The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-12-31
President Smiles.

La any event the President does not
think his administration is going upon
the rocks. There were pessimists who
visited him at Beverly las, summer to
warn him about the conditions in the
Middle West, but the President refused
then to be alarmed, and he came out of
the West convinced that the insurgents
are not half so formidable as many
people believe them to be-
President Roosevelt professed to be-
lieve that the letters which flooded his
offices from time to time on public
questions of the hour were valuable in
dicators of public sentiment. Less has
been heard about this since Mr.. Taft
became President, although the letter
writer's, of whom there is large pro-
fessional contingent. continue to adj
dress the White House. When Presi-
dent Roosevelt performed any act that
met with criticism in newspaper quar-
tiers he minded it very little, provided
the professional letter writers began
forwarding their approval by mail and
by telegraph. For there is always
gOodly number of these correspondents
VINO nave the price to pay for a tele
gram and are willing to part with the
money for the sake of having their
views reach the White House very
quickly indeed. Many of these are
public officials who are not unwilling
to have the President notice them. But
the President used to reason that the
fact of his act provoking their enthus
iasm sufficiently to move them to write
or telegraph was evidence that many
others of his fellow citizens would be
similarly minded about what he had
done. But President Roosevelt appeal
ed to people differently than does Pres
ident Taft. The kind of minds likely
to be affected by President Roosevelt s
spectacular performances were the kind
of minds likely to sit down and indict
a letter or telegram to Washington.
Things Are Different.
President Taft goes about his work
in different way He does not be-
lieve in heralding forth what he pro-
poses to do, but to make up his Judg-
ment calmly and carefully and then
let the result reach the public. He is
confident that the sober-minded Amer
lean people are with him not only as to
his methods of work but, in the main,
as to results. Accordingly he does not
| worry, but receives the warnings of his
correspondents good-naturedly, trust
| ing that the final verdict will be favor
able.
Leary Of Elba Talk.
The agitations of the insurgents III
congress are also giving the President
| little concern. He prefers to keep them
feeling kindly but does not credit them
with having the tremendous following
| in the West that they claim to have.
At times be is somewhat concerned
over the volume of Roosevelt talk, for
| it is plain to him and his friends that,
| not only is foundation being laid for
| bringing Roosevelt back into national
! politics when to returns to America
| but there will be a great number of
| the more radical kind of Republicans
who will begin from the day he lands
and try to persuade him that it is his
| duty TO be candidate in 1912.
Such a possibility is clearly to be
kept to the front as a feature of ma
| tloRaI ponies during the WINTER even
in the face of any prospect that Mr.
/ Roosevelt viii come back here and en-
| dorse the Taft administration. 1t fur
nisnes sentiment for the opposition 10
President Taft to rally around and until
! the ex-president gets back to Europe
and has opportunity to acquaint him
| self to some extent with the situation
at home, there is no likelihood of the
| ex-president interfering with their