The Washington herald., 1908-06-18
By JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES.

Chicago, June l7.-So far not an electric
sentence has been shot into the heated
atmosphere from the platform Of the Re
publican convention.
If. as alleged. there is a dynamo hidden
somewhere in the anatomy OF the organ
ization, the electric spark has not yet been
found TO touch It off,
There is a lamen:able dearth OF oratory
and orators in the great council Of the
dominant party.
Julius Caesar Burrows on Tuesday was
preliminary frost. Henry Cabot Lodge
to-day was better taIker and was gem
orally heard. but no man as cold as Lodge
can ever be an orator. The debate on the
negro delegates developed some fervid and
even fiery utterances. but the only men
approximating oratory were Buckingham.
OF Illinois. and Watson. Of Indiana. I'm
less the Presidential nomination speeches
shall uncork some hidden eloquence, the
convention will pass into history as n,
least sensational and inspiring council in
the history OF the party.
And II ever convention needed some
real oratory 70 wake it up, this is the
needy body. The sentence Of Cabot Lodge
that started the fifty minutes demonsua-
tion for Roosevelt this morning was a
very mattar-of-fact and tranquil state
ment that the President was at once the
most abused and the most popular man
in the United States.
Convention Slow to Realize.
II Lodge had been an orator. he would
have wrought the sentence into a eli
max and flung his heart into his voice
| in It's delivery. AS II was, II took the
convention fully one minute to realize
that anything striking had been said.
and it was never fairly walked up until
by the friction Of its own laborious ef-
fort TO be enthusiastic.
Men in practical way may discount
oratory TO their hearts content. but the
world will always worship II, and II the
present convention had had one man like
Bryan or Champ Clark or had utilized
Beveridge or Dolliver. the spirit of the
delegates might have been soaring in
stead Of dropping through two of the
dullest days ever recorded by a great
political assembly
The Incompatible politician" OF the
White House scored another victory to-
day in killing the movement to curtail the
delegations from the South. All the logic
Of the facts was with the minority that
favored IL. and the volume of applause In
dicated its triumph and passage. but as
the roll OF the States was called the In
structions from Washington" thundered
steadily on to a stalwart majority against
reduction.
President Approved Once.
Burke, Of Pennsylvania. says the Presi-
dent approved the measure when 1t was
read to him last week. But single days
reflection showed the peril to Taft in this
regulation OF those rotten boroughs of the
South, and telegram to Hitchcock last
night put the movement to sleep.
Fine politics that, and swiftly done.
But the balance is far from established
between the Secretary Of War and the ne
gro voters of the country.
Equally skillful was the Presidents S
politics that inspired Lodge to draw all
the Roosevelt fire OF the convention in
his opening sentence. so as to leave the
enthusiasts fatlgued but reasonable and
tranquil to hear his emphatic protest
against the suggestion of third term.
Mr.. Roosevelt once said IN my hearing:
Il am accused of being a politician. I
confirm the accusation. I am compelled
to be a politician in order to secure the
opportunity Of being statesman"
Well. the Republican party never had
a better one. He is genuinely sincere in
not wishing to be President again.
And he is the only man in the republic
that could have prevented this national
convention from forcing a third term
upon him. The skill that prevented il is
the keenest politics he ever wrought