The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-07-18
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER

ton ~I1mes OF July Stn. Inc articit
is Is follows:
Politically speaking, they are
keeping an. eye on Senator William
E. Borah of Idaho about the senate
as we'll as in Washington generally,
Regardless of the fact that Senator
Borah has recently written a letter
to a Kansas politician to the effect
that he has not got the presidential
bee and intends to keep that PERM
cious insect pretty completely shooed
away from him, a good many Repub-
licans, not to mention Democrats and
B II Moose hackers regard Borah as
a good deal more than a possibility
for the Republican presidential NOM
nation in 1916.
" Senator Borah indicated in his
recent lstler that he did not want
any notions relative to the presiden-
cy coming between himself and his
work he was trying to do in the SEN
ate In this he is doubtless sincere.
He has seen enough of the ravagas
a. the n'crobe as it has affected
many pubic men, so that he under
rc illusions about the d~esirability of
it Still, there is such a thing as a
:nan beng drafted by his friends, and
there is no doubt that at this time
numerous Republicans in Congress
look on Borah as extremely availa-
BILE for the 1915 nomination.
Must Nominate Progressive
Even the most rampant of the
Old Guard politicians realize that if
the Republican party is going 70
make any sort of a showing in the
1915 fight, a progressive must be
nominated. 1t is not probable that
there will be. in the next Republican
convention any of that sort Of blind
and obstinate insistance on the nom
nation of a candidate obnoxious to.
the progressive men in the party, a
course which split the Republican
party and perhaps wrecked it for all
time. The regulars will be as ready
as anyone to accept the nomination
of a mar of the type of Borah, Cum
minis, La Toilette, Kenyon, Norris or
Hadley.
"Of course, the lightning might fall
on any one of the number of pro-
gressive Republicans in Congress.
But there has for some time been
more talk of Borah than of any other
He would command the support of
both wings of the Republican @psrty
and would do it without effort.
Is Protective Tariff Man.
"Borah is a protective tariff man,
though not a believer in extreme
high duties. He favors q moderate
protective tariff, free from graft feat
ures and devices that benefits inter-
ests. No man at this distance a
guess whether in 1915, the country
will turn toward protection or whe-
Their it will find the Democratic bill,
with it's long free list, beneficial or
whether it will demand radical steps
in the direction of free trade.
80 much depends on the workings
of the new tariff law that intelligent
speculation can hardly be INDUCED
in. At best, opinions on this point
are conjecture. Should the pendel-
UNI swing in the direction of protec-
ton the moderate protectionists of
the Borah type would be in a strong
position. Whatever happens, there
will not be, for many years at least,
any return to the extreme duties of
the Dingley bill and the Payne bill.
Would Command Labor Vote
Senator Borah would command
a large labor vote. The part he took
in the last Congress as chairman of
the Education and Labor committee
in working for the Department of
Labor bill, the prominence he has
had in the West Virginia investiga-
ton, and his generally friendly atti-
tude toward organized labor would
insure this. He has not been as pro-
gressive on tariff as other progressive
Republicans, largely because he has
been embarrassed by the fact that
the demand for high protection from
Idaho is unusually strong.
"But on the question of regulation
Of railroads and Of corporations, he
has taken advanced ground. In gen.
eral, he is fond of voting for progress
sive measures in the senate. He
has achieved a reputation to be COW
eted as a constitutional lawyer, ard
has one of the finest legal minds in
Congress. One objection that would
probably be found to him would be
that, as a man from the Rocky noun
Hl.I