The Washington times., 1908-10-14
Report Has 1t That Former
Fire-Eater Has Turned
Traitor.
TAKES NO OPEN PART
IN DESPERATE FIGHT
Working Under Cover, Rumor Says
He Is Rallying Old Guard
TO Knife Taft.
By JAMES HAY, j.

STEUBENVILLE, oct. I4.-If all the
things that are saId about Jos. ph Ben
son Foraker are true. the senior SEN
ator from Ohio is rot dOinS u ErsJt
work ia this campaign. If half ;he re
ports regarding his -OuIuct are found
ed on tact. he presents one OF the sad
desJ pictures OF political JTea1hory lu
this generation.
In his tour OF Ohio. Judge raIt has
hea.C many stories OF tie nIanaer u.
which Foraker Is WORKING against him
aid the Republican cause ir general.
This man, who as wont 20 sc5rn and
despise all Democrats, mas come TO be-
r. garGed by them as one of tnei- great
est allies This Senator who mas again
aua again commanded the support Of
Ohio Republicans. by his Utterances Of
party faith and PARTY greatness. is
pointed oue as cisIoyal. a menace and
a discI edit
CutwardIy he is calm. qulescar tax
ing neither interest nor part iE the des-
ptrate fight Republicans are making 10
insure their success in tHc. State POIit-
ically, he Is a recIuse. who refuses TO
receive newspaper men and declines 10
make any statement concerning hJs at
tirude in the campaign Person ally, lie
Is Grabbed, morCsc. and sulIcn- lie
keeps TO himself. working silently, quiet
", ceaselessly IN his oTce in Cincinnati.
The only evidence OF activity is the
large force Of clerks and steE0Eraphers
he employs. What these employees arr
doing he refuses TO divulge-
Politicians Opinion.
I-ut politicians in Ohio make the ex-
PLANTATION he withholds. They say many
letters are sent from. the Foraker office
10 all parts OF the state and JEat not
cue or them is in behalf II TAFT His
followers. who are stu loyal 10 him,
are working hard, but they arc not
working for the natioraI ticket Some
OF the t'me they spend sharpening the
edges OF their political knives. And the
situation. as . result Of il all. Is that
while ForaScr's iEdUence IS not strong
enough TO do the national ticket any
appreciabIe harm, IL may result in the
election Of a Democratic Legislature
and the sending Of a Democratic Ser
aJor 10 take his place in Washington.
A few days ago. when the rUmors Of
FOraker's d-sloyalty grew more and
more persistent. ! went 10 his office 10
ask what he intends 10 do in the cam
paign. Following his rule of receiving
no newspaper men. he refused to see
me. A message was then sent him
asking him II he planned TO nal the
independent speaking campaign 7 tr the
Senate" which he said some wee. ago
he would iuaUgurate. He sent word
that he had never said he would make
such a campaign. that he had never
intended 10 do II. and that he would
not do q
His change Of plan IS said to have
that he could not be commanding
figure on the stump while the State still
rang with the denunCiatiOn Of him by
Roosevelt, Taft, and Hearst There re-
mained only one other way for him 10
wOrk-by letter. and by holding together
the remnants Of his old organization.
This he has been doing and Is doing
Here and there the old Foraker fol-
lowing succeeds in nominating for the
Legislature a man instructed 10 vote
for Foraker for the Senate. This Is All
that appears on the surface
But there are Foraker followers who
have said that. II Foraker cannot be
elected 20 the Senate. the State LeEis-
lature viii be Democratic This can
mean but the one thing that il his
people realize they are beaten when the
day for voting comes, the knife will be
used at the polls, and the seat he could
not get from his party viii be put at
the command Of the Democrats.
Report Published.
Today a report was published in an
Ohio paper that Foraker men were ask
ing their friends to vote against Taft.
Such reports cannot be taken as alto
gether true. for In the closing weeks Of
the campaign. with the bitterness which
prevails against the senior Srnator in
Ohio, there are apt TO be exagceratioDs
OF the real situation. But wnere there
IS so much smoke there must be some
fire, and the stories which have come
out showing that he is doing All ne
can against his pSrty's nominee are too
clrcUmstantiai for anyone TO think that
all Of them are purely imaginary.
Inc Bryan men make no jecret OF
thelr pleasure about FOraker's position
They laugh at him and do not pretend
TO admire his tactics, but they reaIizs
that he is grist for their mill
Nevertheless, they forget that q man
so disCredited as Foraker can NOT b,fr+
strength lies in the remnant of his ola
following, a remnant which has a strong
hand only IN little municipal and county
combinations. deals which nav 49,
and there affect the nomination or eIec-
tion of a man for the Legislature btIt
which can not go so far as to counpeI
a Republican 70 turn from Taft and
go over TO Bryan Another thing whicE
has been brought out by careful inquiry
is that Foraker is rapidly losing what
following he had before his connections
with Standard Oil were made public.
Men who are in politics are quick to
jump from a sinking ship to the moro
comfortable band wagon of the winning
man. And ne has left about him onIY
those who are resolved to go down to
defeat with him.
Old Guard Not Formidable.
Generally speaking. the senior Senator
from Ohio is waging an ineffective fight
making a weak war against the 0or,i-
nee Of his party The time has passAd
when the stilettO has much power in
American politics. Money as vote
getter is not valuable means Of cam
paigning- The knife will be used at
the polls, but it will be used only nv
the last fragments of FOraker's old
guard
As for Foraker himself he Is making
eC0gtiRUsa - Tenth Page.)