The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-24
WHO WILL RUN THE NEXT CAMP PA|GNS? ta sssat Both Parties Are in Same
 Quandary
 FIELD IS WIDE OPEN Generally Believed That Next Ma tional Chairmen Are Now Private
 Citizens and Not in the Y
 Public Eye 6e
FIELD IS WIDE OPEN
By RopERIcK CLIFFORD

l Washington, September 23.-(Special.)-
 Who is to lead the campaigns for the
 democratic and republican parties next
 year? Who are to be the national chair
 men?
 This Is a question which Is giving more
 concern to the party managers than any
 other single proposition now confront | ing them. The issues have already been
 Jade. They are now clearly drawn. 1 There is no longer any real bother about
 them. But there is bother and plenty
 of it about the right men to present
 these issues-the men who are to win the fight.
 Now Is a chance rarely offered for some
 real political Moses to present himself
 If he can convince the party heads that he can run a successful campaign there
 Is fame and fortune awaiting him. There l Is a seat in the next Presidents cabinet a his command.
 l Democrats and republicans are alike
 weighing the shrewdness and resource
 of their promising politicians in the hope of finding the man. Both parties are
 today without executive leadership. There
 may be ''titular'' leaders, but they are
 never the persons to do the big work
 Of running a national campaign. Presi-
 dent Taft, for instance, could not man.
 age his own campaign. He has to have
 manager just like the star In a the
 atrical company, some man who collects
 the money and spends it, and who runs l the show. .t4 4A.
 It is true tha, there are in the re- | haI cjo who would seem to measure up to the
 requirements, but, singular as it may
 seem, there is not one of them who stands
 out as eminently qualified and who fills I the bill There is not one of them to whom the party managers would unani-
 mously offer the chairma nshp.
 | Almost exactly the same situation pre- vails In the democratic party. The l changes in policy of this party, with it's
 changing fortunes has shelved many of l the old time leaders and has brought 1 forward new ones. Yet not one of the | prominent democrats of today is agreed
 upon by aE as being exactly the man for
 national chairman.
 | It is admitted that Norman Mack does
 not want the chairmanship of his party l again. He lost his last fight, and that l in itself is enough to put him out or the
 running. There does not happen to be | nlemDef or congress WHO HSufeS enough
 to make him the logical chairman. There i fore the next leader will probably be l man now in private life.
 l The democratic problem Is peculiar
 one The west by which is meant B1y-
 anism, will no doubt oppose a New York;
 CT for this honor. They would feel a
 bit suspicious about any man whom Tam
 many might approve, or whom Wall street might find no objection to- It Is certain l that no man not associated with one l or the other of these influences could be
 picked from New York.
 Then the south would be jealous of any vesterner. This section, which now com nands the forces in the House of Rep
 res entatives, Is asserting itself more | strongly in democratic politics than at 1 any time since the civil war. It has pro-
 duced Clark and Underwood and James,
 and 1t has produced practically every l important committee chairman in the
 House, with the exception of that of the 1 appropriation committee, headed by f1tz- l gerald of New York.
 l And of course, the west will want to | choose the chairman just as 1t Will want to choose the candidate and the
 committee on platform and the platform l blanks themselves. But the west Will
 not have It's very next time according l to the signs. It will have its infiu- 1 erce. but not domination of the party. 1 These facts make the selection of | new national chairman by the demo-
 crats a difficult matter In one partic- l ular respect ii is in far different
 position from the republican party. And
 that is l When it happens that the candidate
 of a national party Is known before | the convention meets. the courtesy of l picking the man to run the candidate | campaign is left to the candidate The | dem ocrats do not know who Is to head 1 their ticket They probably will not know until many ballots are taken.
 Therefore their national chairman must be selected without the candidates advice.
 The republican party is situated diff
 ferently Nobody seriously doubts that l President Taft will be renomnated. The l insurgents may make a lot of fuss be- l fore the convention meets, but they l cannot, and do not hope to nominate 1 LaFollette That means that the re- | publican chairman will be picked by Taft.
 It is known, too, that the President, | realizing his responsibility in this mat | ter is casting about with great care to l find the man he wants. He took Charles | D. Norton from the treasury depart ment and made him his private secre- :, tary in the expectation that he could
 make of him a successor to Frank K.
 good as a politician. The President now has Charles D. Hilles, his third secre- II ary, in training. The result of this | cannot yet be foreseen.
 E There are Senator Murray Crane, and H Congressman John w. Weeks of Massa- | chusetts Either of them might qual- \ ify, it is urged, would Secretary of the Interior Walter l.. Fisher, or Will liam Loeb of New York At the pres l, ent time Loeb is looked upon as being | the best material available, but Loeb is needed to run the New York state campaign. and this fact may keep him at home. l*3
 Frank Hitchcock Is not considered as a successor to himself. It is a tradi- |, ton in the republican party that nc national chairman can manage two sue cessfql campaigns Mark Hanna is the | only man who eyer7did il.
 E More important than any other quail
 fication in a republican chairman Is his ability to raise money. In the past re- publican chairmen have been able to l command great sums for campaign pur- | noses, and the fight next year will re- | quirel as much if not more 'sineWsf | than any since the civil war. That | Is con slderati ton which the republican l leaders have in mind, and one which Is | giving them plenty Of worry 'ihF | Roth national committees will meet