The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-06-05

departments. Every great question IN
those departments must go to him for
final approval. At least he is inform
ed what the cabinet officer decides and
is made familiar with what is being
done. Visitors take up quite a half
Of the Presidents time 1t is very
| essential that he keep in touch at all
times with what is doing politically
and otherwise over the country. Many
calls could well be dispensed with, but
it is not SO easy to separate the wheat
from the chaff. No other man in the
country has such opportunity for meet
ing people and aseertaining the popular
mind as has the President. True, not
all who come to him tell of conditions
as they are, but rather of conditions as
| they think the President would like to
| have them. But the President has hun
| dreds of unbiased sources of informa-
| ton.
| His most interesting work continues
| to be political and has reference to his
| own successor. His men are coming
and going constantly with reports from
many states. They are not heralded
and only by some little bit of informa-
ton that comes to light accidentally
from time to time, does one grasp the
significance Of the activity.
CLEVELAND ON ROOSEVELT.
Some years ago President Cleveland
was sitting at the head of his cabinet
table at one of the biweekly meetings.
Richard Olney, then Attorney General,
was near. The conversation was about
the Republican chairman of the Civil
Service Commission.
IT have been watching that man for
some time" said President Cleveland
to Mr.. Olney. II do not know whether
I shall knock him out of the box or
otherwise He is one of the smartest
politicians in this country. Keep your
eye on him"
Mr.. Cleveland was speaking Of Theo-
dore Roosevelt The man who is now
the only living ex-President evidently
saw into the future, although probably |
he did not see that the Republican |
chairman of the Civil Service Commits |
sitting and with the same authority |
over a country of more millions of peo-
pie and more square miles of territory. |
Soon after Congress adjourned Pres
ident Roosevelt was playing his game |
of politics in the open. Now he is
playing it in secret. He played the
game in the open because then it best
suited his purposes. Now he is play
ft1n III
sons.
Hence the wide speculation about re-
suits. There is plenty of activity in
the states, although thus far largely
confined to the bosses and managers
and members of state and county COM
mittees The President is still with the
Taft boom. For a while some of Sec
rotary Taft's friends feared he might
desert it. The President became aware
that too open championship of his Sec
rotary of War might injure the cause.
When the President insisted on pum-
melting Senator Foraker and of driving
him out of public life. the rival can
didates for the Presidency were gleeful.
They said that meant universal knitting
in Ohio. It would retard the Taft boom
in Buckeyedom and also in other
states.
Perhaps they chortled too soon. It
to be seen There have been
SO many statements and commensurate
ments from Ohio that the public is
losing interest, although the endorse
nent of the Secretary for the nomina-
ton seems to be assured. The fact is be-
coming impressed gradually upon the
public mind. 1t may help the Secre
tary to endorsements in other states or
It may not. The situation on that point
IS delightfully."- uncertain. Senator For {
aker in one of his fiery outputs, says !
the assertions of committeeman do not
count; that only state conventions have
authority to endorse. He has truth on
MS side. But members of state COM {
nittees are coming out into the open. t
Kansas has recently pledged delegates t
10 Taft through a resolution of the i
state committee. Kansas is one of the !
sooner" states to use a quotation from /
Speaker Cannon, who at Albany the f
,ther day, told sarcastically of the i
logs Of his boyhood days out on the |
Wabash that were first to give tongue, G
out never got in at the death. :
FORAKER A FIGHTER. S
Senator Foraker has tremendous /
lighting power. From here in Wash
ngton he is now conducting two big I
lghts-one for endorsement for reelec-
ion to the Senate, another for the vim il
ication of the colored soldiers of the h
7wenty-ffth Infantry whom the Pres a
dent discharged without honor for a
omplicity in the shooting up Of b
He does not say it in any i.
f his public statements but in his pri- h
ate conversations the Senator is say n
ng that the Taft following in Ohio D
as chosen to have a fight and that u
e proposes to give them all they want. n
lie has been ready to make peace and i,
Did them so, but he will not consent /,
0 a peace which calls for his retire o
lent to private life. He is not anxious, ie
e says, to stay in the Senate but he \
oes not propose to be driven from \
he Senate at the behest OF anyone ex- {
ept the people of Ohio-his constitu-
ntS.
Further the Senator is telling his
'iends that, as Taft's Iieutenants are a.
h iyy1 In 9, /