The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1907-12-13

at all, must be arranged between
I them. The most likely outcome OF
their relations is an agreement by
which the secretary Dis to have the
support of the President and win
If he can, and If he cannot the Presi-
dent is to be left free to respond to
the party call in case the popular
demand for the President finds OH
| cial echo in the Chicago convention.
| In fact, it is assured in cabinet cir
| cles that such an understanding al
ready exists.
Mr.. Roosevelt does not regard his
| ell ection-night declaration of 1904 as
! binding upon him to take further
action toward stopping his nomina-
ton or as requiring him to refuse
nomination once made. 1t does bind
him in honor rot to seek the nomina-
ton directly or indirectly, this obi
| CATION he is respecting in good faith.
He Will continue to do so to the end.
| There his responsibility ends What
occurs beyond that, if anything oc-
ours, is the responsibility of his
party.
| It cannot be denied that Mr.. Roose-
velt's position is in many respects
difficult and delicate one. Much
| tact and firmness will be required
during the coming months. If Mr..
Taft proves to be as unreasonable
as his jealous managers have been,
| in his absence the Presidents path
will be anything but one of roses.
These managers have demanded that
| the President use the powers of his
office to secure delegates from the
South for Taft and that he put
| stop to the use of the great patron
age of the Treasury Department by
Mr.. Cortelyou in furthering his own
| ambition to be President. The Pres
| ident has declined to accede to the
| request of the Taft managers, but at
| the same time has found it necessary
| to issue word of friendly caution
to Mr.. Cortelyou against going too
| far in the use of his official power
in political maneuvers.
Within certain limitations the
President is using his influence for
Taft. The more he does this the
more dissatisfied are the Cortelyou
people. The less he does it the more
the Taft managers complain.
If the President does too little
for Taft he will be accused of insin-
certify and of secretly trying to
bring about his own nomination. If
he does too mucn he will be charged
by all his enemies with being a die
tator, besides having the friends of
the other candidates on his back.
The greatest danger to the Presi-
dents peace of mind during the
coming months lies in the peculiarly
delicate relations which he sustains
to Secretary Taft and the latter's
candidacy. Were the President in
that relation with some men he
would find his position well-nigh in
tolerable, so many and so onerous
would be the demands made upon his
loyalty. But it is not like Mr. Taft
to demand the pound of flesh. He
has not been so badly stung by the
presidential bee as to cause him to
lose his urbane and generous self
poise, no matter what his represen-
tatives may have done during his
absence. 1t is improbable that Mr.
Taft will at any time demand of
Mr.. Roosevelt an abdication and in
the absence OF such demand alb
dication is notelikely. For the pres
ent at least Mr.. Roosevelt is doing
the best service to the candidacy of
his friend, the Secretary of War, by
permitting it to be generally sus-
pected that if it is not to be Taft 1t
is to be the President himself. And
that suspicion is in close harmony
with the verities of the situation.
After all the dominant forces in
the Republican party is the vigor-
TIMES GAL THREE 80. .....
Gus, the popular administration.
Mr.. Roosevelt is the administration.
The administration has candidate
for the presidency, he is Taft. The
administration intends to control
the national convention, make the
platform, name the candidate: IL it
can name Taft it will do so; If it
cannot, IL the understudy is not
quite strong enough, well, there is
the man back of him.
An administration convention
need not necessarily nominate the
chosen representative Of the admin
istration. But If it is an admins
tration convention it will have to
nominate him or the administration
itself, the agent or the principal. If
1t dominates a man the administers
ton does not want 1t is no longer an
administration tody. And at the
present time there is no reason to
suppose that the Chicago convention
will be anything else than an ad-
ministration gathering.
Walter Wellman.