Bisbee daily review., 1906-08-12
Republican Senators and Rep resentatives Do Not Enthuse When Name of Roosevelt Is Mentioned.
PRESIDENTS POPULARITY
 IS WITH PEOPLE
Republicans Just Now Are Scared, and They Do Not Take the Trouble to Conceal Their Fear
(By Sheldon s. Cline.)

WASHiNG1ON,Au August, u. lSOo.
 A fact known to most everybody is that President Roosevelt is not popu- lar with the members of his own party in Congress. He has his friends there, of course, loyal and devoted friends, liket Senator Lodge and others only slightly less known. but the average run of Republican Senators and Rep resentatives do not enthuse when the name of Roosevelt is mentioned. In public utterances and formal inter- views they extol the virtues of the President, but in private conversation they criticise most of his official and prvate acts.
 1t would seem a paradoxical situa- ton, therefore, that MT. Roosevelts $ popularity with the people is the chief thing upon which these Republican statesmen count to perpetuate their majority in Congress. They already have set to work to make President Roosevelt the issue in this years con- gressional campaign, and from every hustings in the land the argument will be advanced that the return of Re publican majority to the 6Oth Con gress will be an endorsement of MT. Roosevelt and his administration. while an adverse verdict at the polls will be a repudiation of his policies.
 There is Senator Dick, head of the Republican organization in Ohio, journeying to Oyster Bay to secure from the President a message Of ap- proval to be spread as oil upon the troubled water of Ohio politics. In the camp of Roosevelt, Senator Dick is not counted among the faithful. He is not an open enemy, it is true. but his sympathies, it is said. are not al ways with the admjnistraticps. An attempt by anti-Dick Republicans in Ohio to take advantage of this fact threatened to cause trouble, so the senator hastens to the summer capi- tai to get certificate of good char acter.
 Nor is the Ohio situation a peculiar one. Scores of other Republican members of Congress who dislike the President personally are forced to trade upon his popularity or face the probability of defeat at the polls. They do not dare go home and tell their constituents their real senti- menus toward MT. Roosevelt. Proba- bly there never was another situation like this in the history of American politics. But that is not greatly to be marvelled at. Since MT. Roosevelt became the leader of his party, numer- ous situations have been created that were without precedent.
 Republicans of secret hostility but open loyalty to the President are not alone in their embarrassment. The presidential boom which awaits the coming of MT. Bryan has compelled a large number of Democratic states men to go asailing in boats very like those propelled by their Republican brothers. A good many voices that have been heard lately proclaiming the greatness of the Nebraskan but the echoes of the voices Of the -bo me folks.
 Esnd yet they call these Senators and Representatives who sit in the Capitol in impressive grandeur the leaders of the people and of their parties. They are followers and nothing more. They struggle in the wake of public sentiment, instead of riding at the head of the procession. They no more control the workings of the pub lie mind than they control the wind or the risings aud settings of the sun. They are in truth, as 1t was intended they should be, the servants of the people; and while they may not al- ways execute the wills of their mas ters, they always stand in dread of their masters wrath.
 The hold which President Roosevelt has upon the confidence and affec- Fions of the masses of the people is the marvel of twentieth century poll tics. Yet MT. Roosevelt is as vulnera- Ible and impotent as any Senator or Representative. Because of the many vital things advocated by MT. Roose- welt which have the approval of the public, the public cheerfully over looks his minor shortcomings. as it does the short comings of its other servants. But let him go contrary to what the public has decided is an Imperative necessity or moral duty. and his greatness would vanish in night.
 The repetition here of these self evident truths might seem out of place were it not for the attempts ir many quarters to make the people be- fieve they no longer have any real voice in the affairs of their govern ment. So long as fame and public office are held at the disposal of the people, just so long will the people