The Washington herald., 1908-05-09
ROOSEVELT AFRAID,
DECLARES SENATOR
President Called Young Man
by Unnamed Speaker.
DEFEAT AT THE POLLS FEARED
Those Close to the White House
Charged with Shouting for Taft,
While Secretly DepIOrfng His
Weakness-TheOdOre Roosevelt the
best Judge OF Conditions.

New York. May s.-The sun this morn
ing. under a Washington date line. says.
one Of the Oldest and most respected
members Of the Senate, discussing the
growth Of so-called third-term sentiment,
expressed himself on the subject in inter-
esting terms. His attention had been
called to the prevailing belief here that
Mr.. Roosevelt was determined TO secure
the nomination for himself, and that his
power TO do so 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 de-
ploring that gentleman's inability. and
the impossibility Of his election. in the
meanwhile avowing their conviction that
Mr.. Roosevelt alone could carry his party
through.
I hear nothing else. the Senator said,
but I do not think there is much in It.
You see Mr.. Roosevelt has always been
a very young man. His body natures,
but his mind is Just the same as it was
when he came out of Harvard. All the
things that he does are the ebulliuons
of an irrepressible boyhood. and no mat
ter 20 what age he may attain, he viii
remain the same. Mr.. Choate the lead
er OF the New York bar, gained this
conception Of him over ten years ago. 1
recollect that in a moment Of impulsive
admiration he once apostrophized him as
Roosevelt. the eternal boy
Enyies MIR. Roosevelt.
THAT Is precisely what he is-a boy in
mind. with all a boys vehemence and in
stantaneity Of decision, and all of youths
glorious privilege Of dispensing with the
teaching q. experience. We must not be
too impatient with him. Indeed. I do
not know anybody whom I envy as much
as 7 do Mr.. Roosevelt.
Like all Of US, Mr.. Roosevelt is sub
ject to the law of compensations, and The
penalty which it imposes in his case is
vanity. After all. vanity is a mixed affiic-
ton. since its disadvantages have to be
shared by others. However that may be.
Mr.. Roosevelts desire to succeed himself
in the Presidency, and obviously the idea
completely obsesses him, as it naturally
should. but 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 dis
interested observer what his own position
IS end in what relation he stands to all
the circumstances that affect or control
him.
My dear sir. I have never known a
man in public life who entertained so few
illusions about himself as Mr. Roosevelt.
While this clamor about another term is
to him a sort of ecstacy it will not for a
moment warp his judgment He knows
precisely what the relation is between
his refusal to serve another term and
the public or supposed public desire that
he should be reelected. No one under
stood so well as Mr.. Roosevelt the pro-
found significance Of Judge Brewers ex-
preston, Playing hide and seek with the
American people Air. Roosevelt did not
need that great jurists friendly intima-
ton. He has known ali along where he
stood.
"A man in popular relations with his
feilow-men may allow himself all sorts
of latitude regarding his personal con-
duct No one quite so well as Mr.. Roose-
welt himself knows what would be the
consequence Of his abandoning his atti
nude of self-abnegation.
''since the night OF the election in 1904
Mr.. Roosevelt's pose of renunciation has