The Washington herald., 1906-12-29
Hanna Crowd" Undermin-
ing RoOseyelt'S Influence.
BODIES ILL FOR CANDIDATES
Leaders Who Learned Politics Tn
der MckinIey'S Friend, After Wag-
Ing Guerrilla Warfare Against the
President, HaVeCome Out Into Open
and Claim Control of Organizations

tics At the feet Of Marcus Aurelius Hanna
are once more in power there This. the
wise ones say. BODIES i'll for any candidate
Tor the Republican nomination in 1903 who
bears the Roosevelt brand, and indicates
that a conservative" will secure the coy
eted prize
The recent tactics % the oid-crowd lead
ers bear out this idea After wag.ng a
guerrilla warfare against the President
and his policies and supporters for
months, they have come out into khe open
and are fighting him as vigorously as if
he were member of the other party The
little politicians IN various parts Of the
country have not failed to notice this, and.
with some Of the big ones. they have
started to move on Washington to see
what it all means.
Many OF those who, under the Hanna
regime, We're mere political mercenaries,
have good reason 10 dislike the President.
He has made some Of them give up public
Office and return to the ranks. Others
who were hand in glove with corporations
have been impelled by his methods to turn
against their old friends in order 90 keep
up a semblance Of harmony with him.
Downcast by such developments. these
soldiers Of political fortune have been
waiting imDatientiy for the time when. in
their opinion, il would be safe and profit
able to desert 10 the element Of the party
which has all along been covertIy opposed
to the President
Little encouragement.
Heretofore they have received little en-
enlargement, for the insurgent leaders
men like Aldrich. Foraker, Scott. Elkins.
kean, Hartman. Cox. Of Ohio. and
Blythe, Of Iowa-have preferred 10 make
no open and continued demonstration
against the President Instead they have
been striking here and there-opposing the
Rooseveltian rate-biII programme at one
time, attacking Federal meat-lnspection
az another. and harassing the President
or such things as his japanese policy at
stAI another-yet all the while saying in
their public utterances that the President
vas everything that he should be.
When Congress met the President was
distinctly "a victor for the Congressional
elections had been contested in his name
IN numerous districts and won. Before
the session had fairly commenced. how
ever the Brownsville affair began TO as
sumo proportions, and IL has been grow
ing ~ Importance ever since. Only in the
south, the Democratic stronghold. is the
discharge Of the negro troops generally
Endorsed. and there the indorsers are
more numerOusly Democratic than Re
publican. Elsewhere public sentiment
seems 10 be distinctly against the Presi-
dent The situation is such that the
would-be insurgents are coming around
to the opinion that they will now lose
nothing by deserving the President. and
perhaps, gain much. and they are acting
accordingly They have been assured
that the struggle for control Of the Re
publican organization in 1908 has begun
at last, and they are not only willing.
but extremely anxious. o get in with the
side which has the best chance to win.
and 70 get in AT the earliest possible
moment
Visit for Information.
Ex-Boss Cox, Of Cincinnati. the man
whom Secretary Taft helped TO smash
two years ago is one Of those who have
been To Washington recently to talk
things over with the Conservative" lead
ers. and who lave gone back home salts
fed that now Is the time to subscribe
They have been told, these inquiring
ones. that the President is not a candi-
date, and that his present intention is to
attempt to make Secretary Taft the nomi-
nee. that Foraker. aided by Cox and
Dick, have so tight a grip on Ohio that
Taft VIII be unable to secure indorse-
ment there, his home State: that the old
guard. assisted by such big inanciers as
Hartman and Morgan. will recapture
New York shortly: that Fairbanks has
Indiana in the hollow Of his hand. that
Illinois belongs TO Uncle Joe Cannon, and
that the Republican organizations Of all
the Southern States are in the hands OF
the old crowd that held them in the days
before Theodore Roosevelt became a fac
tor to be reckOued with.
Authorities agree that nothing like an
agreement as 20 the identity of the can
didate 90 be supported by the conserva-
tives has yet been reached. But. they
add. there is plenty Of time for that At
present the important point is TO
strengthen the conservative grip on State
machines, so that when the time comes
TO crush the Roosevelt element the trick
y
The capture of the South is regarded
by the conservatives as their most bril-
liant achievement so far Particularly
are they proud of their work I'm Alabama.
which the administration obviously thinks
is still safely prO-Roosevelt. Twenty
five members of the committee which
holds the throttle OF the Republican en-
CINE in that Southern State are Federal
hOldcrs-postmaster mostly. Post
master General Cortelyou. some time ago
Issued an order that postmasters must
sever their connections with organization
politics, but shortly thereafter First As
sistant Postmaster General Hitchcock
sent out little chaser 70 the effect that
postmasters could be members Of political
committees provided their labors on such
did not interfere with their
official duties.
ResIEnatiOns Recalled.
The twenty-five postmasters who were
members Of the committee which con-
trolled the sending Of delegates to the
Chicago convention In 1904 withdrew the
which they had filed. Then
il was that the old Hanna crowd in Ala
oama organized an insurgent combination.
Last fall the Rooseveltites feared to risk
a State convention, and not only did not
,all one. but failed to take other means
Of getting a ticket in the field. The
Hanna Republicans promptly took adyan-
-age of this lapse by nominating a ticket
at a mass convention. The election au-
.hOrities of the State upheld them. and
heir candidate went on the regular bal
OF under the Republican emblem I'll
here is a split in 1908 and two ReuubIf-
IAN conventions 10 select delegates 10 the
national convention are held, the Insur- |
gents viii have legal authority of the
highest sort for demanding that their
delegates be recognized as regular. And
hese delegates, incidentally. Will not be |
or Secretary Taft, OF anybody else who /