The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-15

Joe Cannon or to Speaker Knox ana others to set them down es onponehts of the president If elected they VIII probably follow out tho policy he in- augurated with conscientious regard for the interests of the people. At the same time. each of the other candi- Edates. with the exceptions of Tsit and the support of . certain clement In the large cities particularly. which has been more or less critical of the atti- tude of the president toward corpora tions form over to some one else. On the other hand. the supporters of Taft and. La Toilette in particular were quite largely of the type which was friendly to Roosevelt Practically all of the strength of these two candi- dates, and to somewhat less degree that of Hughes. has been derived from enthusiastic Roosevelt men from one end of the country to the other. It is, generally believed. therefore. that the emphatic withdrawal of the President releases his own supporters Ifrom their self-imposed allegiance to him. It would be natural to auppose that larger percentage of these Roosevelt third term boomers would go to Taft. Hughes. and La Toilette in the order named than to Cannon. Knox Fairbahks. or Foraker.
 Democrats who have studied the situation told me today conffdentially during the meeting of the National Committee that in their opinion Hughes was the greatest gainer from the Presidents withdrawal In spite Of the fact that Mir. Roosevelt seems to be of opirion that the New York Governor Is the secret candidate of the trusts and railroads. From Demo- cratic standpoint either Hughes or Taft is formidable on the assumption that Bryan will surely be the nomi- nee at Denver. 8 Democrats Fear Hughes or Tan. One member of the Democratic Na. tional Committee, a man or nauona, reputation, confided to me his personal opinion that Hughes, If nominated, would beat Bryan "hand downs. that Taft would beat him after q hard fight. that no one could predict the result as between La Toilette and Bryan, and thatNif any other Republi- can were nominated the Nebraska leader would have an excellent snow
 That .is the Democratic view. of course, and is quoted merely as a piece of current news.
 Republicans in Congress insist tnat almost any good Republican candioate can beat Bryan out. There Is feel- ing at the capital among well informed Republicans, although they. do not give any authority for it, that Cannon may perhaps make the hardest fight outside the two leaders from Ohio and New. York, that La Toilette is an extremely promising dark horse. that Fairbanks strength is likely to be merged with that of Cannon sooner or later, and that Senator Knox ts a candidate with out hope of nomination on his own part. having been put in the field frankly for the purpose of controlling Pennsylvania's delegation.
 If that be true 1t need surArtse no one to find Knox and Fafrbanks go- ing to Cannon. or Cannon and Fairbanks and Knox turning their strength to Hugh es because of the ayowed antag- ofiism between him and the President.
 sAILAAspirsnta omceholders.
 It is peculiar feature of the sit- uatieHz41fAezzEeeent time that all or the leading candidates for the Repub- lican domination now hold important official positions.
 Fairbanks is Vice President. Taft Is Secretary of War, Cannon is Speaker of the House, ForaIxer, Knox and La Toilette are Senators. and Hughes Is Governor of New York.
 All of them have terms Of office which would ordinarily carry them.
 
 June. There is apparanetly no more reason why one of them should re- sign to become a candidate for the Presidency than the others.
 No one has suggested that Governor Hughes should leave his place at AL baIiy, and Speaker Cannon would have something to say if anybody suggested place at the head of 9e House of Rep resentatives. 4
 Some of the opponents of Secretary Taft have suggested that he ought to get out of his official position, but the President and all the members of the cabinet are firmly ofe the belief that he should remain exactly where De is, administering the affairs of Cuba. the Panama canal nd the Philippines ex- actly as he has been doing in the past. V
 Several days ago a rumor was cir- culated to the effect that the Secretary of War had forwarded his resignation by cable before he sailed from Eu- rope. This statement was promptly denied at the White House at the time. and the secretary has not sent any wireless communication, even to his own family.
 If the idea of resigning from Federal and State offices to become candidates for Presidency were insisted upon, Wis consfn, Ohio. and Pennsylvania would have only one Senator apiece. the House of Representatives aud the Senate would have to choose new presiding officers. and the Legislature at Albany would have no one to worry it into doing good.
 The result would be an inevitable loss of usefulness on the part of half dozen able men, with the result that all but one of them would be out of a job at the conclusion. of the campaign
 Secretary Taft will resign when Speaker Cannon does. and Vice. Peesi- dent Fairbanks will retire to Indiana when Governor Hughes becomes, once more. high private in Republican ranks in New York City.
 Some Weird Wills.