Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-03-02
PRESIDENTIAL POSSIBILITIES
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON. D. c., Feb. "a
| Time was when men hailing from
| that considerable portion of the
/ United States ying west of the Mis-
| sissippi river could not attain Sc
rious consideration as Republican
presidential possibilities. They
| might be big men with all the quail
! tiles of successful candidates, but
| they were debarred from the list
| of eligibles almost as conclusivaiy
as il they had been of foreign birth.
| 1t was all matter of geography,
which has nought to do with a man S
! ability. but may have everything
! to do with his political availability.
The Republican party to be success
full must have candidate who can
| carry New England and the great
pivotal states such as New York.
Ohio. Indiana and Illinois and it
had become an accepted fact tn 1T
a man from the West could not
turn the trick. Westerners were
two-fisted fighters, he-men, pictur-
esque, and all that sort of thing,
but they were also set down as bit
wild and Woolly and hard to curry
below the knees. The more conseT-
vative Middle West and the ultra
conservative East might be fearful
that they would not stand hitched.
But as has been said, that time
was. 1t is no more. The time may
not have arrived when a man from
the hitherto prescribed region WITH
be elected President. but assuredly
the hour has struck when such 4
man must be given the most serious
consideration as Republican pros
"a til l..
Hiram Johnson is the man.
1t has remained for the senator
from California to upset the apple
cart of tradition, revise the political
Biographies and eliminate longi-
tude as a factor in the selection OF
Republican candidates for the
Presidency.
Senator Johnston started his great
work in 1912 when he became the
candidate for vice president on the
Progressive ticket and helped
Roosevelt carry many more states
than the regular Republican nomi-
nees carried. Eight years later
Johnson was back in the Republican
fold and the active. aggressive eau
didate for the presidential nominal
ton. lie made some progress with
| his candidacy both in the primaries
and at the Chicago convention, but
! it cal not be said that he was taken
| altogether seriously. He had not
overcome the handicap Of being
from the far west.
/ Certain to he i'm 1924 lists
| Now, however. it is different, HIS
| presidential aspirations are being
| accorded the most serious consider
| alton, both by those who are in
! clined to favor him and by those
| who are opposed to him. The Hoe
durable Hiram Johnson is in the
running.
Indeed, it is the concensus of
opinion in Washington that he will
be a candidate for the 1924 noni-
nation with far more certainty thar
it can be said of any other promi-
nent Republicans. President Harding
himself may not be excepted u
making this statement. 1t is takeI
for granted that the President viii
seek a denomination, or that there
will be such insistence upon his be
ing a candidate again that he car
not refuse to make the race. but 1t II
quite possible that circumstances
could so shape themselves that Mr.
Harding would decide not to at
tempt to succeed himself.
Other Republican possibilities ma,
not enter the lists for various rea
sons, the one most likely to actual
them being q reluctance to ARA,
themselves against the Presideu
There is a somewhat prevalent idei
that Harding ought to be give:
another nomination if he wants il
and ther is an even more prevalen
conviction that if he wants II h
will get it. The odds are largely i
his favor because of the party pre-
cedent and because of the vas
power Of the political organizatio
that centers around the man in tn
White House whoever he may be.
7 Not so with the Honourable Hi
ram. Shattering precedents an
bucking organizations are two OF tn
: fgondest things he's OF, as they saJ
and he has grown robust maxim
fights where the odds were a
+ ! against him. He has a mission
perform as well as an ambition I
{ attain. II he faied 20 get into tn
1924 fight there might be no one
' carry the banner for the West. an
a also he might show reversal I
form, go stale, and all that. There
fore he would no more think of n
making the race next year than IN
AaM with . dns regard tax ~