The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-16
THE BUSINESS MAN What He Used to do in the Poi- tics of the United
 States. WHAT HAS BECOME OF HIM? He Is No Longer Powerful, Over shadowing and Ter
 rifying
WHAT HAS BECOME OF HIN

Almost the youngest of us can re- member when American politics seem- ed to be dominated by the business man, and Mark Hanna was his proph- ct. The business man elected presl- dents, dictated policies and emphatical- ly. overpoweringly impressed himself upon the film of our imagination. The politicians stood in fear and awe of his decisions. To suggest that candidate for office lacked the confidence of bus mess men was to blast his public ca reer. It was the distrust which the business world felt toward MT. Bryan, it was generally believed, that made his second candidacy even less success ful than his first, and it is easy to re- can now sagely Democratic leaders, af- ter the second Bryan defeat laid 1t down as an axiom of American poll ties tfat. .the whole-hearted support of the business man was essential to po- litical success in this country.
 One cannot help asking, at this stage of our national progress, what has be- come of the once powerful. overshad- owing, almost terrifying business man? Did he disappear with Mr. Hanna? Marvellous is the change that has tak- en place. To-day, who is the business mans candidate; and if there is one who rejoices in the designation, what may be his chances to secure the Re- publican presidential nomination? The Republican party used to be pre-emi- nently the business mans party; in deed, there wfas a time when a mere suggestion that this organization would soon escape from his clutch fantastic drollery. Yet, look around you. Is the business man whom MT. Hanna loved to regard as the final bull wark of our institutions dictating whom the Republican party shall nominate in June? An, no! He Is dictating only to his stenographer. Notwithstanding that the federal administration has lately had its popularity deeply scared by the hot irons of great financial panic | for which the interests" were prone to hold it in part responsible. the old time assurance and self-assertiveness and conscious authority of the busi- ness man has not yet reasserted itself in our party politics. The Rooseveltian candidate still leads the race for the presidency and his most dangerous op- | ponent is as far as possible from being the business mans favorite On the l Democratic side, only a former admir-. CT and supporter of Mr. Bryan in the Northwest can now be pushed forward | to contest the Democratic nomination with the ever-dreaded and condemned i Nehraskan
 | It would be rash to say that the timt lad come to eliminate permanently thu business man from American politics His present status and power, however | are melancholy compared with tht | splendor and puissance of his grea days. Disorganized, scattered, demor alized this irresistible political force of a decade ago now seems to cover il the outer darkness, without the cour age to utilize itself for a dash to tn, seats of the mighty What Mark Han na would s~y If he could witness thi curious spectacle we do not pretend t, suggest. What Mark Hanna would d, is another question. But even tha powerful genius for political organiza tion might assault in vain the power that be in the Republican party of to day Without a Hanna to inspire an, lead him, what course is the poor bus mess man to pursue to regain his los 1 influence and prestige? How can he in stall himself once more in the inne circle of authority? What will avail t restore him to that august status ir which, but few years since, he mad rulers and directed the destinies of tn nation?
 The business man here talked of is of course, a somewhat imaginary be ing. It is impossible to go into tn street and say to someone, Thou ar the man." It is a type that was bes embodied in MT. Hanna and which rep resents composite of interests an
 forces that hitherto has played large ly dominating part in American affairs
 The business man of our imagination
 whom the politicians were won't to con slider first and last as the final arbite
 of their rival pretensions to exercis political power, did indeed rule thi
 country for some 40 years after the Civ Il war under both Republican anC
 Democratic administrations Ills spir and his desires ultimately dictated tn,
 governments policies regarding tn
 material development of the Unite
 States, whether il. finance, the tariff
 the control of corporations or the es
 ploitation of the virgin natural rt
 sources of the republic MT. Cleveland
 low tariff spolicy was finally struc l down because of the business man ; hostility and the revolt of Bryanisl against the fragrant abuses of his reig l was, for the time being at least, crusf
 ed under his heavy heel.
 The business mans supremacy can . to an end, through the irony of fat
 under the administration of his ow
 party when MT. Roosevelt broke frol
 his control. It is a story so fresh tn;
 one who runs may read. Should he l
 restored to his former power and al
 thority? Clearly not, until he accep
 as settled "tne results of the war;" Il so far as they bear upon reform : business methods and an uplifting r business ideal.-Springf1eld Republica