Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-05-03
Great Agricultural Districts Of
the Country to Stand With.
Roosevelt in Campaign
CONSERVATIVES ARE OPPOSED
Division Largely Fomented by tho Rail
way Masnates-Fa'lure to Meet De-
mands of Prosperity Ensendered
Criticism, Which President Gave
Freely-Great Fight over Platforms.

Chicago, May "a Philadelphia spe-
cial to the Chicago Tribune says: Judy-
ing from the scores Of conversations
with all sorts Of people hereabout, 1t Is
more or less evident that In the next
presidential campaign there Is TO be a
cleavage between the east and west SO
far as the republicans are concerned
not on candidates. but on policies In
fact the east is fully prepared to &C
cept a western man as its candidate; II
wants one 1t is only on the question
of governmental policy that the two
sections are liable TO split.
The great fight in the convention OF
1908 probably will be over the plat :
form. The east is conservative: the
west Is naturally progressive and even
radical The east Is manufacturing;
the west Is agricultural. The east owns
railroads and the west gives to them
their tonnage and their passenger traf-
fic. The east has been made great thru
the operation OF the paternal protective
tariff systems. The west is losing for
egn markets because OF that same tar
III, in whose benefits It shares remotely.
1t Is not strange, therefore, that the
popular point OF view should be so dff-
ferent In Philadelphia and New York
from what 1t is in Chicago or st. Lou
is. The Roosevelt cult is by no means
80 dominant in New Jersey as In Iowa.
There are lots of people hereabout--
good people, too, republicans and re-
spected citizens---who by no means ap-
prove OF the present course Of the chief
They do not hesitate TO
declare that he Is seeking for popular
approval that he is a grand stand
player" and that, sometimes at least.
he is charlatan. Epithets and crltf-
cisms which would provoke fight In
Chicago or Kansas City frequently are
voiced in New York Boston and Phil
adelphia.
1t Is more or less absurd to say that
any great 35,000,00O conspiracy has
been organized against the president IN
New York or any other headquarter OF
the great moneyed interests. They are
by no means that sort of men. Inc
people who have made themselves the
kings of Wall street have accomplished
their uplifting because of their shrewd-
ness, and they are not at all likely to
make the mistake of attacking the ma
tional administration when 1t is only
half thru It's work.
They are not in the habit of wasting
their money. They want to control the
next presidential election as a matter
of course, but they are clever enough to
that they are personally
and that any combination
on their part against President Roose-
Welt or his policy surely would result
in q popular reaction entirely disas-
Lrous 10 the ideas they represent.
Yet it should be understood now, as
Ii will have to be understood later on.
that thruout New England and the
middle states there IS a decided feeling
either of doubt or downright hostility
to President Roosevelt, and the theory
Of government he is supposed to repre-
sent. Part of this Is honest criticism.
Part of 1t, however, is fear. The great
business interests are undeniably in %
cOnQ1tlOn OF 5fnental panic leSl IsoosS7
Welt should decide to run again for the
They think that four years
more of strenuosity will unsettle values
to such an extent as to precipitate a
financial crash.
This feeling largely has been foment-
ed by the railway magnates. They
were caught unawares by the extraor-
binary prosperity of the country. They
had been in the habit of duplicating
stock and bond issues and had forgot
ten to double their tracks. They put
out new securities in Wall street, but
forgot to purchase the terminal facili-
ties those securities were supposed to
represent. The railroads Of the coun-
try, almost without exception, have for
the last ten years failed to expend
enough of their earnings on better
ments and improvements and the result
has been that when the great tidal
wave Of prosperity overwhelmed them
they were entirely unable to provide
for it.