The Washington herald., 1912-05-23
The Result in Ohio.

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Roosevelt's victory in Ohio was not
unexpected. For more than two months
his managers in that State have been
industriously at work in his behalf.
They have been well equipped with
money and experience and they were
also aided by the antagonism of the
farmers and the working classes to-
ward President Taft. More than this,
they were actuated by feeling of re-
sentiment against the President for acts
which affected many of them personal
ly it was, therefore, with a feeling Of
personal satisfaction that they under
took to accomplish his defeat. Roose-
velt's own aggressiveness was another
factor which aided them. His many
positive assertions, though not always
accurate, impressed his audiences, and
the denials which the Taft managers
put forth Travelled with lsggard feet
While the result in Ohio does not
make the Presidents denomination i'm
possible, it unquestionably makes that
outcome more uncertain. 1t will rem
der more acute the rapidly growing
skntiment in the Republican party that
neither Taft nor Roosevelt ought to be
neninsted. Much bitterness has been
engendered by the contest, and it is
hardly possible that it can be alIayed
before election day. The issue raised
between the Bryan and anti-Bryan
forces in the Democratic party in 1896
was intense, but it lacked the personal
quality which has been evident in the
Taft-Roosevelt rivalry. Both factions
in the Republican organization have said
and done things in the heat of the
struggle which will be of immense ad-
vantage to the Democrats in the event
of the nomination of either Taft or
Roosevelt When President Taft de-
clares that Roosevelt is unsafe and dan
gerous, and when Roosevelt retorts
that Taft is weak and useless, the Dem
ocrats are having their own campaign
material manufactured within the Re-
publican ranks.
There never has been any doubt at
any time that President Taft deserved
a denomination. He has been a wise,
capable, and honest President He-has
been judicial rather than demonstrative !;
safe rather than spectacular; earnest
and devoted rather than egotistical and
impulsive. The very qualities which
ought to have commended him-and
which have commended him, in fact, to
those who decry agitation and change
have made him unpopular with those who
are impressed by more strenuous char
acteristics. He has suffered, too, in
not being politician. 1t IS a fact, al
though not altogether TO our national
credit, that winning the Presidency Is
a political game, and those who are
most adept in its mysteries stand the
best chance of success.
Even as the situation stands, Taft
has more votes in Ohio than Roosevelt
has in New York No one has ever
emphasized the fact that Roosevelt
could not carry his own State This
is doubtless due to the fact that Roose-
welt entered the race as a free lance.
attaching himself to no State nor to any
party. His individuality has been the
focus of his campaign, and it has at
tracted all the elements which were dis
satisfied and discontented. These were
active both before election and at the
polls, and they have been victorious in
many States, even though the figures
show that even in Ohio, where the bat
tie was unusually fierce, the propor-
ton of votes cast. is very small as COM
pared with the total Republican enroll
ment.
The fight for the nomination is not
ended. There are still other States to
elect delegates The President will, in
the last analysis, we believe, have a ma
jority of the convention; but the mar
gin Of his strength viii be so narrow
and the Developments of the campaign
have been so detrimental that the lead
ers who desire party success will, when
they come together, spend many an
anxious hour in serious deiiberation.