The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-02-08
ait W ms Michigan
Gets llirt otes

works. In their eyes roosevelt can DO
no wrong. He has them completely
hypnotized. They love him and hate
his eDmies. They believe 1t was his
enemies who brought on the panic in
New York for no other purpose than
TO hurt their idol.
Now, the interesting thing is that
these two phases of public opinion ran
together and coalesced in the Taft
Indictment in this State. AS soon as
1t became known that Taft was Roose-
veIt's choice the masses were for him
for that reason and no other. The
most of them would have been for
pny man upon whose shoulders
the manutle OF their idol CHANGED to
fall. The business and professional
men were not for Taft because Taft
was Roosevelts choice. but because
they admired and believed in Taft
himself. With them the Secretary OF
War stood on his own merits And
when they began practical work for
HIM, they found IT an easy task
because the masses were of their way
OF thinking for different reason.
Hence It is not difficult to under
stand why and how Michigan has be-
come Taft state.
Strong as was the movement for
Taft among the men of affairs. and
capably as they did their work. they
do not deny that If 1T had not been
for Taft's inheritance OF the Roose-
welt following they might not havo
been able to carry the delegation. At
any rate. there would have been a
contest with the friends OF other can
didates. and the outcome probably
would have been divided delegation
Taft perhaps would have the largest
block Of votes, but Hughes, Knox,
Cortelyou all had Influential friends
here. 1t was the Roosevelt voice
that settled the matter once for all.
Which may be sent down east to
those eminent financiers and railway
presidents who are quite sure that the
only reason Taft cannot be nominated
is because Roosevelt is for him-the
men who have seriously and earnestly
advised Taft to get out of the cabinet
and cut loose from the President in
order to make his nomination and
election sure. Your average down
east fnancier and railroad manager
knows about as much of public opIn-
ion in the heart of the country as he
does of men and matters in Mars.
Among the men of affairs in this
state-and I have talked with those
who have been in every city and large
town during the past few weeks-one
finds great deal OF opinion that
President Roosevelt is losing a little
of his hold upon the men who think
for themselves and that Judge Taft
is gaining upon their respect and con-
fidence. One man expressed the
thought this way:
when the Taft movement in
Michigan first assumed large proper
lions about 30 per cent. of it was
due to Roosevelt and the remaining 10
per cent. to admiration for Taft him
self. Now the probabilities are that
the percentage are about of equal
volume The Presidents vehemence
doesn't wear as well as Taft's more
quiet devotion to the same principles"
Still another phase of opinion among
the more active men of this State is
worthy of comment. / have heard of
1t in many quarters. 1t is a belief,
more or less general, that It is wise
to go for Taft for the reason that If
he is made the leading candidate with
a probability of success on the first
ballot, that more than anything else
would stop the talk OF rushing Roose-
welt through and forcing him to run
despite what he has said. This is
- ~ bSSaNSO SNCls OlS hAOh5 dIl'
stands for Roosevelt and his policies.
If there was danger of the nomina-
tion of any other candidates than the
one known to be thoroughly satIsfac-
tory to the President, almost every
one forsees that there might be an
eruption, an upheaval, at Chicago.
These Michigan business and pro-
fesslonal men who are for Taft are
not Roosevelt haters. On the contrary,
they approve of the President and his
work, some of them with qualifica-
lions with shading of warmth or cold
ness. What they cannot understand is
that II they can see the way to get in
the White House a steadier and quiet
er man than Roosevelt, why in the
name of all that is good and great
cannot the eastern men who oppose