The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-17
THE PRESIDENTIAL SITUATION.

NNNAANNNNSsNN Members of his cabinet continue to give it as their experience that the only name they hear mentioned by | people in their travels is that of the President. Visitors to Sagamore Hill come away and tell the reporters that it may be necessary to nominate him. No particular reason is assigned for | this frequent outburst of political af- lection, but it appears just the same to not only confuse the minds of men but to injure the President in public estimation.
 The last word the country had from the President on the subject was let ter written to a western admirer as- suring him in emphatic language that he meant just what he said when cleo ton night three years ago he volun- tarily called the newspaper force about him at the White House and an- nounced to them that under no cir cumstances would he again become candidate for the office to which he had just been triumphantly elected. This was presumably thoughtful and deliberate message which he wished conveyed to the country through the newspapers and must have meant that he had had his full of the great honor. Whatever re- grets his admirers may for the mo- ment have had they were at once lost in the impression made by the self leffacement of the act Even his ene- mies saw him in new and more low able light and began to view him in a more tolerant manner. They looked to him to continue his career of useful ness along lines of conduct not shap- ed by the political exigencies of the hour. It would be scarcely fair to say that he fig now called upon on account of the frequency and character of the Ireports that he may have to become a candidate to reiterate his determin- alton not to run again, His dignity would forbid that and yet it cannot be denied that he Is the heaviest loser in the game which is being vigorously played by some one for some hidden
 purpose.
 It has been intlmated in powerful places that his enemies are really re- sponsible for the position In which he finds himself; that by constantly att
 tacking his policies they make 1t pos
 sibly necessary for him to become a
 candidate in order that they may not
 be lost sight of fin the four years
 which are to follow his retirement We
 cannot quite digest that line of rea-
 soning. The enemies of President
 Roosevelt are no more persistent in
 their opposition to the views and poli-
 cies which he advocates than they
 have been since he first showed them
 the mailed fist and swung the big
 stick, He has at all times been obliged
 to reckon with determined hostility
 from them just as the advocacy of
 similar measures of legislative re-
 with like opposition, The charming
 personality of Secretary Taft has been
 unable to defend him against the idea that in offering himself as a presiden- ,tial candidate he represents the
 Roosevelt policy, There is no question
 whatever of his availability and desir-
 ability as a candidate representing
 himself, just as there is no question
 but what his pathway is strewn with
 effective opposition on account of his
 relationship with the President how : ever unreasonable that may be. It is
 taxing ones credulity too much to ask
 that one shall also accept Secretary
 Taft's comparatively weak position as
 a candidate as another demonstration | of the power of the Presidents ene- ] mics. If, however, 1t Is true that his y enemies are so powerful and scattered S over the country that neither can com- = mand the votes of the nominating con- - vention, then nothing that the Presi- : dent can do will save his policies a from abandonment or partial aban- donment
 q The esteemed Springfield Republi- = can, which sees vitality in the third 8 term talk. attributes it to the more ol :, less common belief that if his policies - are to be continued he alone car e make a successful fight on them a' f campaign issues; he alone is master s full enough as d politician to overcome l. opposition and walk in under the wire d at the close of the race. In the mean u time it must be made evident in somt Il way that the country really wants tn, r policies of the President continued - that is his policies which have to b, l. considered apart from his insstenc, e upon the enforcement of the law a tt.,o ,,,1ta.. r.-A