ROOSEVELT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2186, 9 May 1908, Page 4

ROOSEVELT.

AMERICAN PRESIDENCY

THE ROOSEVELT BOOM,

Who shall succeed President Roosevelt ? This question is discussed uioro and more ns the timo arrives lor isettlement (writes tho London Daily Telegraph's” New York corrospondeut). It is absolutely interesting, not only to Americans, to whom tho chiol of the Executive represents so much national power and initiative, but also to the world at largo. Not since Lincoln’s days, when tho question whether or not" tlve war for the preservation of tho union should go to a filial conclusion, liavo such a vast and complicated issue been presented to the country. They liavo been, as I liavo shown in the “Daily Telegraph tor tho last few years,, questions fraught with unexampled Importance to tho business and financial interests of the country. Lincoln was nominated in 1860 in Chicago, and in tho samo city on Juno 16, tho Republican Convention of 992 delegates from all pants of tho country will assemble to decide one© and for all wliothor President Roosevelt, despite of Ins protests, shall succeed himself and so secure the fulfilment of his programme of reforms, or whether some other shall bo chosen. . „ , ~, On behalf of the “Dnily Telegraph I liavo consulted this year scores of politicians and read scores of publications with the object of ascertaining the probable result; but it seems useless to speculate. Every experienced and practical politican in tho TJnited States has 'known for months that all tho power of the Federal Administration has been exerted to control tho election of delegates to tho National Convention. The Hon. William H. Taft, of Ohio, Secretary of War in President Roosevelt’s Cabinet, lias for several months past been regarded as tho Candidate of tho Administration for the Presidency. Ho will have a solid delegation from his own State. Tho majority of the delegates elected so far from other States have been instructed for tho Secretary or War, but in many cases, especially in tho Southern and Western States, there will bo contesting delegations. Other prominent candidates for nomination 'are Vice-President Fairbanks, who will have a solid delegation from liis own State, Indiana; the Speaker, Mr. Joseph Cannon, who will ha ve the Illinois delegation; Senator Knox, of Pennsylvania, who will liavo the delegates from his State; and Governor Hughes, of New York. Whether or not Mr. Hughes will have a solid delegation from his own State is a question that will not be settled until the State Convention meets in April to elect its delegates. But, above all—and this I regard as most significant—above all the reports, rumors, and counter-rumors of these booms* looms large tho persistent report, which comes from all over the country, that the Convention is to be stampeded into the nomination of President Roosevelt, and that he will accept such a unanimous choice, despite tho fact that ho has three times said that he would not be a oandidate again. Tho Roosevelt boomers months ago picked out the man to make n speech to start tho stampede. The man they have selected is Mr. George of California, a lawyer, who has a voice of marvellous carrying power. He was one of the orators who made a speech at Chicago four years ago, seconding the nomination of Mr. Roosevelt. As regards the Democratic National Convention at Denver, Colorado, on July 7, public interest is reduced to a minimum, hecause Mr. William Jennings Bryan, humorously designated “the continuous Democratic candidate,” is without an opponent.