The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-04

to see the head of their government en- gagged in a political dispute. Enough is enough, even of a good thing. Nothing is to be gained and much might be lost
 by running it into the ground"
 Later on, it is quite probable, the Pres ident will be heard from again. It is
 still nearly five weeks to the election. There will be plenty more opportunities for him to "get in" and to get in at
 moment when every stroke will count. If the democrats are laying the fattering
 unction to their souls that they have
 finished with MT. Roosevelt for this campaign they have another guess com ing.
 There is no probability that the Pres
 ident will take the stump, go out making speeches. It Is barely possible, but 1t IS not probable. There is a desire about the White House to permit the democrats
 to go on stewing over the suggestion that the President is going out speech making Here in Washington the theory is that the democrats are afraid of MT.
 Roosevelt that they live in terror Of him and that they would give almost anything to make sure that he was not going to enter the lists for Mir. Taft Un- less the President changes his mind he will make no speeches. He doubts IT that would be compatible with the digni- ty of the presidential office. But there is nothing to prevent him writing letters and no law against the people reading what ever he cares to write.
 Despite the criticisms there can be no
 doubt that the President has vastly
 helped the republican cause in the middle and farther west. It is believed here the shift of the center of interest in the cam paign from the west to New York and New JerseyI is due largely to the infiu- ence of the Presidents letters. MT.
 Roosevelt is not only President and leader
 of his party, he is the public man to
 whom a great majority of western re- publicans have given their confidence and admiration without stint To them he is a sort of idol They believe in the man
 himself and in his works. They want his work carried on by some one satis- factory to him. In his original plan of campaigning MT. Bryan, who Is coming to be almost as clever politician as the President, recognized all this. He praised Roosevelt and Rooseveltism. His plan was to abuse the Presidents party and to say nice things about the Pres
 ident. For time all went we'll The
 game appeared to be working. Growing
 bolder, MT. Bryan openly proclaimed
 himself the heir of the President. He
 was the blood relation, the next of kin. Then in a bad moment, for some inexpli-
 cable reason he attacked the President
 about matter not very relevant to the
 Issues before the country. He gave MT. Roosevelt just the opening he had been
 waiting for He disowned the heir ap- parent and pretender. He showed that
 MT. Bryan was a bogus claimant-that
 he had no rights in law, and even if he
 cid that ne was not, in MT. Roosevelt s l nFa airNin in ao .ap pt ar n1lfhn6
 associations to come into possession of l such a goodly estate. Since then, noth- 1 ing more has been heard about the Bryan l inheritance of the Roosevelt policies, that l is, nothing that MT. Bryan or his friends l have cared to hear. It was a tactical 1 blunder of large proportions for MT. Bryan to provoke MT. Roosevelt into this savage repudiation of him. The only con
 solation MT. Bryan can get out of it Is that it was bound to come anyway and
 so it may have been well to have it out
 and over with as quickly as possible
 Reports from the west are that there has been decided turn for the better in 1 conditions there, viewed from the repub- l lican standpoint. It is believed here the President is fairly to be credited with having put stop to the talk of Bryan | landslide in the west. Since the Roose- welt letters came out it is said the deser- ton of republican radicals to the Bryan camp has almost ceased. According to information received by members of the administration, deemed of a trustworthy character, there is no serious danger to MT. Taft in the west. It is not denied | that Indiana Is hanging in the balance, nor is it denied that Bryan has a chance 1 for his own state and a smaller one for l Kansas and for several of the mountain | states. But Illinois, Wisconsin and Min nesota are looked upon as absolutely l safe. Iowa is almost in thes same cate
 gory, as there has been a decided move ment in that state during the last three weeks, and if the gain continues no fur
 ther fear will be felt. In administration | circles it is said that if Bryan be con ceded every state in the west which he l has any chance at all of carrying, he | will still lose the fight unless he can gaiJ,
 New York or New Jersey or Ohio.
 Prominent republicans both in New l York and Washington admit to me that
 they are little anxious about the Elm l pire State The reports which come in
 from the large cities are not satisfactory. 1 The country districts are all right. They | may be counted upon to roll up their normal republican majorities. But in the l cities the outlook Is not good. This IS
 true particularly of New York city, Buff
 falo, Jersey City and all the manufac- l turing towns in New Jersey. In New 1 York rather more than one-half of all the 1 votes are In the large cities. That vote is | this year peculiarly affected. It is in- | fiuenced not only by the conditions which | affect the labor vote everywhere, but by 1 the conditions in the state produced by | the administration of Governor Hughes | and the fear of certain elements of soci- | ety that their personal liberties are in danger. President Roosevelt understands l the people of New York better than any I one else. He has hopes that in consid- | erable part the trouble may be removed. | He has some suggestions in that line to