Saint Mary's beacon., 1907-11-21
WASHINGTON LETTER.

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Washington d. c., Nov, l8 1907.
The policy of the Republican lead.
ers in Congress is to enact as little
Legislation as possible, pass the ap-
preparation bills and adjourn in time
TO take a hand in the Republican
National Convention, but as every
Congressman will have at least one
speech, and most of them many more
on the asset currency bill, the Phil
ippine tariff bill. the German tariff
agreement, the improvement Of the
Mississippi and it's tributaries, the
Sherman antitrust law, the over
capitalization OF railroads, the par
cells post bill, the federal corpora
tiOn bill, and any other legislation
they think will specially interest
their constituents, it will require
many months TO exhaust this stream
Of elOquence.
Republican politics are in a cha
otic condition and will probably re-
main SO until the meeting Of the
National Convention. for it seems
impossible for our Republic breth-
ern TO settle on who shall bs their
candidate for president until noses
are counted. The President refuses
to give any sign of achanGe from his
original determination of refusing
TO be a candidate for a third term,
but the Roosevelt boomers refuse TO
take him at his word, which leads
TO Decentralization in the camps Of the
other candidates. From what | can
see the President is playing deep
game of allowing delegates to be tied
up for him and when the time arrives
will use these delegates for the man
OF his choice, Taft if possible, but
quite probably COrtelyou. do not
expect to see Mr.. Roosevelt accept
third term nomination, although
it is possible it may be offered TO
him.
Democratic politics are also in
chaotic condition, for there is not a
single declared candidate for the
nomination for President. The
banquet here TO Mr.. Bryan on next
Saturday evening may result in
his declaring he will accept the
nomination, but some of his frienGs
say he would prefer to wait and see
who will probably rs the Republi-
can standard bearer before deciding
TO allow his name to be presented to
the Democratic National Con vention.
There is no doubt that q majority of
Democrats are for Mr.. Bryan, but
tha question is will all the Demo
Gratis of the doubtful states give
him hearty support and thereby
carry enough of the doubtful states
to win the election with the indepen-
dent vote that is also necessary?
The result of the late election in Ne
braska and elsewhere in the West
does not seem to offer much chance
of Democratic success, but when we
turn Eastward the tide runs much
more favorably.
One of the most prominent Demo
Gratis of the county with whom | re-
Gently talked about the plans and
policies OF the party said: The
Democratic party must win in the
next campaign, il it wins at all. by
appealing successfully to the very
classes Of voters who have hitherto
resisted the appeal of Mr.. Bryan's
eloQuence and attractive personality.
A Republican candidate could win
by merely holding and uniting his
party. But the Democratic candi-
date must do more than that. He
must be able to turn back the tide
which has been running against the
Democrats ever since 1896. The
600. 900 defeat of that year was fol-
lowed by one of 1000, 1000 in 1904,
when many of Mr.. Bryan s support
ers voted for Roosevelt, whom they
regarded as q better candidate
than Parker. This seems 10 show
that Mr.. Bryan, who supported
Parker, could not control his own
following at that time. Can he do
more today? Can he unite the two
factions OF the party? Can he with
draw from Roosevelt the Democratic
radicals who went to him in 1904?
Can be satisfy the demands of the
strict constructionists in his party?
AS matters now stand, it appears
that Mr.. Bryan, whose own state
has just voted against him, is in a
position to decide those questions