The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-06-27
Advent of the Fa.orite soa..


this year by any considerable body of
Republicans. 1t was a State conven
ton which put Mr. Knox forward. The
convention praised the work OF Presi
dent Roosevelt and the Republican
Congress which recently expired
pledged the party in the State to sup
port the Roosevelt policy, and put up
Knox as an especial champion of that
idea. As Knox expected this indOrse-
ment he did not make any pretence of
being surprised when it came. Nor did
he coyly decline the honor which was
offered to him OF being the States
standard bearer in the convention of
1908. He declares that If majority
Of the delegates in that gathering ask
him to take the nomination he will
take it.
Thus one presidential aspirant for
next year formally announces himself.
Several will take like action in the
next few weeks or months. Many
States will hold conventions in 1907
for the nomination of governors or
other State officers, and some of these
will announce their preferences for
President. In some cases the prefer
ence will be for persons outside of the
States making the declaration. Thus
we will hear that Taft, Cannon, Fair
banks and others are placed in the
field. These announcements will not
commit the convention of 1908 to any
thing Gatherings like that which sug-
gested Senator Knox for the candi-
dacy have no warrant for making any
such declaration. but they voice local
preferences. which will probably reg
lister themselves in the primaries nine
or ten months hence, and will come up
In the big convention. Thus Knox will
be sure TO receive the sixty-eight votes
of Pennsylvania in the convention.
The second of all the States in numeri-
cal weight in the convention is at his
back. and this may count for something
toward getting him votes from other
States But the politics of his State
makes his candidacy, at the outset, de-
cidedly unpromising. A State which
has given its electoral vote to one party
in every presidential election since
1860, beginning with that year, and
which rolled up plurality of more
than $4,000 for that party's candidate
in 1904, is not in the doubtful list. 1t
is not on the roll of the States which
the practical politicians care to single
out for special favors Such States are
considered sure for the ticket without
any coaxing through the medium of big
prizes The Republican party, in its
half century Of history, has never gone
TO Pennsylvania for its presidential
candidate. In its century of life the
Democratic party has never selected a
Pennsylvania for head of its presl-
Dental ticket except in 1856. when 1t
| nominated Buchanan. Hancock, the
Democratic nominee of 1880, who
claimed TO be a Pennsylvania, was an
army officer, with a residence which
was continually shifting. and whose
domicile at the time of his nomination
was in New York. This consideration,
however, does not rule Knox out of the
possibilities for 1908.
Favorite sons are political institu-
ton which the American people will
not give up. Many of them will be In
the field for 1908 and they will give
an element of uncertainty TO the out
come which the country likes There
will be no Sabbath day stiffness in the
gathering of 1905. Many of the dele
gates at the Republican convention of
1904 were asleep in their seats during
large part Of the proceedings. Only
one man was mentioned or thought of
! for President. and the tally of the
vote could have been made a month
ahead just as confidently as after the
convention had gone through the mo-
tons Of calling the roll Of the States
But there will be no torpor in next
years assemblage. At least half a
| dozen persons will receive votes on the
first ballot, and several ballots may be
needed to make choice. 1t is possible
indeed. that the convention of 1905
may, at the outset, scatter itself among
as many aspirants as did the conyen
| ton Of 1888, after Blaine withdrew
| from the field There will be so many
local favorites that the press Of the
country will be kept busy from this
time onward in guessing which will
carry off the prize. The fact that the
nominee Of the convention, whoever hi
chances to be. will probably be the nexl
| President, will make the soothsayers
| task for the next twelve months partic
ulariy active. The uncertainty will give
a dash of picturesqueness to the con
| Blaine said in 1882 that the Garfield
| miracle" of 1880 would probably no.
be repeated in the lifetime of anybody
! then extant. but an equally miraculou:
convention Of 1896, when a member Of
a contesting delegation, whom nobod,
had ever thought OF in connection wifi
| the presidency, swept the convention
Possibly something dramatic and spec
tacular is lying in ambush for the Re
publican assemblage of 19OS.-St. Loui.
Globe-Democrat
1t Wasn't New York.
A gentleman who had occasion [,
90 to an inland New England villag
ten miles from a railroad was met a