The sun., 1908-05-09
Why he PUT AWAY The CROWN
SENATOR'S REMARKS on ROOSE-
TELT AND A THIRD TERN.
Experienced Observer at the Capital Says
the President Knows That Those Who
Now Acclaim Would Turn Against Him
II lie should Violate His Pledge.

Ab hhVNb AhNN A"''N '''N
Now Acclaim Would Turn Against Him
II lie should Violate His Pledge.
WASHINGTON May s.-0ne Of the Oldest
and most respected members Of the Senate
discussing to-day the growth Of so-called
third term sentiment, expressed himself
OIL the subject in interesting terms, His
attention had been called 10 the prevailing
belief here that Mr.. Roosevelt was deter
! mined 10 secure the nomination for himself
and that his power 10 do 30 was undisputed
among practical politicians, and that his
nearest friends and associates, though
claiming that Mr. Taft would be nominated
on the first ballot were without exception
deploring that gentlemans unavailabilty
and the impossibility of his election, in the
meanwhile avowing their conviction that
Mr.. Roosevelt alone could carry his party
! through.
Il hear nothing else the Senator said,
'but | do not think there Ia much in 1t,
You see. Mr.. Roosevelt has always been a
very young man. His body natures, but
his mind is just the same az it was when he
came out Of Harvard. All the things that
| he does are the ebulitions Of an irrepressi-
BILE boyhood, and no matter to what age he
may attain he will remain the same. MIR,
Choate, the leader Of the New York bar,
| gained this conception Of him over ten
years ago. | reoollect that in a moment Of
impulsve admiration he once apostrophzed
| him as Roosevelt, the eternal boyV That
ia precisely what he is, a boy in mind, with
all boys vehemence and instantaneity Of
decision and all Of youths glorious privi-
lege Of dispensing with the teaching Of
experience We must not be too i'm
patient with him. Indeed, | do not know
anybody whom envy as much az | do
Mr.. Roosevelt.
Like all Of u.s. Mr.. Roosevelt is subject
to the law Of compensatons, and the penalty
which ii imposes in his case is vanity, After
all. vanity is a mixed affection, since its dis
advantages have TO be shared by others.
| However intense may be Mr. Roosevelts
desire to succeed himself in the Presidency.
and obviously the idea completely obsesses
him. as it naturally should, his vanity closes
the door to possibility. For his vanity does
not blind Mr.. Roosevelt. It is not Of that
kind. He sees more clearly than perhaps
any disinterested observer what his own
position is and in what relation he stands
to all the circumstances that affect or con-
troll him
My dear sir, have never known a man
in public life who entertained 30 few illu-
sions about himself as Mr.. Roosevelt, While
this olamor about another term is to him
a sort Of ecstasy, it does not for moment
warp his judgment. He knows precisely
what the relation is between his refusal to
serve another term and the public or sup
posed public desire that he should be re-
elected No one understood 80 we'll as MIR
Roosevelt the profound significance Of
Judge Brewers expression playing hide
and seek with the American people. Mr.
Roosevelt did not need that great jurist's
friendly intimation. He has known all
along where he stood
A man in popular relations with his fell
low men may allow himself all sorts Of lati-
tude regarding his personal conduct It
b astonishing to what eItremities he may
| 60 and incur no serious prejudice. just as
our social system tolerates all sorts Of famil-
lar human derelictions and visits them with
it's indignation and resentment only when
the law or the police take official cogni-
zsnce Of them. So Mr. Roosevelt his coy
ness with the nomination and the fascinat-
| ing peril Of his relations with Mr.. Taft are
! the caviare Of all contemporary political
discussion and furnish the spectacle Of the
moment. No one quite 80 we'll as Mr.
Roosevelt himself knows what would be the
consequences Of his abandoning his atti-
tude Of self-abnegation,
"Since the night Of election 10 1904 Mr..
Roosevelts pose Of renunciation has been
the most seductive thing that the American
public has ever been subjected TO, Coupled
J with his daily procedure and faculty for the
spectacular it has served to dim and 10
obscure all other political pretensions in
any other quarter whatever until the
conditions obtain which YOU see to-day.
But Mr.. Roosevelt has no illusions He
knows that the very people who are now
! the loudest and the most insistent in de-
msnding his candidacy would. If he yielded
be the swiftest to condemn and the most
merciless in their resentment
The delusion which contemplates the Chi
cago convention as a prodigal celebration
at which the fatted Taft is 10 be killed in
Mr. Roosevelt's honor has its practical and
attractive side for everybody except the
proposed beneficiary He may not have
much sense but his intuitions are marvel
ousy accurate. and therefore there is no
more danger Of his appropriating the nom
ination than that you or ! will.
Both his renunciations look negligible
enough In the curious light Of unreallty and
insincerity which he has 30 artfully thrown
upon them One might almost say that the
public has either forgotten them or by COM
mon consent repudiated them. But Mr.
Roosevelt knows what destructive vitality
they would possess the very moment he
abiured them. My dear sir he has not the
faintest ambition 10 incur a fate he so fully
understands His vanity il too well rooted
for that. There is food attractive and sat
isfying enough for even that vanity in the
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