The Washington herald., 1912-02-04

country, and not for him, TO decide the
question. II they decide to nominate
him, am sure he viii accept; if they
elect him, / am sure he will serve"
And as If 10 remove all further doubt,
Mr.. Abbott quotes Roosevelt's own
declaration upon his return from Africa
wherein he asserted his readiness and
willingness to aid in solving national
problems, and expressed his profound
Indebtedness to the American people.
All this confirms the position taken
by The Washington Herald that Mr..
Roosevelt would accept the nomination.
1t was easy enough to reach this con-
clusion. If he had not intended TO ac-
cept he would have said so long ago.
OF course, he did say on November 8,
1904. when the returns indicated that
he had been elected President in his
own right, that under no circumstances
will be candidate for or accept an
other nomination" repeating, with en-
phasis, three years later, thats Il have
not changed and shall not change that
decision thus announced" Somebody
perhaps it was Roosevelt himself-once
said that consistency is the bugbear of
narrow minds, or words to that effect
Just as It is all settled, therefore, that
Mr.. Roosevelt will, despite his renun-
ciation, again accept a nomination, and
even while his friends hurry to the ends
of the country to work in his behalf,
Representative Slayden, of Texas,
throws a bomb. ".
II is strange how history repeats IT.
self Who would have suspected that
i resolution aimed at the third term
aspirations of Ulysses s. Grant in 1875
would be resurrected in 1912 to be an
obstacle in Roosevelt's path? This is
really the most interesting political de-
velopment of the past week Notwith-
standing Mr.. Slayden's profession of
impersonal interest we confess to a
lurking suspicion that he had Roose-
welt in his minds eye when, with some
purposeful intent, he exhumed the reso-
luton from the forgotten archives. 1t
will be interesting to see what effect
the passage OF the resolution will have
upon the situation. 1t ought to have
some weight with Mr. Roosevelt, for
in that famous utterance of election
night he declared that his service of
three and a half years as McKinley's
successor constituted his first term, and
he added that the wise custom which
limits the President to two terms re-
CARDS the substance and not the form"
Perhaps, however, Mr. Roosevelt had
in mind two consecutive terms. At
any rate, and the declaration of the
House of Representatives notwith-
standing, if Mr.. Roosevelt should be
nominated, it may be taken for grant
ed that he will have some plausible ex-
planation to offset his previous utter
ances, and that he will expect the coun-
try to accept it with all the confidence
which will attach to its utterance.
If Roosevelt is the disturbing ele-
ment in the Republican situation, the
Democratic party has his counterpart
in Bryan.
There is no gainsaying the fact that
Mr.. Bryan has large following. Its
personnel in the main is composed of
men who appreciate his ability, his high
moral ideals, his splendid character. 1t
also includes a devoted, not to say IN
reasoning, few who would rather go
down to defeat with him than to victory
without him. They regard allegiance
to his ideas as the final test Of Democ-
racy and characterize personal disagree
ment with him as objectionable trea-
son. There are other worthy Demo-
Gratis, however, who, notwithstanding
the threat of accommodation, will not
follow where Mr.. Bryan leads.
This situation in the Democratic
party is emphasized by the fight in the
House of Representatives over the
to investigate the so-called
money trust. This fight has been made
acute because Mr.. Bryan has insisted
upon rushing TO the support OF a reso-
luton, introduced W Representative
Henry, which proposes a wholesale in
vestigation of financial and industrial
Mr.. Bryan has made an
issue of this inquiry and, not content
with personal messages, has, as usual,
used the columns of his newspaper to
criticise those who do not approve radi-
cal action.
1t is to be regretted that the only
differences which have occurred in
Democratic ranks IN the present Con-
gress have been occasioned by Mr..
Bryan. He endeavored to defeat Mr..
Martins election as minority leader in
the Senate. and by bitter condemnation
of Mr.. Underwood sought to weaken
the latter's position as leader of the
House. In both of these attempts he
was unsuccessful. Senator Martin was
chosen, and the vote of confidence in
Mr. Underwood was deservedly unani-