The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-12-31
EA!vORS
TAFT'S CANDIDACY
Senators Aldricll and Crane Will
Support War Secretary for
President.
-------.
PRESIDENT FOR HIM, ALSO
Report Regarded as Narrowing
Presidential Contest to Taft
and Hughes.
PRESIDENT FOR HIM, ALSO
Times Dispatch Bureau,

Times Dispatch Barenu,
Munsey building.
Washington, D. c.. Dec. 30.
That senator .Aldrich Will support the
presidential candidacy of Secretary
TAFT is stated upon uritnpeachabic
authority to-day In tho same connee-
ton II may be stated that there Ia
apparently equally good authority 70:
the statement that senator Murray
Crane. Of Massachusetts. has given tile
TAFT people assurance that he Will sup.
port the candidacy Of the Secretary OF
War for the nomination to succeed Mr..
Roosevelt.
The significance of these two state
>neilts can scarcely be ovcrcstimated.
Assuming that they are correct, VI
which there is little room for doubt,
they are believed to mean the noiui-
nation of Mr.. TAFT or Governor Hughes.
Il is stated that Secretary Taft has
assured Senator Aldccl, that the lat
ter's friends, composing what has conc
TO ne termed ..the System shall not
be harmed during the Onioans occu-
pancy OF the executive chair.
Without some such assurance 1t is
regarded by many as ridiculous to sup
pose that either the Senator from
Rhode Island or the Senator from Mas
sachusetts would support any man.
Spells Doom for Doomlets.
If the news told in tho foregoing
paragraphs be correct, and there is
good reason to believe such is the
case, 1t means an early death to the
Cannon and Knox and Foraker and
Fairbanks booms. The four candidates
named have from the first been re-
garded as candidates of "the system"
"a tct lit
.cies. Mr.. Roosevelt Is supporting Sec
rotary Taft, SO that the Secretary of
War would have the support Of "the
system and of the administration at
TIE same time. The hopes of any
OF the four candidates without such a
combination behind him would die in
q day.
But this does not apply to Cover
nor Hughes. who is looked upon as
standing for precisely the. same poll
cies President Roosevelt has so vocif-
erously advocated. The President,
however. does not admit as much.
Many stories have been circulated.
bearing faint White House mark. to
the effect that Governor Hughes was
playing to the other side" as evil
donced by his veto of the 2-cent rate
law passed by the New York Legisla-
ture. There is rot the slightest doubt
that the President would prefer to see
almost any man secure the nomination
to having 1t go TO tie Governor Of New
York.
Bu; should ii be found that .the
System" as represented by Senator
Aldrich and Senator Crane, is backing
Secretary Taft. 1t would mean this
alienation of large section OF the
ma sses Of the Republican voters. even
IL -, ,tsfr
Tho System. lit is just possible that
In such contingency the rank AUD file
So the party would break away Nrom
the leaders and nominate man Nike
Hughes or La Toilette, either of whpm
has the entire confidence OF the RADICAL
element OF the Republican party.
knockers Are After Taft.
Meanwhile. the Taft opposition, as
represented by Messrs. Cannon, Knox,
Itairbanks and Foraker, is not so idle
as might be thought. There are sew
.eraI stories being circulated more or
less industrioIsly. which are not TO the
credit of the Secretary of War
They have to do chiefly with Judge
Taft's administration as Governor OF
the Philippines, and while they do r,ut
charge anything affecting his personal
character, they do attack his methods
of administration.
For instance, it is alleged tliIt Willis
ne was Govt+for-G general OF, the Philip
pines Secretary Taft issucu an order
to the effect that any American school
teacher who should se.1 homo letters
describing conditiopHas they actually
existed in the i-,ands would be sum
MARTY dismissed. II is also charged
that he ctu.lly ordered the deporta-
lion of one or more Americans who
were free m their criticism Of affairs
under American administrations.
1t would appear that, though these
Etor.es be true. u complete answer to
criticisms of Judge Taft's adninistra.
tin Of affairs in the Philippines would
he an appeal to the Filipinos them
selves. The natives worship him. re-
sardins him as their best friend.
CortclSou as Taft Manager.
Nothing more is heard OF the re-
port that First Assistant Postmaster-
General Hitchcock has been invited 20
assume control Of the Taft boom. But
it is reported to-day, and Ethc report
is given credence in, some quarters,
that Secretary Cortelyou himself has
been asked to- take charge of Mr.. Taft'H
candidacy. 1t is rumorcd that the
proposition has been accepted. and that
Mr.. Cortelyoutwill resign as Secretary
of the Treasury in orders to devote him.
self entirely to comprising the nomi-
nation of the Secretary of War. A
further detail of the report Is that
Mr.. Cortelyou, in return for the SER
Vice rendered. is to be made Secretary
of State
The story should not be credited
however in. the absence OF any sort
of contirnla tion.
u suppose was rs close 10 Mr.. Cor
lelgou as was almost any Republican
IN the south" said Representative Bas-
com Slemp to-day. land I never heard
him say one word which would indi-
cnte that he was an active or even q
receptive candidate for the presiden-
fiai nomination.. We have frequently
discussed the third term
And therein lies tho secret OF the
candidacy of the Secretary Of the
Treasury. 100
FishttOvcr a Post-Otlcc.
Several Virginia post-offices az tlle
fourth class are about TO be raised tc
The third class, including Burkeville
Norton and Coeburn.
There is e fight on over the postmas
tership at Norton. L. C. Wells, a we'll
known Republican, is trying to ge
the appointment, as against w. NJ
Adams, the Incumbent, who doesn',
want to let it 90. The fight over thu
post.ofticc at Bcrryvills Is about to b,
Il "A ~ n nS A