The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-05

who are trying to involve the South in hope1ess contests. If in this or other ways . combination could be formed which should work to tie up the convention for considerable number of ballots. Mir. Roosevelt knows, as every man knows who knows anything at all of the game of politics. that there will be in such event the grave danger of his own nomination.
 Probable. almost certain. as Is the nomination of Taft (barring accident). improbable as Is the other there still exists the shadow. the possibility-and 1t Is a possibility which . prudent man
 would eonsider far ahead. Mir. Roose- welt has considered t.
 And in his eyes the whole problem re-
 wolves around this one question: If such an unexpected upheavai were to
 come and the President were forced to accept a nomination., what would the people of the United States think of his
 honor and sincerity?
 He believes there are many good men and women now his warm friends and
 well wislIers who would regret that he
 had been forced into such predica- ment. who would not charge him with conscious insincerity. yet would be sor- | v matter of duty to seem to break his
 word. As sensitive1y honorable man. Mir. Roosevelt hopes with these friends of his that no such predicament may fall to his lot. But suppose 1t does. nevertheless. what then3 Suppose the convention falls into con- fusion. and out of the storm clouds comes the bolt which puts the Presi- dents name upon the standard Sup pose this be accompanied by state of affairs which indicates that refusal to run would plunge the party Into dis aster What would be Mir. Roosevelt;s duty In such an eyent7 Must he obey the command of the people, even at the risk of having unjust accusations thrown at his head. of possibly losing just . little of. the bloom on the rose of his character as understood by his millions of admirers? Or would he be justified in declining the nomination, no matter what disaster might in con- sequence befall his party, in order to protect himself from criticism?
 The Presidents intimate friends be- lieve--and in this belief Mir. Roosevelt no. doubt ioins--that if ever a public straightforwardness. Mir. Roosevelt has done so in all his attitude toward a. second nomination. If President Roose- welt had been playing a shrewd, insin- cere shifty game of hide-an seek, as a Justice of the Supreme Court put it. what would have been his policy? He would have kept hands off the Fresi- dential contest He would have had no favorite. Failing back upon the prfp- clple that it is improper for a President to attemDt to influence the choice of his successor. he would have left the field absolutely open--let the best man win.
 The President has been savagely criticised for not .doing this. The friends of other candidates and some of the other candidates themselves. feel hurt and sore because the President has done so much for Taft.
 But if the President had kept hands off. if he had permitted the situation to drift without any inspiration or guiding or favoritism from him. 1t is morally certain that this would have happened: Taft would have been the leading candidate with Hughes prob ably eecond and the others showing 3 great deal of strength; but no one able to comand the field. no one within reach of the prize; public opinion very much much plotting for combinations among the political leaders; "the inter estg" in clover because they revel in such confusion. and In the end--almost surely--an escape from the dilemma in the easiest. safest and most popular way by the nonaination of Th6odofe Roosevelt.
 The Presidents advocacy of the nom- nation of another Is the best answer to any charge that may be brought against his sincerity or Honor. If he has erred at all against good taste 1t is in work ing too hard to secure the nomination of another man. He has made that nomination so probable that 1t may all most be regarded as a foregone con- cluslon. Everything the President can he will do in the future, as he has done in the past. The failure of Taft is highly improbable. Therefore the dam ger of the nomination of the President himself Is exceedingly remote.
 But If acldent should come or the unexpected happen. if there should be sudden disaster or upheavaI and The odore Roosevelt Is confronted with the problem of what honor and duty re- quire of him. this Is what his friends who know him well and watch him closely insist upon with all their might:
 He has absolutely freed his name and fame from the possibility of jus tifable suspicion as to his honorable and sincere conduct. He has walked straight. He has meant what he said. He has been loyal to his friend and to himself. He has done all he could, per haps more than he should, to make his own nomination impossible.
 The odds are ten to one that he has carried his point, that the party is with him, that his co-worker and friend, Taft, will be chosen. But should fate play pranks and something else happen.