The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-04-05

interesting study as at present. never
were the issues confronting the American
people more vital and far-reachlng than
they are to-day" declared Hon Marion
Butler, of North Carolina, yesterday to a
representative OF The Washington Her
aid
Mr.. Butler is one of the S0uth's most
notable men. Both as politician law
yer, and a business man he has been
cOnspicuously successful. and during the
years that he took an active part in
partisan politics. he went 10 the front
with startling rapidity. He was president
Of the National Farmers Alliance, was
chairman Of the Populist party, and in
the zenith of his career was elected 10
the United States Senate. In the last
campaign he gave his hearty support to
the candidacy Of Theodore Roosevelt, and
to-day the President reckons him as
among his most loyal and valuable ad-
herents.
Crisis Is at Hand.
Il certainly think the nation has
reached the critical point in its history,
and even to the dullest mind that has
kept track of the extraordinary events of
the past few months that fact is appar-
ent. Every man with a grain of sense
can size up the situation. The enemies Of
President Roosevelt have shown their
hands. Their programme is clear. They
are preparing to defeat his policies at
the next Republican national convention
by the nomination of some reactionary
Republican whom they Ought to know
viii, in turn, be beaten ~ Bryan at the
polls
III "a reactionary cannot be elected. the
Roosevelt forces infinitely prefer
that Bryan should go TO the White
House. Why? Simply because they
know they have less to fear from the
Nebraskan than from the man who is
now guiding the national destinies. If
Roosevelt and Bryan are greatly alike IN
their mode of thought and policies, why.
then. do the enemies of the President
prefer bryan? Trust their cunning for
that. The crowd that both hates and
fears the President is not expecting or
hoping for favorable action at the hands
of Congress or The Executive. All il
wants is TO be let alone. 1t knows that
with Bryan as President nothing could
be accomplished to the detriment OF the
reactionaries.
''They would be let alone. and Bryan's
administration would be one of negation
and nOH-perfOrmauce.
Bryan Could Do Nothing.
Even should Bryan be President and
in the middle Of his term-the earliest
possible time-get both a Senate and
House of his own politics, the foes of
Roosevelt would still feel secure, remem-
herring that the Democratic party is
celebrated for nothing except strife within
its own ranks and its inability TO give
the country any remedial legislation.
There is no reason TO think il viii be any
less impotent in future than in the past"
But" Mr.. Butler was asked, "can the
reactonaTies hope to achieve their pur-
pose when the whole country-that is 10
say, the masses OF the people-are sOlidly
in favor of the President. and give un-
qualified approval to his official career?''
They will not fail from want Of earnest
effort, but from the combined power ~
money" he replied. From now until
the convention date. they will be busy In
their scheme OF undermining and over
throw The President, absorbed as ne
has been with a thousand important
cares has but lately been aroused TO his
and the nations peril. But he is awake
and alert now, as his statement of yester-
day shows, and there is no probability
that he will be caught mapping at any
stage of the game.
''The ants can go on, picking out ia
v0rite sons and spending money TO get
various State delegations, but 1t win not
avail them. This favOrite son business
is an old and clever dodge. but it cannot
be worked in the present case, because
there happens to be a national faVOrits
who is stronger than all the rest COM
bined.
Is Intensely Republican.
Let ne say right here. too, that the
President is an intense Republican, a be
lever in the doctrines and policies Of his
party. and he is all the more Jealous in
his faith because he believes the welfare
OF the country is bound up in the con-
tinued domination of the Republicans.
With him, under present conditions, par
tisanship and patriotism are essentially
the same
will there not be third-term issue
raised should any of the Presidents
friends seek to give him a renomina-
tom"
There is no third-term issue, nor can
there be one for the next four years
Some day the American people may con-
clude 10 do what they have never vet
dOne-eleCt man to the Presidency three
times. I would stake my life on 1t that
If such a time comes, il will be the result
of national movement. 1t will be the
work of the people themselves. Should
the politicians ever again essay such a
deed as they did in the case of Gen.
Grant, they viii be ANONYMOUSLY beaten,
covered with the dust Of humiliatlng
defeat.
The announcement OF the President
that he considered the election of 1904 as
equivalent to a second term was only a
personal opinion, which the delegates TO
the next convention viii deal with as they
see fit.
No One Questions His Fnith.
Nobody questions the good faith of the
President but the fact remains that he
has never been elected President but the
one time.
The country remembers that the Presi-
dent, at the death of Mckinley. promised
that he would faithfully carry out the
policies Of his predecessor, and he car
ried out that pledge to the letter, even
10 the retention of the Cabinet officers
and minor appointees of the dead Execu-
tive Furthermore in the fulhllment of
ms pledge. he did not begin the pro-
gramme OF reform legislation which has
signalized his administration. It was only
after ne had been nominated and elected
in his own right that he inaugurated the
present Roosevelt policies, so-called. as
representing his ideas of Republican prin-
ctpies IN their application to present con-
ditions and as affording "a solution for