The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-01-02
THE PRESIDENT
AND THIRD TERM
Continued from Page One.)

language or q resolution introduced ~
Representative William Springer, of
Illinois. December Is, 1875, declaring it
the sense of the House that no Presi-
dent should serve for more than eight
years. The House adopted Mr.. Spring
err s resolution, which was aimed at the
third term talk about President Grant.
But the House was Democratic then
and it is Republican now, which, of
course, makes difference.
Nevertheless, the Democrats were
working with all their ingenuity to
bring that resolution to vote. For
obvious reasons Speaker Cannon would
not have been expected to fight and
kick and bite should the resolution be
brought to vote, provided the Demo
Gratis could find some way under the
rules to get it to a vote. And while
there is a world of criticism Of the
House rules, great many unexpected
things can be done under these rules if
member or a coterie of members will
sit down and carefully study out ways
of doing things. just how much ground
there is for believing that that reso-
luton would have reached vote one
can not say positively. Apparently
there is considerable ground. Many
Republican members would not have
liked to go on record about it, but 9th
ers would have and some Republicans
would have voted for the resolution in
spite of It's Democratic authorship.
The reiteration came too quickly for
the Democrats to have chance for
test. Speaker Cannon was summoned to
the White House, but he has been dis
creetly silent ever since as to what
passed between them. Representative
John Sharp Williams of Mississippi, the
Democratic leader, also went to the
White House the same afternoon, along
with Representative Clayton. They
DENY that their visit had anything to
do with the resolution.
1t is certain that if the resolution
had passed the house or even if it had
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 it's effect before the eoun-
try. In taking time by the forelock ne
saved a possible advantage that might
have been of great Importance TO MN.
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-administrat1on
victory, the cold hard facts are that
it was with some qualifications, such
a victory The Southern members OF
the National Committee went over IN
a bunch to the Chicago side of the
proposition. This looked little pecu-
liar It was traced to the influence
of Secretary Cortelyou and First AS
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 puonc
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
If 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, big official
under the, Treasury Department. has
also been working for his official SUI
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
disloyai 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 1t
advised him fully of Mr.. Cortelyou
! political plans.
And Mr.. Cortelyou has been doing
| 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 1t
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 will
the Presidents Secretary. Mr. Loeb
who is the most ardent kind of TAT
boomer.
The President himself has saiC