Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1917-06-08
BORAH'S RETIREMENT
ny SCOTT c. BONE, IN seattle Post-TnteIItaoneer

communicative, merely remarkina
that he had almost two years to
serve.
Many Republicans throughout the
country were firmly Of the opinion
a year ago that the ideal ticket to
nominate at Chicago would be Root,
for president. and Borah, for vice
president, thus giving recognition to
the conservatives and progressives
md uniting the extreme east and ex-
rene west. The combination was
egarded as most logical and promis-
ng OF strong appeal to popular ia
or. 1t minimized, too, the objection
% Root on account of his years in
naming running mate of demon
itrated ability and in his very prime.
But fate decree 1t otherwise The
'loice of Hughes had been fore-or-
Iained and Borah was one or his
supporters.
II the Idahoan enterta.ns White
house aspirations-and gossip in the
;ast says he does--his relinquish-
ment OF the toga he has worn so
reditably and honorabIy becomes
,asiIy understandable.
The United States senate is not a
,tepping stone to the pr sidency
,ohn Sherman discovered this fact
rauara4frpo aosa and oarySa5 tha sOr
row of it to his grave. Weeks, of
Massachusetts, Burton, of Ohio, and
Cummins, of Iowa, were made pain
fully aware Of it only last year; and
Henry Cabot Lodge, whom T. r. pro-
posed as a last hour compromise out
IT the Chicago tangle, made no i'm
preston of availability at all. So il
has ever been. The people do not
look to the senate to furnish presi-
dents Possibly its reputation in the
past as the American House of Lords,
before it became transformed into a
popular body and lost much of its
traditional greatness. may account
for the fact. Be this as it may, the
l LeAGg AGAA6AAC - E1fGLAbN may
more easily climb the White House
adder than a senator Garfield had
lot yet donned the toga when he be-
anne the nations executive. Hayes,
before him, was a governor CIeve-
land reached Washington via AL
bany. Harrison had finished his one
term in the senate and returned to
indianapolis when the highest honor
came to him. McKinIey's defsat for
reelection in the house and election
to the governorship was the making
OF him. Roosevelt was governor OF
New York and Woodrow Wilson gov
ernor of New Jersey.
Political history, therefore, gives
ample warrant to Borah for leaving
the senate. If it be true that he hal
hitehed his wagon to a Ioftier star
New York thinks very well OF him
His progressiveism has never shock
ed or given the slightest tremor q
the great Empire state. It took his
measure. early in his senatorial ca
reer, and approved his sanity.
One story says that he will give VI
his residence in Boise and locate II
Gotham for the practice OF law, bui
this Is unconfirmed. The date o.
his retirement is nearly two years
ahead and his plans may naturally
undergo change in the interim.
Idaho Il too young and too fal
away to become the mother Of a pres
ident at this stage or the country,
development, and the senator. wis,
in his day and generation. would b,
less than politically humane If un
mindful OF that obvious handicap.
The impending war, in all Ifkeli
hood, will produce the next presi
dent. Grant was the product OF I'll,
civil war, and the brush with spair
made Roosevelt governor vice pres
) ident and president Who know
but that Borah may distinguish him
self at a foreign front? He LISTED
himself earf as DESTROYS OF accom-
panying the Roosevelt expedition t,
France.