The Washington herald., 1913-12-28
THE WASHINGTON HERALD SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2s, 1913.

clally, and industrially. I believed with
all my heart in real and thoroughsoins
democracy, and wished to make this
democracy Industrial as well as political,
although I had only partially formulated
the methods believed We should follow.
believed in the peoples rights. ano,
therefore. in national rights ana states
rights, just exactly TO the degree In
which they seVerally secured popular
rights. l believed in Invoking the ma
tional power with absolute freedom Tor
every national need; and l believed that
the Constitution should be treated as the
greatest document ever devised by the
wit OF man to aid a people in exercising
every power necessary for its own bet
terment and not as a straitjachet cum
ningly fashioned to strangle growth AS
for the particular methods OF realizing
these various beliefs, i was content
to wait and see what method might be
necessary in each case as i arose; AMI
was certain that the cases would arise
fast enough.
The Nomination of 1904.
As the time for the Presidential nomi-
nation of 1904 drew near, it became evil
dent hat l was strong with the rank and
file OF the party, but that there was much
opposition to me among many OF the big
political leaders. and especially among
many Of the Wall Street men. A group
Of these men met I'm conference TO Or
ganiIe this opposition. II was to be done
with complete secrecy. But such secrets
are very hard to keep. / speedily knew
all about II. and took my measures ac-
COrCingly. The big men in question, who
possessed much power SO long as they
coud work under cover, or so long as
they were merely throwing their weight
one way or the other between forces
fairly evenly balanced. were quite help
less when fighting in the open by them
selves. never found out that anything
practical was even. attempted by most
Of the men who took part in the confer
enCs. Three or four of them, however.
did attempt something. The head OF one
big business corporation attempted to
start an effort to control the delegations
from New Jersey. North Carolina, and
certain Gulf States against me. The head
of a great railway system made prepara-
tions for a more ambitious effort toward
the control of the delegations from Iowa,
Kansas. Nebraska, Colorado, and Call
fornia against me. He was a very pow
erful man financially. but his power po-
Iitically was much more limited. and he
did not really understand his own lirli-
tations or the situation itself, whereas
did He could not have secured dele
gate against me from Iowa, Nebraska, or
Kansas In Colorado and California he
could have made a fight, but even there
think he would have been completely
beaten. However long before the time
for the convention came around. II was
recognized that II was hopeless to make
any opposition to my nomination. The
L -
mated unanimously. Judge Parker was
nominated by the Democrats against me.
Practically all the nett tIopolitan newspa-
pers Of largest circulation were against
me: in New York City fifteen out Of
every sixteen copies Of papers issued
were hostile to me. l won by a popula-
majority OF about two million and a half.
and In the electoral college carried so
votes against 1876 II was by far the
largest popular majority ever hitherto
given any Presidential candidate.
The Third Term Question.
Ny opponents during the campaign had
laid much stress upon my supposed per-
sonal ambition and intention TO use the
office oS President to perpetuate myself
in power. / did not say anything on the
subject prior to the election. as did not
wish to say anything that could be con-
strued into a promise offered as a con-
in order to secure votes. But
on election night, after the returns were
In. issued the following statement: The
wise custom which limits the President
10 two terms regards the substance and
not the form. and under no circum-
stances will ! he a. candidate for or ac-
cept another nomination"
The reason for my choice OF the exact
phraseoIogy used was twofold. In the
first place, many OF my supporters were