The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-16
IN HOTEL HOBBIES
Roosevelt Gaining strength


 Roosevelt Gaining Strength
 Tt would not surprise me to see Theo dore Roosevelt nominated for Presiden at the Chicago convention, although man! of my republican friends have said tha Taft would have walkoyer." said E, H Sayre of Plttsburg.
 1 T thought from the start that Roose vet would come very near securing th' nomination, but that Taft would get i 1 by the skin of his teeth Now 1t look' to me as if Roosevelt had a better chance than he had two weeks ago. The Roose i welt sentiment is growing. The troubl, with Taft is he has no magnetism, al l though people generally regard him as { splendid type of gentleman, so far as il | relates to honor and loftiness of purpose But men prefer a leader like Roosevelt who is at once engaging in his personalit, and is aggressive year in and year out. T am a democrat and if Roosevelt should be nominated. believe the demo- crats would stand a better chance of win ming than If Taft were the standard bearer: for no matter how popular ths ex-President may be, a very large per
 
 | against any attempt at third term-ism The way it looks today Is that Roosevelt will be nominated by the republicans and defeated. My choice for the democratic nomination had been Mayor Gaynor of New York I will be well pleased, how ever. if Underwood of Alabama happens to head the ticket. Underwood has grown rapidly in the past few months and now everybody knows all about him and re- gard him as a great statesman
 From an English Point of View
 Americans visiting England used to remark the meager dispatches from the United States appearing in the London papers," said club man, but there has been decided improvement in the past few years. For several years l have been reading the London Times regularly. I do not know who it's merican correspondent Is, but I have been impressed with the accuracy of his information and the truth of his political forecasts. In 1908 the London Times had bright and impartial reports of the presidential campaigns. Nearly everything that the correspondent pre- dlcted came to pass. Since the Amer ican news service of the London Times has been enlarged its editorial articles on American politics have shown singu- larly keen insight. I am watching to see what the Times correspondent will say about the democratic situation. During the past two or three weeks he has been occupied chiefly with the republican situation. The Times of March 1 concludes an editorial as fol- lows;
 "'It is true that MT. Roosevelt Is much more moderate in action than In speech. But if some people console themselves with this thought others will ask themselves whether MT. Taft may not make better progress with real reform, in his own quiet way, than can be made by needlessly soaring op- ponents and then disappointing ex- treme supporters. The democrats at any rate must be watching the con- test in the republican party with the keenest interest. Their obvious course Is to see how It Is going to end and to choose their presidential candidate accordingly. If MT. Roosevelt were to secure nomination, the democratic cue would be to offer an asylum to the moderate and sober portion of the na- ton, for they could not hope to outdo MT. Roosevelt on his owp ground. At lpresent, however, for them and for ev- cry one, whether in America or out side the situation is exceedingly du- bious and obscure.'"