New-York tribune., 1912-02-29
TRy Telegraph TO The Tribune

Boston. Feb. 2S.-Theodore Roosevelt
! left Boston at $3.50 o'clock this after
noon. and only some fifty persons gath
cred to cheer him on his way. The Iai'
| forces here say with some show OF en-
| thusiasm that the colonel has damaged
rather than helped his candidacy as iar
as Massachusetts is concerned during MS
four days stay here, and they seem 10
| be right.
! Colonel Roosevelt arrived here Satur-
! day. after announcing that his hat was
| in the ring" On Monday he followed MS
hat. Since then he has addressed the
perfunctorily polite members oi the
! Legislature. been in conference win
some of the Massachusetts Progressives,
been roundly assailed by every paper in
Boston except one. and won the al
Iegiance of not one big man, politically
in the state.
Cheered and Kissed in Street.
| This morning the colonel appeared in
State street He was cheered and hissed'
and the hisses We're as loud as the
cheers. In brief. the colonel has been
| in Boston four days. has made little ap-
rsrent progress under the surface and
certainly awakened no great enthusl-
asm above. He has. moreover, been
rnundlv assailed on every side by men
whose words carry much weight in
Massachusetts. among the older Repuo-
licans, such men as ex-Governors Long
and Bates and Representative Mccall
Now all this should bring the Taft
| forces great JOY. The trouble is that
some of them feel that it is all too good
to be true, and that the rest of them are
sure it is. The fact that Roosevelt is
and always has been one Of the shrewd-
est politicians is one they find hard 10
reconcile with the fact that here in Mas
sachusetts he seemed devoid Of political
guile.
In the first place the colonel, who IS
| a past master of the art Of awakening
enthusiasm. didn't seem to care whether
| ne awakened enthusiasm in Massachu-
! setts or not. He addressed the Legis-
| lature, II is true, but the address ne de-
livered there was as well calculated to
artaponfze and -alienate~t members as
| to win them over. The Colonel ad-
| dressed no great public gathering when
| he might have addressed several He
spent much of his time In social visits
ON those who are irrevocably and irrec-
oncilably opposed TO him. He seemingly
frittered his time and opportunities
away.
Political Trick Suspected.
Now. this is not the Roosevelt Of old.
The more experienced Taft men here
have suspicion, which they wouldn't
for the world put in words, but which is
none the less sharply defined, that per-
haps instead of attempting to convert
Massachusetts the colonel deliberately
and with malice aforethought attempted
to drive her further away from his can
didacy.
| The colonel would have TO travel hard
and fast to secure the Massachusetts
delegation, whatever he might do when
election came around. In the West, on
the other hand, are states which are
| hanging in the balance, simply because
they have heard that Roosevelt was per-
haps little bit closer to Wall Street
than he used TO be.
II would be the depth Of political
guile, the Taft forces admit, TO court
condemnation here deliberately lin order
that the wavering Western states may
come warmly to the rescue Of their old
hero. But at the same time they
wouldn't put it beyond the colonel. And
at the same time such an explanation
would clear up that which is mysteri-
Gus in connection with the colonels visit
here.