The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-10-12
Roosevelt Losing His
Grip on North Dakota
Says Geo. +. Authier
Political Editor Of Minneapolis Tribune Sizes Up the State
Political Situation Taft and Wilson Strength
Growing Hanna VIII Be Elected
Geo. T. Authier, staff representa-

Geo. f. Authier, staff representa- @
of The Minneapolis Tribune, under
Bismarck date line of Oct. IL, says:
In the election, as in the primary,
= North Dakota is q jury box in which
the claims of Theodore Roosevelt for
progressive leadership are being tried.
The preliminary verdict in the pri-
mary was against the colonel and the
verdict In the election is likely to be
registered In a similar manner.
A great Importance attaches to the
verdict of North Dakota in the minds
of the colonel's managers and a SIM
liar Importance is probably attached
to its verdict by the colonel, himself.
for it was here that he spent the carly
years of his manhood and he has been
wont to call North Dakota his adopted
state.
His adopted home has exerted an im-
portant influence in Colonel Roose-
velt's case.
His life on the plains near Medora
gave him health and also enabled him
to lay claim TO the distinction of being,
a cowboy, a distinction that stood him
in good stead in the cast, where Owen
Wister has made the cowboy roman
tically popular. It also enabled him to
supply the necessary romantic trim
ming to his rough rider programme,
a programme that made him presi-
dent of the United States.
A Sinister Influence,
In the presidential primary North
Dakota again exerted a potent infiu-
ence in the case of Theodore Roosevelt
and this time it was sinister influ-
erlce. Had he carried this state he un~
doubtedly would have won the nomin-
alton.
The loss Of the confidently expected
vote Of the fiickertail state placed a
severe dent in the coloners PRESIDENT
al aspirations Its continued adher-
ence to the cause of LaFollette at Chi
cago pat even worse dent in the coll
oners hopes, for 1t furnihsed the La
Toilette forces with the moral support
OF another state, even If its numerical
influence was small.
In the election the influence of North
Dakota, with its comparatively small
electoral vote, win not be great under
ordinary circumstances, but with a
close vote in the electoral college, it
might prove to be the deciding factor,
But beyond that, the Roosevelt and
LaFollette forces recognize that the
future viii witness q more determined
struggle between the progressive forc-
es represented by LaFollette and the
progressive party evolved by Colonel
Roosevelt for leadership, and both are
determined to win.
Colonel Roosevelt has already been
in the state and is returning.
LaFoIlette Coming Again.
senator LaFollette has not been here
since he made his splendid fight in the
presidential primary. winning from the
colonel by a handsome margin, He is
coming again and will make several
speeches, covering much of the same
territory he covered when a candidate
for the presidency. When he made that
fight he did not attack Roosevelt per-
sonally. but by inference charged him
with much of the responsibility for
present-day conditions, for the growth
of the trust evil and for failure to
bring about q. reduction of the tariff.
When he comes again he may be ex-
pected to go farther, for the badger
senator is savagely bitter against Col
onel Roosevelt, whom he charges with
treachery to himself and whose suc-
cess, in the senator's opinion, would
be handicap TO the advancement OF
genuine progressives.
In brief, this Is the setting for the
contest that is being waged all over
again between Roosevelt and LaF'ol-
lette, but under new conditions and
with new actors in the struggle.
Rryan's Influence Felt.
The anti Roosevelt cause is being
aided by the master influence OF Will
ham Jennings Bryan. This has always
been a Bryan state from democratic
viewpoint, and the commoner has just
completed a series of speeches, spend