The Washington herald., 1912-05-26

lparty sought 70 prevent bic noininalioE
Ifor . second term because = felf thai
he could not Be reelected. Perhaps
sfter az, the memoFy Of that Ninne-
lspolis convention has I'D come eaeel
lupon the present situation, for il vii
be recalled that Harrison was renomi-
mated, but he was also defeated. As q
general rule, however, the prestige and
ipowsr Of ; President Is not % Be with
stood Roosevelt himself appreciated
this when be told Senator Ia Toilette
that Il was almost useless to endeav0r
to defeat Taft Il Is doubtful ahsthsr
Rooseyeit when he undertook the cam
paign which he has. since 50 earnestly
and shergstically fiosscpted had any
idea of he stregnth which his movement
would develop. He was handicapped BY
50 many things-by his radical ideas,
his numerous Inconsistencies, his align
ment with monopoiistie interests, his
ambition for a third term. and, above
all, his absolete promise never again to
be a candidate-that it seemed impos-
sible for him to make substantial head
way All the barriers which these han
dicaps raised have BEEN swept aside and
Roosevelt has forged ahead with tre-
mendous strides.
Taffs nomination Is still probable
| ity, if BY the vote Of the Republican
National Committee all the contests over
delegates are settled in his favor, and
if the Southern delegates remain stead
fast to him. This was the way Harri-
son was redominatede 1t issdificult to
predict, however. what viii be the at
titude of the committee in view of all
the developments. Its members may
not want to, give Taft majority of the
convention and thus insure his nomina-
ton. At the same time, they may not
desire to. see Roosevelt victorious. AT
the present time 1t looks as if the Ma
tional Committee rather than the con-
vention will decide who is to be the
nominee. Neither Roosevelt nor Taft
has a majority Of uncontested delegates,
and the settlement Of these contests will
decide the majority vote of the con-
vention.
It will be seen, therefore, that much
depends upon the verdict of the COM
mittee. Mr.. Roosevelt, forseeing that
the Taft delegations may be seated, has
already announced that he will not be
an unprotesting victim Of force and
fraud" This means, if IT means any
thing, that if he is not nominated he
will claim to have been cheated of the
prize and this will give him an excuse
to run as an independent candidate.
The bitterness of the Taft-Roosevelt
fight naturally leads to considerable talk
of a compromise candidate.
But the talk is general and indefinite so
far as the personality of the candidates
is concerned. Taft and Roosevelt have
loomed so prominently against the po-
litical horizon that at-they make every
body else look like dwarfs. The name
of Associate Justice Hughes is the only
one mentioned, and there is serious OBJ
lection to invading the Supreme Court
of the United States for Presiden-
tial candidate General regret is ex-
pressed that there is no business man
Of large experience and some acquaint-
ance with official life, like John Wana-
maker, who is available. There appar-
emily is no such. person anywhere. Ger
tainly no name rises instantly in the
popular mind The outlook is that the
fight in the convention, as in the States,
will be between Taft and Roosevelt,
with the result that if either is nomi-
mated the Republican party will have
something of a task to get itself to-
gether before election day. ...
The feeling among the Democrats is
that either Taft or Roosevelt can be
defeated, now that the chasm in the
Republican party has become so wide
and deep.
But the Democrats are waiting to see
what will happen at Chicago. Speaker
Clark, even with his numerous dele
gates, is still far from the requisite
two-thirds necessary to nominate, and
many combinations may be formed
which will upset all calculations. In
the West and even here in Washing
ton there is a growing belief that Bryan
will be the Democratic nominee. He.
has said in recent speeches that he does
not seek the honor, but at no time has
he said that he will decline the nomi-
nation. Despite the prevailing senti-
ment it may be said that Bryan's nom
nation is extremely remote. The dele
gates at Baltimore viii not forget that
he has been thrice defeated; although
this probably will not figure in the dis
cussion if there is a universal sentiment
that at this time he is the man most
likely to lead the party to success.
How the political kaleidoscope has