The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-06-16

the Republicans are become separated
into progressives and reactionaries.
President Roosevelt is chief of the for
mer and the greatest politician of his
generation; but single battle brought
to naught Hannibafs hundred VIC
tories, and If a reactionary shall be
nominated for president by the Repub-
lican national convention of 1908, failure
will be writ against the name of Theo-
dore Roosevelt in the book of political
destiny. Hence, we may ask: Will he
take it himself rather than go down in
defeat before the cohorts of reaction?
And it is quite likely that it will come
to that.
Never was there such a string of
candidates, avowed and receptive
These are Fairbanks, Cannon, Foraker,
Shaw. Cummins LaFollette, Spooner
Cortelyou, Root, Hughes. Crane, Scott,
Taft and Knox. There are others. In
the convention progress and reaction
viii be face to face. At present Mr..
Taft is the favorite of the progressives
and strongly backed by the president.
He may have to give place to Hughes,
who may have to surrender the thing
to the president himself to beat the
mollycoddles.
Knox is a mighty dangerous man.
For the first time in the history of the
Republican party Pennsylvania Will
have a real favorite in a Republican
national convention, in which there is
a real contest, when prOgressives and
rea.Sionaries shall be lined up in OPP
posing columns I'm 1908. Pennsylvania
viii have sixty-eight votes. New Eng
land is a reactionary, and New Eng
land will have eighty-tWO votes. New
Jersey is another reactiOnary, with
twenty-fOur votes in convention. And
there are others. The unit rule does
not prevail in Republican conventions,
and that affords political genius a
grand opportunity. Every out" down
south, will be a reactionary, and the
outs" down there Outnumber the
'ins." 1t will be as easy as it is nat
ural for Knox to fall heir to Fairbanks
and to Cannon. The greatest man in
Iowa is George Perkins of the Sioux
City Journal. He will see to it that
Cummins does not cast the solid vote
of that state to suit himself. Taft may
get the bulk of Ohio; but the senators
can be depended on to have several
districts. There are reaCtOnary dis
tricts in New York, and the Japanese
business may defeat the presidents
calculations in California. We may be
sure that several Wisconsin districts
are for SpoOner, and if the state were
solid for him his chances would be as
good as any mans that could be
named. Everybody recognizes his
splendid abilities and his lofty charac-
ter, and the day is not distant when
the fact that man is a great consti-
tutiOnal lawyer will not render him in
eligible to the office of president of the
United States.
1t is easy to forecast the battle in
the next Republican national conven-
ton. The victory will incline to the
side that is the more skilfully led.
Fairbanks may get it; Knox may get
it; SpooneT may get 1t; Cannon may
get ii. These gentlemen are natural
allies; but will they be, like Dumas
immortal four "AlI for one, and one
for all?"
Pennsylvania has voted for more sue
cessful candidates for president than
any other state. In 1896 she save one
vote for Adams and fourteen for JEFF
fersOn. -Four years later she gave JEFF
ferson eight votes and Adams seven.
In 1924 she lost Jackson who had a
plurality i'm the electoral college Four
teen times in succession, 1S2S-1SSD, both
inclusive. Pennsylvania picked the
winner. if we shall so class Hayes
Since 1880 Pennsylvania has lost but
twice out of a possible six times. And
yet powerful. populOus, and opulent as
Pennsylvania is and has been. she has
furnished the Union but one president
and one vice president. though it has
been saying since JacksOn's time, LAS
goes Pennsylvania, so goes the Union"
And so, in a practical sense, Penn
sylvania is the best politician in the
Union. Republican Pennsylvania goes
TO the convention to observe and con-
slider. When she has settled on the
winner she springs like a tiger and
holds on like a bull dog, though it Is
my recollection that her vote was cast
for Blaine on the final ballot at Gin
cinnati in 1876, but there is nothing
more certain than that Pennsylvania
defeated his nomination then by with
holding her support until what is called
the psychological moment was past.
+
But Pennsylvania is going to the
next Republican national convention
with a candidate a favorite son, and
no second choice Philander c. Knox
is among the leading lawyers of the
American bar, and. like all great law
yers, he is necessarily a conservative,
q term that is now become COMPOUNDED
with reactionary and mOllycoddle. No
man can be great lawyer who does
not reverence the law, and here is all
that law is-fdelity to obligation. This
great government at Washington is
party to a contract expressed in the
constitution of the United States, and
things never get out of joint in a po-
litical way except when the govern
ment defaults and repudiates its COW
enant.
Philander c. Knox was born i'm Penn
sylvania in 1853. and is only a few
months older than the Republican par
ty that was christened at Pittsburg In
1854. He was the son of a substantial
citizen, who gave his boy every adj
vantage and started him i'm life at the
age Of 19 with a classical education.
He became a student I'm the office of
q leading lawyer of Pittsburg and
came to the bar in 1873. He was assist
ant United States district attorney In
1876, and subsequently his general
practice was extensive and remunera-
tive.
X
There is a popular belief that Knox
is a corporation lawyer" I do not
suppose he would be any worse If it
were true. We have established a
standard Of patriotism and of morals
In this country that reads out of re-