The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-19
CORTELYOU AGAINST TAFTs
Said to Be Nursing Presidential BOoI
 of His Own.

of His Own.
 New York Special.
 The Times this morning prints the following from Washington:
 The most active and influential en- emy of the Taft boom Is a member of President Roosevelt's cabinet, who be- lieves he can be nominated President himself with Taft out of the way. This man Is George B. Cortelyou, Secretary of the Treasury. He has not been an openly declared opponent of the nomination of Taft, but his work is none the less effective.
 ''Cortelyou is the only member of the cabinet who maintains any polit- teal relations with the 'reactionaries,' despite all that is printed to that ef- feet about Secretary Root. Cortel- you's relations with J Pierpont Nor gan were always close and never have been interrupted.
 originally Cortefypu was taken up by what is known in politics as the old Guard of which Mark A. Hanna, Cornelius N. Bliss, and Henry c. Payne were the leaders, and of which President Mckinley nominally as well as officially was the head. His rela- tions with the old Guard have never altered. despite his membership in President Roosevelt's cabinet. | AloOf from the Radicals. 'As a member of that cabinet he has never said a word or done a thing to align himself with the radicals, of whom the President Is the leader. He | has simply performed his official du- | ties.
 'tThe reactionaries know well enough | they cannot nominate Fairbanks, For | aker. Shaw. or Cannon. They have | got to take somebody who has been | identified in the public mind with | President Roosevelt. Mir. Cortelyou. | in whose hat the Presidential bee has | been buzzing busily for long time, | is aware of that.
 | 'Cortelyou looks upon himself as a man of destiny. His rise from a de- partment clerk stenographer to a cab | fnet officer was unprecedented and neteoric. He believes he has not reached the top yet and that he is des- | tined to reach 1t.
 Some time ago it became apparent that somebody close to President Roosevelt was unfriendly to the Taft boom. Hints that the President was not really for Taft crept into print. Finally Cortelyou made overtures to Senator Dick and the Ohio leaders of the old guard Exactly what these l overtures were never have been made | known, but they were of such a na- ture that from that day forward Dick and his colleagues have counted on Cortelyou as one of themselves. | Taft's Name Freezes Him.
 About this time it began to be ob- l served that callers who talked to Cor telyou on politics had better not talk l about Taft. At the mention of Taft's
 name he froze up. He thawed out and became all strained. alert atten-
 tion as soon as the callers mentioned | the Cortelyou boom or the Roosevelt | third term boom.
 "Cortelyou knows as we'll as any
 one that the President will not take a
 third term, but he and his lieutenants
 are encouraging g third term boom by
 every means in their power not open
 ly. but in private conferences and by
 other means.
 "Cortelyou's chief lieutenant is As
 sistant Postmaster General Hitchcock
 whom he created, and who is for him
 body and soul.
 "Cortelyou himself is running the
 political end of tho Postoffice Depart
 ment as completely as he did when
 he was Postmaster General, and doing
 1t through Hitchcock" The Times dispatch then goes on to
 say that the removal of postmasters
 and other federal officials in Tennes-
 see is really the work of Cortelyou
 and are moves hostile to Taft. The
 removed faction, however, has re-
 solved to keep on fighting for Taft,
 so the strange spectacle Is presented
 of the faction which the President al
 Cortelyous behest turned down, is
 fighting tooth and nail for the Presi-
 dents candidate, Taft.