The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-23
THE PREs1pENTs FuTuRE..

SNAN Washington that MT. Roosevelt will withdraw from the presidency in 1909. The third-term boomers in other parts of the country are still vociferous, but the Presidents own choice for the sue cession Is Secretary Taft, and the sup porters of other candidates, whether voluntary or subsidized, are going ahead without apparent regard for the possibility of a Roosevelt stampede. MT. Taft's candidacy is embarrassed by the fact that his ability to secure the delegation from his home state is un- certain. There are those who say that Senator Foraker will have the Ohio members of the republican convention at his undlsputed beck and call, and that if he does not remain in the field himself he will be able to turn them all, or most of them, to whichever other candidate he prefers to favor. New England is unquestionably friendly to the Secretary of War, and the country at large holds him in affectionate es- teen, but whether there is sufficient desire for his nomination to bring it to pass without Ohio, as Mir. Cleveland's nomination was compassed in 1892 without New York, is a serious ques-
 ton.
 That Senator Fairbanks Is an active and anxious cndidte for the presldentil succession is no secret. His plans were begun long ago and with true Hoosier shrewdness he is laying every possible wire to obtain the honor. Nor can his candidacy be regarded with mere amusement or scorn. He has substan-
 tially changed in the last few years. He is, for instance, no longer the icycle of other days He has thaWe1 out un- der the pressure of necessity and is now an accomplished and entertaining after-dinner speaker; and it would be futile to ignore his recent access of popularity. On Saturday evening at the annual dinner of the University club of Washington, the Washington Star says, he was greeted with a ver- ltable storm of applouse;" the Post calls the enthusiasm "a hearty out burst" In part this and similar incl dents may be due to his position in the government, yet he has certainly man aged to obscure his former reputation for dull impassivity
 It Is not impossible that the cam paign for the republican nomination will eventually show the so-called rad icals aligned with Secretary Taft and
 the so-called conservatives rallied about the Fairbanks banner, But in
 that case, what is to become of Presi- dent Roosevelt? There is reason to suppose that his cherished ambition is
 t9 succeed Senator Platt, whose term expires on the third of March, 1909, one day previous to the Presidents official exit from the White House. Senator Platt is in a precarious state of health. He sits in his place at the Capitol day after day but single glance sufilces to show how frail is his physical com dltion. He is sall3w bent and silent Opposite him, on the democratic side of the chamber, towers Senator Pettus of Alabama, who was born almost eighty six years ago and who looks as if Ela might be seventy; but MT. Platt, who is not vet seventy-f3ur has come near f,{s i. z l13 totn lectual strength. To replace him with a vigorous man like MT. Roosevelt would be to change New York's entire relationship to national affairs, In stead of a decrepit invalid, never an att tractiye figure at his best, the Empire state would have a representative who could be depended upon to enter sharp ly and intelligently into every impor- tant debate.
 MT Roosevelt's preference for the senatorship is probably not based upon his desire for a permanent retirement from the executive mansion. He knows that Mr. Cleveland came back after a fur years obscuration, and he may see no reason why he should not do like wise, especially as in 1913 he will be only fifty-fo years of age. If an in- te1yal of four wears should occur be- tween his second and his third admin istration there would be less if any criticism from the anti-third term the orists, and his service in the senate would meanwhile avail to keep him very thoroughly in the public view. ,,1o la, Lo could urge the reforms in which he is now so keenly interested, and if they should prove sufficiently popular to elect him 1912 he would return to the White House with a unqlue commission to carry them out
 Upon this interesting point the Washington correspondent of the New York Times sends a long letter. What the source af the writer's information Is he does not state, but there is no reason to doubt it's accuracy He says that the President has just begun his work of reform; that the Railroad Rate bill is to be followed, at the opening session of the Sixtieth congress, by a measure attacking the 0yer-cap apitaliza- tion of traffic lines; and that Mir Roosevelts idea is to give his life to politics and to yield his best efforts, so long as he may have the strength, to the urging of legislation which the cap italist class now regards as radical, but which may ultimately appear conserva- tive in contrast with the schemes of { the socrialists. The Times correspon- dent adds:
 His fundamental idea is that the problems of the twentieth century are economic; that there are inequalities in the laws which have given rise 10 dis