The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-03-03

! eight bedrooms. with private hath
| TO each suite; O large library and a
study-the former Cabinet room
where the President may now HE him
self to escape otficeseekers and the
daily delegations brought to the cxccu-
tive offices by politicians.
1t may be added that tho presidency
: is safer office than 1t was a decade
ago. An attack upon the life of the
chief magistrate is now Federal Of.
, tense, and even an unsuccessful at.
tempt to kill him is punishable by
death. To prevent, as far as possible
a repetition OF the Garfield tragedy, o
separate wing of the new Union Sta
ton is set apart for the Presidents use
when when he passes through that
structure, and instead Of mingling with
the public throng while waiting tor
his train OF conveyance he now has
his, elegantly furnished private suite.
including q reception room and retiring
rooms. Moreover, the Mckinley trag-
edy has resulted in much more in
genious system of espionage over per-
sons approaching the President upon
| public or state occasions. Since Mr.
Roosevelt succeeded to the Office the
hands of every person approaching the
! Chief Magistrate upon these public oc-
| ca sions are carefully watched. and
| near him is stationed a guard, who
insists that all hands be taken out Of
pockets, and whose argus eyes never
leave any package that is In evidence.
Haunted by Worry.
Nevertheless, no man, however brave
can assume the presidency without
being haunted by the almost unceasing
knowledge that somewhere there Is a
fanatic or lunatic cunning for him
Mr. Taft seems to have suffered less
from this dread than his predecessors
for he has greatly reduced the Whits
House police guard--but the news that
some crank is apprehended at the
White House almost weekly cannot
escape the members of his househould
Another burden which will be placed
upon the back of November's victor
when the laurel is put upon his brow is
thu suffering inflicted by calumny upon
even the most morally coura geous of
mortals. washington, while President,
t; was openly charged with being a MUIR
derer and n thief. as we'll as having
overdrawn his salary $1,000. and the
most able of his SUCCESSORS have bean
unjustly branded rs bo stards. drunk
! ards, wife-beaters, roues and corrup-
tionists. jackson used to say that tine
ISLANDERS uttered against him killed his
wife during his campaign. st the
White House disgruntled off1ceholdey
once pulled his nosa Temper ance II.
tators were forever bounding Cleve-
land. who during his presidency de.
nounced a preacher as "a dis
seminator of wholesale lies and .alum.
MES not less stupid than cru=l,'' And
Mckinley. despite his abstinence, was
continually hatassed by the samA
charges. a New York Representative
during the last administration. uttered
In the Houss an absurd ca umny which
had it that President Roosevelt had
angrily struck Che horse OF youns
woman rider, alleged to have crowded
him on the road while ha was riding
The House expunged this speech from
the record. and the. mother OF the girl
wrote denial Of the story.
No detail of tho private life OF each
contestant in this presid sntial handi-
cap will escape public scrutiny during
tho coming months. All of their ancas-
tors will ba dug up. and If any one
of them. even TO the remotest degree.
was ever hang,d for stealing sheep, the
public will get full details. not TO men.
lion plenty of embellishments An ex.