The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-04
.CORTELYOU BOOM
 WILL NOT DOWN
Vigorous DeniaIs Made, How
 ever, of Secret Work
CRITICAL STAGE REACHED
Taft Supporters Are Worried Over the Situation and Many Believe That the President shoHd d Make
 aShowdoWn of Policy.

Columbus, O.. Oetober 3,--(Special.) )-The sensation created by the report that Man ager Vorys who has charge of the Taft preside entlal boom, had called on President Roosevelt for "show down with ref erence to the administrators support of the Ohio candidate, and the intimation that members of the Presidents official family had been secretly trying to conslgn the Taft movement to the cold storage department, refuses to subside. Vigorous denials come from Washington, put forth by the friends of Cortelyou, Hitchcock and Capers, who, 1t was reported, nad been playing out of harmony with tho Taft orchestra. and the probabilities are that the incident will cause considerable bitterness before it Is finally closed Real izing that the alleged accusations may work harm, the Taft forces are endeavor- ing to minimize the incident as much as possible, and 1t is evident that there is keen regret that it was ever given pub licity, and that MT Vorys is not in a po- sition to say just what did transpire dur Ing his famous interview with the Pres ident. As 1t is. the Taft manager re- fuses to discuss the matter. though ie denies that he "complained' about MT. Cortelyou.
 An interesting side light is thrown upon the allegation that the situation in the south has been "jugged" to sucn an ex- tent that the leaders do not know WHO is the administration candidate, by a recent dispatch sent out from Birmng ham. This special said: Republican poll ticians in this part of Alabama, and they are practically the leaders, are somewhat disturbed as to who is q candidate Tor .he presidency Announcements tnat George B. Cortelyou has large num- OCT of friends in this state. and that little boolns are being started for him, has had the effect of disturbing the admnislration followers" Now, what the Taft people want to know. is why there should be any doubt as to how the administration stands. and who is responsible for the little booms' in behalf of Cortelyou. These little booms are heard of not only in Alabama and Virginia but III other southern states, and to close obsery- CTS it looks like concerted movement on the part of some influences close to lne throne of power.
 It is believed that the Taft boom has reached a critical stage. If the time has come for show down on the part of the administration as to who will be favored in the presidential race, it is suggested that the time Is also ripe for a "show down" as to the strength of the ohio candidate If this be true, and it should develop that there Is some doubt as to the ability of MT. Taft to secure the nomination, even with the assistance of the administration, then 1t is easy to imagine that MT. Roosevelt would keep hands off" in the fight He will not run any risk of injury to his prestige as a politician and statesman by backing a possible loser, 1t is argued. Mir. Roose- welt is a comparatively young man and already there is talk of his being in the presidential race in 1912 so it is not be- lieved that he will do any thing that might injure him in the future. Should he, after sizing up the situation, decide to take no part in the present fight. then 1t is conceded that there might be en- tirely new alignments and the Ohio man might be put practically out of the run ming. His strongest asset has been the support of the administration and if this is taken from him 1t is easily to be seen that other and less weighty candidates might outstrip him in the race.
 Whether or not the President will side step the Taft boom will probably not be known until after tine swamps of Louis by the chief executive. and in the mean time the anxious seat will be occupied by a large and varied assortment of candi- dates. near-candidates and woud-be, can ddates- !. R. H.