The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-15
BOOM FALLS FLAT
coRrrLYouy ADDITION Is NOW

CORTELYOWS AMnLIAUN nemocrats EIstea That Roosevelt Has
 --Leaders Are Bnsy Fig uring en Future.
 "A special to The Chicago Tribune from washington says:
 After they had recovered from their surprise over the sudden announce rneilt made from the White House last nirht. fine leaders in both parties have been busily engaged in figuring out what the effect will be.
 The most delighted men in the coun- try are the Democrats. They talk diff one of them knew from the beginning that if President Roosevelt sfould be a candidate for reelection he would sweep the country.
 Many Democrats from the South de- cIared that as against Bryan. the old ticket of Roosevelt and Fairbanks would have an excellent chance Of breaking into the solid South.
 Now the President is out of the run- ming entirely. and the Democrats gen. erally are immensely pleased. They weresthe ones who constantly declared that, Roosevelt was scheming to get the nomination. and they instilled the same idea into stlis minds of the minor can- didates on the Republican side.
 M Hetirement Helps Bryan.
 The retirement of President Roose- 1. welt docs not affect the Democratic nomination Bryan will be put up at Denver at the convention there next July. if he Is alive and kicking. App parently nothing can prevent 1t.
 He is the Democratic Old Man of ths Sea, and he will ride on the shoulders of his party, at least during the com ing presidential year. hnd possibly un- til c beuehcent providence removes him from active politics. pi ssss l
 With Roosevelt out. however, 1t is ! admitted on both sides that Bryan has chance which he otherwise would liked and suspected in the Southern States. but they will go solidiy Demo- : cratic as against any man the Repub-' 3 licans can put up except the Presi- dent. s There Is practical union in the Dem ocratic party on the surface. That is stilled and there is outward harmony in almost all of the States.
 There is more or less disunion, in II linois and two pr three other places, but on the whole the scars left by the bitter light of 1896 have been healed.
 Bryan. too. is personally stronger.
 
 which easily, penetrates the casual crowd and he can be depended upon to create some kind of an attractive . war cry which will take with the masses. In the first place. therefore, Bryan has been strengthened most def tnitely by Roosevelt's withdrawal.
 CorteIyou Boom CoIlapses.
 As regards the situation among the Republicans. there Is. of course. a great diversity of opinion. The inti- mate friends of Knox. Cannon, Hughes. Taft. Fairbanks, and LaFolette all in- sist that the chances of their candidate have been greatly strengthened by the retirement of the President.
 It Is generally admitted, however, that the Presidents withdra wal practi-a cally puts an end to whatever life there was in the Cortelyou boom.
 The Secretary of the Treasury had little or no strength outside of places where careful organization was effect cd in his behalf among administration ohlcials. particularly in the South. ] His candidacy has never received any warm approval from the President. It Is generally believed that Assistant Postmaster-General Hitchcock started out to organize the Cortelyou boom under the guise, of third term beem for Roosevelt. The Presidents letter disposed of the substance of the Cor telyou movement, because 1t is manic fest that he cannot possibly go to Chi cago with the support of his own State. and he cannot now openly se- cure delegates from the South.
 Taft in Strategic Position. <
 At least there will be no more aun- buscades, no more firing from behind trees, no more feints and sorties. The fighting must be in the openg Every district and State Convention will have to be won by public assaults with ban ners flying, and the name of the can- didate understood from beginning tos end. E 8~- zyl This feature of the situation seems to give more encouragement to the Taft and Hughes men than to anybody esle. It is insisted by the Taft and Hughes men that these two candidates are the only ones for whom there is a perceptihle public sentiment which Is national in it's character.
 It is significant that there is a com bination of Nthesentire field. including Hughes. against Taft.
 It is sometimes of great advantage for a candidate in a political conySn- I ton to unite the field against himself While he Is in that position there is public notice to voters at large that ho is the favorite. and under ordinary circumstances he stands the best chance of winning. The tendency of politicians always is to get into the band wagon before it is too late, and the Taft men. assum- ing that he leads the others at the present time, are counting confidently on this fact.
 Secreta.y's Campaign suffers. - It has been evident to great many sincere friends of the Secretary of War, who were not on the inside of his political campaign that he has suffer ed extremely from two things.
 In the first place, he has been made the victim of unfortunate political methods which have not inspired com fldence outside of his home state.
 In the second place. Taft has been more blocked by the possibility of Roosevelt's candidacy than any other of those whose names have been men tioned.
 It will be entirely unfair to Uncle