The Progressive West Virginian. [volume] (Williamson, W. Va.) 1911-1913, 1911-09-14
TIDE WITH THE
DEMOCRATS.
IS -
Sidney Brooks, the English Writer,
Says Wilson Can Be Elected.
HAS A TALK WITH ROOSEVELT.

-
ing review of London, has an arti-
Gle in the August number, just re-
ceiyed here, under the caption Some
Talks with Mr.. Roosevelt" by Sid
ney Brooks, who is perhaps the lead
ing writer on political topics in
England. Mr.. Brooks spent some
time in the United States and visited
all sections of the country in an eff
fort to gauge the political situation
as it stands today. and as to the trend
Of the immediate future. In the
course OF the article, Mr.. Brooks
writes:
The Democrats, so far as l can
Judge, are right in feeling that the
tide is at last with them and that
only some totally abnormal develop
ment can forestall Democratic vic
tory in 1912. The question, there
fore, of the candidate they are to
put forward has an Importance that
it has lacked for the past twelve
years; and, naturally, when the
choice of standard bearer is regard
ed as an extra keenness to secure
the nomination. Mr.. Bryan feels that
he ought to have it. But he also
knows that he cannot get it.. At the
same time his power, for obstruction
at any rate, remains consiierable,and
any man whom he openly opposes
may have hard fight to win the con,
vention Such a man is Governor
Harmon of Ohio, an engaging, popu-
lar and successful Governor, but an
ex-member of Mr.. Cleveland's cabi-
net and the very type of that strait
er-laced more conservative school
that Mr.. Cleveland represented and
that Mr.. Bryan has always warred
on implacably. To compass the defeat
of Governor Harmon's candidature
may, think, be said for the moment
to be the chief aim of Mr.. Bryans
have to espouse the nomination of
some other leader; and there are at
present only two other men In the
Democratic ranks whom the average
American can be brought to regad as
Presidential possibilities. One of
these is Mr.. Champ Clark, the Speak
er of House of Representatives, who
is leading the party in Congress with
unmistakable masterfulness and eff
feet, but whose reputation, SO far,
is rather Congressional than nation
al. The other is Mr.. Woodrow Will
son the ex-President of Princeton
University, who was elected last No
vember to the Governorship of New
Jersey, and who has in the past six
months worked what is hardly
less than revolution in the politics
of his State. Ny view is that Mr..
Wilson decidedly is ahead OF all his
competitors, and that his union of
practically, eloquence, fearlessness,
and high dispassionate and thouht-
full sincerity have not only profound
~ impressed the country, but mark
him as the man who Is destined to
lead his party out of the wilderness.
All the present appearances point to
his adoption next year as the Dem
ocratic candidate"
Further along M. Brooks says
that "On pretty nearly every impor-
tant issue Mr.. Roosevelt, / should
Judge, is in closer sympathy with Mr..
Wilson than with Mr.. Taft How
ever, he thinks party loyalty will
keep Mr.. Roosevelt in the Republican
ranks, but adds:
.sMr. Roosevelt's friends, however,
being less committed by past respon-
sibiities, are freer to do as they think
best; and in the event of Mr. Wilson
being brought forward as the Demo-
cratic nominee,sI am convinced that
many thousands of Republicans, and
among them those who were, and are
and will remain, Mr. Roosevelt's most
ardent followers, would vote for him
in preference to Mr.. Taft, even
though the ex-President himself
were to sacrifice his personal predi-
-lections to his sense of party 10y
alty''