The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-01-10

member or eoterie of members wi
sit down and carefully study ont way
of doing things. Just how much groun
there is for believing that that rest
luton would have reached vote on
can not say positively Apparentl
there is considerable ground. Man
Republican members would not hav
liked to 90 on record about it, but 9th
|, ers would have and some Republican
, would have voted for the resolution i
spite of its Democratic authorship.
The reiteration came too quickly 70
the Democrats to have a chance for
test. Speaker Cannon was summoned t
the White House, but he has been dis
creetly silent ever since as to wha
passed between them. Representative
John Sharp Williams of Mississippi. th'
Democratic leader, also went to th'
White House the same afternoon, aions
with Representative Clayton. The!
deny that their visit had anything t
do with the resolution.
1t is certain that if the resolution
had passed the house or even if it had
( gotten a big vote-the chances are thai
/ a majority of the House would have
been for 1.-THE Presidents subsequent
reiteration would have been very
weak and would have been deprived
of much of its effect before the coun-
try. In taking time by the forelock he
! saved a possible advantage that might
| have been of great Importance TO him.
In the meantime there had been
other events and in fact there may
have been two or three acute causes.
The Republican National Committee
had met and, Notwithstanding the
vigorous denials that the selection of
Chicago as the convention city was an
anti-Taft and an anti-administration
victory. the cold. hard facts are that
it was. with some qualifications, such
q victory. The Southern members of
the National Committee went over in
a bunch to the Chicago side of the
proposition This looked a little pecu-
liar. II was traced to the influence
sistant Postmaster General F. II.
Hitchcock For weeks some of the
wise ones had been saying that the
Cortelyou boom was worth watching
and hints were reaching the public
that the Secretary of the Treasury
was sewing up" a lot of support in
the South. by preaching a third term
for Roosevelt, but urging that the
delegates should be instructed for Cor
telyou as second choice. Mr.. Hitch
cock, who owes his official career to
Secretary Cortelyou, has made many
trips into the South and into other
sections on political missions, although
it is claimed, and with reason, that
the President knew just what Mr..
Hitchcock was doing and why he was
doing it. Internal Revenue Commits
sioner John G. Capers, a big official
under the Treasury Department, has
also been working for his official su-
perior, Mr. COrtelyou, and the Internal
Revenue Commissioner has vast au-
thority over the army of internal rev.
enue employees throughout the South.
One should not infer from these
things that Secretary Cortelyou was
disloyal to the President. for as mat
ter of fact long last summer he told
the President that he expected to be
a candidate and that he should work
for a nomination. This did not alto
gether please the President. but it
advised him fully of Mr.. Cortelyou's
political plans.
10 o.
a lot of quiet, but effective work in his
own behalf He has had assurances
of support from very influential quar-
ters and has taken his presidential
prospects very seriously. The pre-
sumption is that the President. at
first, did not regard the Cortelyou boom
as a matter for weighty consideration.
but that he did become aware that it
was likely to be a great power when
he saw how the Southern members of
the National Committee could be
moved.
Furthermore it has been no secret
that the Secretary of the Treasury has
not received the Taft boom very cor
daily He and his friends have done
things indicating that they thought
lightly of it and of efforts at the White
House TO help it along. Secretary
Cortelyou is not on friendly terms with
the Presidents Secretary, Mr.. Loeb.
who is the most ardent kind of q Taft
boomer
The President himself has said
things within a few days which indi-
cate that this. Cortelyou development
was the main cause that moved him
to make the early reiteration. He has
not said that he felt any Jealousy be-
cause his secretary of the treasury |
seemed to be making more headway in !
getting delegates for himself than he, |
the President, had been able to do |
for Secretary Taft. Nevertheless a lot |
Of mischievous persons have been sug-I
gesting it. Certainly the campaign |
headquarters in the Treasury Depart |
ment has been doing quite as well as |
the campaign headquarters in the |
White House for Taft has been doing.
The President has also said that he /
wanted every candidate TO come out /
INTO the open. Every tub must stand |
0n its own bottom. He has likewise
said that he felt an interest to see
how the third term shouters would /
align themselves. He knows very well
hat many, many politicians have been
shouting for his denomination and try
ng TO get delegates instructed for him, /
With the idea that, when he reiterated 1
and made IL plain that he would NOT |.