The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-23
ALL OCCURS SUB ROSA
 II A PRIVATE DINNER
Cannon Declares That Roosevelt Is "Abnornal," While Fulton Says He Is Dangerous Menace
 To the Republic. <


 Characterized as "abnormal'' by Speaker Cannon and as dangerous menace" to the republic by Senator Fulton, Pres ident Roosevelt was criticised with great CT bitterness than has yet manifested it. self in political circles here at a dinner given by Senator Ankeny of Washing ton, in the New Willard hotel last night to his colleagues. While care was taken not to refer to the President by name, the attacks were so pointed that all present recognized to whom the speakers referred.
 Speaker Cannon in the course of his remarks declared that the present period of efforts to reorganize and reform con- ditions in the country was not unusual. "All who study the history of our coun- try," he said, will find that about every once in so often period of abnormal activity led by an abnormal man, de- velops However. if the study is pur- sued you will find that the storm soon blew over and when the sun came out we were still doing business at about the same old gait in the same old way at tho same old place."
 Awake To Folly.
 Sneaker Cannon declared that In this case as in the past. the people would soon awaken to the 'folly of the situa- tion' and would cease following false doctrines" This attack upon the Presl- dent created considerable surprise and threw Senator Ankeny, the host, into a furry of excitement. He is candidate for reelection for another term in the aUidanca of fear that news of the sentiments expressed at this dinner might harm his chances Tor reelection, if they reached his ene- mics in Washington.
 While Speaker Cannon's attack was a surprise the bitter attack upon the Pres ident by Senator Fulton of Oregon. who has always expressed great admiration for the chief executive and has been one of his constant defenders on public occasions in the Senate, made several of the enemies of the administration sit up and pinch themselves to see if they were awake.
 The dinner was a private affair and enemies of the President are referring 10 the incident as an example of how the Presidents own friends feel toward him when they get together among them
 
 topic in both the republican and dem- socratlc cloak rooms in the Senate to- day.
 FuIton's Protest.
 Senator Fulton Is understood to have called upon the republican senators pres ent to rally about him to prevent the President from dictating his successor to the republican national convention in Chicago next June.
 He declared the republican party was face to face with the greatest crisis in it's history; that unless the leaders of the publican party rallied at once the country was doomed to be governed in the future by the whims of one man and would re- quire many years to recover from the damage to its business and it's policies. Next he declared that the republican par- ty was doomed to destruction unless the party leaders, "prevented its domination by one man" Urging them to ignore the President he insisted that the only thing that could save the country and party from destruction was the defeat of the purpose of a single man to rule both the party and the country, after he had re- tired from office"
 Senator Fulton would not discuss the speech today, in fact, he told his friends that he was possessed with strong de- sire to forget 1t. He aroused the enthus- iasm of large majority of those present
 
 guarded speech of Speaker Cannon, the affair created a mild sensation here today.
 Fairbanks Thaws Out.
 Even Vice-President Fairbanks, who is usually mild spoken, and seldom criti- cises, was so far carried away by the Cannon and Fulton speeches as to devote himself to the application of Washing toms farewell address in his speech and to say that there never was time in the history of the country that this doctrine of no third term for any President was quite so applicable as at present.
 Senator Bourne of Oregon, the original third term promoter in the Senate and the author of the report of a 900 plot to defeat the President, is about the only one of the Presidents friends who found any joy in the occasion. He declared that the united attacks by all the repub- lican candidates or their packers indi- cates clearly that the President will be nominated and that his enemies have been forced to fight him in the open.
 The republican leaders who admit that Senator Bourne's diagnosis of what oc- cured at the Ankeny dinner is the most correct obtained thus far. Meanwhile Senator Ankeny shut himself up in his committee room today to prepare a long statement for the newspapers, back home" explaining that he had no idea what the speakers were to talk about at his dinner and is not responsible for their speeches as they did not represent his sentiments in any particular.