The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-22
NATIONAL POLITICS TO
BE LIVELY FOR TWO YEAR
BY sEwALL HAeeARD.

BY SEWALL
IN Ew YORK, July a.--(speciaD.
Nj There Will be no dullness in
national politics for the next two
years. The campaign begun in the dog
days of this year promises to be piping
hot until the end. While the boom OF
William ]. Bryan for the Democratic
nomination for President is being sent
on its way. several candidates for the
Republican nomination are ladnching
their booms
Charles Warren Fairbanks has been in
training the longest for the Republican
! nomination. and is entitled to the heav-
lest support. Then there is Uncle Joe
Cannon, aged but spry, a weight carrier
and an excellent performer
In the race with them is Jonathan
Prentiss Dolliver of Iowa. Mr.. Dolliver
is no selling platter, though the odds
! quoted are long. Jonathan Prentiss
might be called a walking. or rather a
running dictionary. A splendid orator
Is Mr.. Dolliver, a veritable Demasthenes
who juggles big words like a veteran
performer.
Also there is dark horse, a contestant
sometimes slow in getting away but all
ways a good sprinter in the stretch.
This dark horse Is Robert Marion La
Toilette.
1t is interesting to note in connection
with the oft-asked question: Can a
southern man be elected President; that
Uncle Joe Cannon is native of Guilford,
| N. c., and that Senator Dolliver was
born at Kingwood W. Va Mr.. Fair
banks was born in KNOXVILLE. Union
| county, Ohio. and Senator La Toilette
| in Primrose, Wis.
Chance for Democrats.
Some Of the newspapers and many
\ prominent politicians think the time Is
ripe for the election of democratic Pres
ident One of the leaders in this senti-
ment is the Sun, which says:
1.-The Sun Graves permission to present
it's humble service to the supreme powers
at Oyster Bay. to Messrs. Platt and De-
| pew, to the new and austere hierarchy
| of Odell and Associates, to one Frank
| Wayland Higgins, the putative governor
| of sse state of New York, and to all
the sober minded and self-respecting re-
publicans to whose confidence IT can ap-
peal, and with Difference and respect sub
mits:
1.-The next governor of the state of
New York will be a democrat.
1.-The next governor of the state Of
New York will be the next President
of the United States"
There has been much speculation as to
whom the Sun refers. OF course, Bryan
is out of the question, because he could
never be governor of New York, and the
Sun would never be for him in any
event.
Bryan Weakens Himself.
AS far as the east is concerned, there
is not as much sentiment for Bryan now
as there was a month ago. The opinion
prevails in some quarters that he has
weakened himself by his statement in
London that he is the same old Bryan
One of the papers taking this view is the
World which says:
"A week ago the democrats of the coun-
try were looking forward with enthusiasm
to new order Of things. After ten years
of internecine warfare. in which the par
| ty sustained three defeats each more dis
astrous than the other, the factions
seemed at last to have been united. By
| tacit agreement the old issues were to be
| ignored and the old quarrels forgotten.
The slate was sponged off. Mr.. Bryan
was accepted as the leader of the party
and the inevitable nominee for President
| in 1908. Elaborate preparations had been
made for his reception when he arrived
in New York, Half dozen democratic
state conventions had formally Endorsed
! him. The lower house of the Louisiana
legislature had demanded his nomination.
| Distinguished democratic leaders-sold'
silver and otherwise-had acclaimed him
as the logical candidate. Some of them,
like John Sharp williams, did not hest
| tate to predict his election.
Mr.. Bryan, with a proper regard for
the proprietes, had refused to announce
1
| being placed in the attitude of a candi-
date. To use his own words. prefer
to be in a position to say what I think
| ought to be said, to write what think
| ought to be written, and to do what l
| think ought to be done As 1t would be
| two years before the convention met, he
was unwilling to sit on a stool and look
pretty that long
Dismay of the Democrats.
| 1.-THE dismay produced in democratic cir
! cles by Mr.. Bryan's statement Is hard
ly less noticeable than the delight mani
tested among republicans. Nobody de-
manded that Mr.. Bryan apologize for
| his former attitude on the money ques-
| ton or publicly recant or beat his breast
| and cry "Mea culpal' All that anybody
| asked of him was a moderate recognition
| of the principle. much as he himself
| once laid down, that changing conditions
make new issues Instead Mr.. Bryan
| has seen fit to drag the corpse of free
| silver out of it's grave and assure the
| country that 1t is not dead but sleep
| ing. When he declares that he is in fact
! more radical than he was In 1895 1t is to
| be presumed that he has changed In no
| way for the better and has learned moth
| ing. 1t is perhaps unfair, but neverthe-
| less possible. to assume that he Will
stand by all his issues of ten years
| ago. including the threat to 'reorganize'