Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1912-04-19
Illinois.

sentiment, but Lorimer has given Ill
inois to Mr.. Roosevelt The theory
that Mr.. Roosevelt triunphed at the
primaries because the Republicans of
Illinois have repudiated Mr.. Taft as
reactionary and wanted TO register
their emphatic resolve that the coun-
try must have Progressive President,
encounters the fatal obstacle Of Uncle
"Joe'' Cannon's victory in the Eight
zenith Congressional District. If the
Illinois Repu blicans have really be-
come so progressive that they ,forthat
reason, gave the Colonel ~ TO l vic
tory in the primaries throughout the
State, then certainly that tidal wave
would have swept away ex Speaker
Cannon in his own district. Two to
one for MIR. Roosevelt throughout the
State and two to one IN the Eighteent b
District for Uncle "Joe," who Is the
type and enc bodiment of anti-insur-
gency, are faces SO completely incom-
patible that they cannot be wrought
into coherent theory that this is
Progressive triumph.
LorImer was the issue, not Roose-
welt. The fight for Mr.. Taft was made
by the Lorimer organization, and he
voters could not punish Lorimer with
out hitting the President. Mr. Roose-
welt made Lorimer the issue. There
is not the slightest reason to suppose
that Mr.. Taft's general policy has been
SO displeasing to the Republicans of
Illinois that they have turned against
him two to one. Reciprocity no dou BIT
counted for something among the
farmers; the Canadian agreement was
most unpopular with them, and Mr..
Roosevelt, with his usual demagogic
skill, made good use of that issue. But
the anti reciprocity feeling would not
explain the Cook County vote. The
Lorimer scandal has long been the
dominant issue in Republican politics
III Illinois. Although it has been
known that Mr.. Taft would have been
well pleased to see Senator Lorimer
unseated, he was hardly in position
to make any public indication of that
desire. 1t was the heaviest possible
handicap for him to enter the contest
under the management of the Lorimer
organization, and therefore seemingly
in alliance with it. Had Lorimer been
upseated, it is not likely that the III |
inois primaries would have been the
occasion of quite so much joy in the
Roosevelt headquarters.
The loss of the illinois delegation is,
of course, a disaster to the cause of |
President. But it does not make it ma
terIally less probable that the Presi-
dent will have majority of the Chi
cage Convention. 1t does not bring MIR.
Roosevelt any nearer to the nomina-
ton, although it does increase his del
egate strength. The resentment against |
reciprocity that in some measure in
huenced the Illinois result has helped |
the Colonel, also, in Maine and in Yer |
mont, two states where the agreement /
was much disliked. But with all the |
delegates that can be credited to Mr. |
Roosevelt, he is still hopelessly in the
rear, and there is no prospect what
ever that he can secure anything like |
an instructed majority ofsthe .conven- |
ton. he is making great progress, |
however, in what many think to be
his rel aim, the defeat of the Repub- |
lican Party should Mr.. Taft be Domin-
ated. Indeed, the Colonels activities, /;
the bitterness and passion of his cam
paign, have already so far divided the
Republicans that Mr.. Roosevelt might |
with entire propriety assume the title
of the wrecker of his party. III that is
what he is after, he is on the way to
success. The fury and the indecen cy |
of his campaigning appear in such |
expressions as that used by him in his |
speech at Philadelphia yesterday, !
when he said that "Mr. Taft, Mr.. |
"Choate, Mr.. Milburn, Mr.. Lorimer, |
"Mr. Penrose, Mr.. Gnggenheim,J aud !
"her allies would turn our Govern
ment aside from its original purpose,
that they "wish 10 make it Govern
ment by corporation attorneys" A
man who permits himself TO use such |
language is not lit TO oe President of |
the United STA es. The people have Ii, t |
the slightest idea Of mahlng him fTes- |
ident Of the Uulted states. N, w |
York lines.