The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-09
HIGGINS NAY SEE ROOSEVELT.
SHOULD HAVE PRESIDENTS SUP
PORT, HIS FRIENDS SAY.

II Eerb1N2 ~ DeSofVtmBs why MOI hlg8AnAg
Thsy Ask-PonuCiAns Think That
Hughes 10 Being Used 90 q Tool and
/ Are Looking for q Third Candidate.
Gov. Higgins, according to information
disseminated last night by his friends, may
Wait President Roosevelt at Oyster Bay
within . few days, II has been the Gov
ernoris desire, It was added, to talk e
with tho President the Republican situa-
ton IN the State, but the Governor has felt
that possibly the best time for this confab
would Be after primary day, September IS.
The Governors friends said further
that they had been led to believe when
President Roosevelt sent for President
Herbert E. Parsons Of the New York
Republican county committee to take
luncheon with him at Sycamore Hill. after
which Mr.. Parsons returned to town and
proclaimed that the President was with
him in his fight to remain head Of the
county COMMITTEES, that President Roose-
welt also believed that Gov. Higgins de-
served a denomination. The Governors
friends declared yesterday that they could
put no other construction on the Presidents
invitation to Mr.. Parsons. for they believed
that IL Mr.. Parsons deserved reelection as
president OF the New York county COM
mittee Gov. Higgins was equally deserving
Of the Presidents support for the renomi-
nation.
Yet the Governors friends with more
or less feeling pointed out yesterday that
nearly all Of those who pretended to voice
the sentiments OF President Roosevelt
were speaking UP for Charles E.. Hughes.
Perhaps some light may be thrown on the
Hughes matter when the remarks Of one
Of the keenest Republicans in the State,
one who is conversant with all Of the inner
workings Of the party. are quoted. He
said yesterday:
There il not a soul that il declaring
for Hughes that is really for him. He is
being used. Yet Mr.. Hughes is crazy for
the nomination"
The Republican who spoke went on to
say that Higgins is away out Of it. Put
down a good bet on that"
Gov. Higgins's friends at the Albemarle
Hotel last night said that he wasn't way
out Of it, but on the contrary that the Gov
ernor ard the Governors friends would
control the convention to the une Of 700
out Of l,01l delegates. That is a very
narrow margin, it was admitted, with
which a Republican candidate for low
ernor should present himself for reelection
in the momentous political period through
which the State is now passing. But for all
that, one OF the Governors closest friends
said, Mr.. Hughes might be a very strong
| candidate ON the day he was nominated,
but he would be the weakest candidate
the Republicans could put up by the time
election day rolled around. Mr., Hughes
has no following among The rank and file
Of the Republican party. He is a good
lawyer, who performed a duty for which
he was well paid"
Republicans pointed out yesterday while
talking over the situation that it was a most
deplorable il not actually a demoraliz'ng
condition Of affairs in their party when
neither Mr.. Parsons nor Mr.. Woodruff in
their fights to remain at the head Of the New
York and the Kings county Republican or
ganization had the hardihood to come out
in their public speeches and declare for the
denomination Of Gov. Higgins-a Republi-
can Governor who in the estimation Of his
friends has given the people Of the State
a clean and progressive administration.
This ia a pitiable state Of affairs said
a Republican State committeeman last
night at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and l
for one have no hesitancy in saying that
it is a dastardly outrage. 1t is true that
Gov. Higgins turned a cold shoulder to
the proposition to turn out Mr.. Odell as
State chairman, and, Of course, Gov. Hig-
gins is now getting his usual reward from
the Odell people for his oomplacency in
this matter. Sometimes I think that Gov.
Higgins should be retired to private life
for that one act alone, but then when /
look over the Governors administration l
I'M inclined to believe that he is entitled
to fairer treatment than he is now getting
in the two great boroughs Of New York city,
Manhattan and Brooklyn.
.On the other hand, Gov. Higgins's weak
ness in the Odell matter, for such it is very
generally accepted to rave been, indicated
that he is not the man to sit in the Cover
nor's chair and deal with the rapsoallions
in the party. Would Hughes be any better?
In my judgment the legislative black
maiIers would fool him within an inch Of
his life. He is totally inexperienced In
political affairs. The time is at hand when
IL IL Ia not considered wisdom to renominate
Gov. Higgins it will be equally demon
strated that II would not be a great political
stroke to nominate Mr.. Hughes, and that
after primary day, when Mr.. Hughes's
name would be Of no further use in the war
for factional primary supremacy, a can
didate hitherto unnamed but representing
President Roosevelt's administration and
a candidate for Northumberland repre-
senting Gov. Higgins's administration
should DO brought to the front, and predict
that this will come to pass