The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-12-01

| qufckens the popular interest to tn
fact that the great quadrenn.al struggl,
F! is coming.
, No one expects now that any new
man will figure among the candidate.
of the Republican party. Events vii
not likely develop new presidential! ma
terial. Governors of states have oc.
casionaly grown to presidential size
There are no Republican governors OF
governors-elect who can be counted
upon to qualify within the mex,
eighteen months. Governor-eiect Chas
E. Hughes of New York? Possibly. but
| II is not probable The enthusiastic
| campaign talk of his availability will
be forgotten in a few weeks Odell
was doomed for the presidency after
his reelection as Governor. So have
other New York governors been SINH
larly doomed and forgotten. 1t is al
most certain that the nominee will be
from out of the West-where Fairbanks
and Taft are now strenuously groom
ing
ROOSEVELT IN THE RAIN
The President has had rainy days in
Panama. Heavy rains have often at
| tended the President on important oc-
casions They never embarrass him in
| carrying out his program. He does
not mind getting wet to the skin
| When Prince Henry brother of Kaiser
Wilhelm, visited Washington the Pres
| ident took him out on horseback
| ride in the midst of great downpour-
| ing. The President seemed to like the
weather. Prince Henry was too court
! eous to express his disapproval of the
| torrents.
4
| anna" made a fine headline. To most
| mortais II would have been a far more
| disagreeable task than sitting under
a tight roof. 1t is probably no exag-
geration that the President found wad-
| ing in the mud personally preferable
to remaining in his hotel and enduring
| the official courtesies which were OF
far less interest to him than finding
out something about the construction
of the isthmian canal One can not
secure much detailed information about
such a gigantic project in so short a
time as the President was on the
isthmus. Nevertheless he has learned
enough to help him materially here
after in dealing with canal questions.
1t will have some effect with the
country and with Congress that the su-
pervision over the canal is exercised
by men who have at least a little per-
sonal knowledge gained on the ground.
Both the President and Secretary Taft
can now discuss canal matters with
a little more authority because both of
them have been to Panama.
INAUGURATING PANAMA. |
One of the Presidents ambitions is |
to have the construction work we'll ad- |
vanced and all the troublesome pre- |
liminary problems out of the way be-
fore he leaves the White House. 1t |
will be a long time. after that, of |
course, before the two oceans are act |
uaily welded and big ships are fioat-I
ing through, but he wants his admin
istration to have the credit for fully
inaugurating the work and for having
pushed it to such stage that its COM
pletion is assured. More than two
years remain for him to direct the big
undertaking. Inside of eight or ten
months he hopes to have extensive COM
tracts awarded. If his plans succeedl
the dirt will be flying in enormous
volume within a year and before March
4, 1909, enough will have been accom-
plished in the digging to assure the
linking of Roosevelt's name to the
project beyond that of any President
who comes after him. ~
THE NEGRO IN POLITICS.
BY far the biggest furry of recent
days grows out of the discharge of
negro soldiers of the 18th Infantry for L
the participate of some twenty of
their number in the shooting up of |
Brownsville, Tex. It threatens to be- i
come important politically. 1t is al
ready wrenching the Presidents popu- II
larity with the negro race. Indigna-
ton meetings have been held in New
York and Boston. The New York
County Republican organization has
been prompt to intercede, in the hope II
that the President will modify the Il
order he issued for the discharge of
those soldiers without honor. In Bos-
ton the negroes met in Faneuil Hail.
the cradle of liberty, and passed con-
demnatory resolutions. Mayor Fitzger-
aid was present, the Democrats APP H
being willing to gain a little
party advantage out of the embarrass-
ment of the Republicans.
It should be noted that the order
was issued by the President, who APP
proved in all particulars the recon-
mendations of Gen. Ernest A. CARING
ton. the inspecting officer, who at
tempted to secure from the negroes
evidence that would convict their Of
Tending comrades. The order naturally
would have come from Secretary Taft. |
But Secretary Taft was away on his
long Northwestern and Southwestern
tour. He has disclafmed any RESPONSE.
bility for it. AS a matter of fact the |
Secretary refused to have any respon>
sibility for the order. The report of
Inspector Darlington was on the Sec
retary's desk for many days before he
departed on his speaking tour. AS /
lawyer he was keen enough TO see thu |
questions that could be raised against |
The action recommended by Gen. Gar /
iington, who. 1t might be said in pass
ing, is a native of South Carolina and
was appointed to the Military Academy
from Georgia The Secretary was Also