed.
Al these people are watching us"
! 10 nell with them he ground out. T
tel you, Sayler, l will be nominated And
| elected, too, by God, l will not be thrown
| aside like an emptied orange skin L will
show them that l am President"
nose words. said by some men, in some
| tones would have thrilled me. Said by
! him In that tone and with that look, they
! made me shudder and shrink Neither of
| US spoke again. When ne dropped me at
my hotel we touched hands and smiled
| formally for appearances before the gaping.
! peeplng peering crowd. And as he drove,
away. how they cheered him-the man
| risen high above eighty millions. alone on
the mountain peak in the glorious sunshine
| of success. The President!
Inc next seven months were months of
turmoil in the party and I'm the country
a turmoil of which l was a silent spectator
conspicuous by my silence. Burbank the
deepest passion of his nature rampant had
burst through the meshes of partiZanship
and the meshes Of social and personal In
timacies In which he az a good Marty
q ia of chi
social aspirations and as the worshiper OF
wealth and responsibility, was entangled
and bound down: with the desperate cour-
age that comes from fear of destruction,
he was trying to save himself
But his only available instruments were
all either Goodrich men or other kinds If
machine men: they owed nothing to him.
they had nothing to fear from him-a fall
ing king is a fallen king. Every project
he devised for striking down his traitor
friends and making himself popular was
subtly turned by his cabinet or by the
Senate or by the press or by all three into
something futile and ridiculous or con-
temptible. 1t was a complete demonstra-
ton of the Stiffness of the fiction that the
President could be an autocrat II he chose
Even had Burbank seen through the fawn-
ings and the batteries Of the traitors round
him. and dismissed his cabinet whatever
men he might have put into II would not
have attached themselves TO his lost cause
but would have used their positions to In
gratlate themselves with the power that
had used and exhausted and discarded him.
lie mad the wisdom, or the timidity, TO
proceed always with caution and safe
legality and so TO avoid impeachment and
degra dation. His chief attempts were nat
urally, upon monopoly: they were slyy
baked by his sly Attorney General and
their failure called by the press and
was believed by the people. the cause OF
the hard times which were Just beginning
to be acute. What made him such an easy
victim to his lieutenants was not their
craft. but the fact that he had lost his
sense of right and wrong. A man Of af-
fairs may not indeed will not, always steer
by that compass: but he must have it
aboard. Without II he cannot know how
far off the course he is or how TO get
back to IT. No ship ever reached any port
except that of failure and disgrace unless
II. In spite OF all its tackings before the
cross winds of practical life. kept in tie
main TO the compass and to the course.
His last stagger was-or seemed 10 bean
attempt TO involve in a war with Ger
many l say seemed to be- because 1
hesitate to ascribe project as Infamous TO
first ugly dispatch he ordered his Goodrich
Secretary OF State to send somehow leaked
to the newspapers before II could be put
Into cipher for transmission. 1t was not
sent-for from the press Of the entire coun-
try rose a clamor against deliberate
provocation of nation with which We are
and wish to remain. at peace" He repu-
dated the dispatch and dismissed the
Secretary OF State in disgrace TO dis
srace-the one stroke in his fight against
Goodrich In which he got the advantage
But that advantage was too small too
doubtful and too late.
His name was not presented TO the con-
vention.
(To be concluded tomorrow