THE PRESIDENCY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20, 24 January 1912, Page 3

THE PRESIDENCY.

A STRANGE SITUATION. QUESTION pF SINCERITY, [FBOM OtJE OWN COEEKSPONDBNT.] SAN FRANCISCO, 25th Dec. What is variously termed " the Roose. velt danger," " the Roosevelt bogey," and "the Roosevelt boomlet," according to the point of view, is the most -fecent emanation of the United States Presidential campaign. It is something like the situation four years ago — Colonel Roosevelt reiterating that ho is not and will not be a candidate, .while his followers in all parts of the country ! are endeavouring to force him to run. Furthermore, there are others who insist ho is secretly hankering after the nomination. His famous article on the trusts last month is declared to be subject only to the interpretation v that he will be a candidate for the Republican nomination. "He certainly makes a noise like a receptive Presidential candidate," asserts one newspaper; and it is difficult for tho ex-President to take any step or express any view that is not interpreted in the same way. In spite of his many statements that he is not a candidate, it is suggested that the only way he can convince the country of his sincerity in this regard is by repeating General* Sherman's famous remark: "11 nominated I will nob run , it elected I will not serve." ■• Within the last day or two a significant incident has occurred that many point to as proof that Colonel Roosevelt is casting sheep's eyes at the nomination. During the last five or six years the statement has been published over and over again, and never authoritatively denied, that in 1904, during the election in which Mr. Roosevelt defeated Alton Parker, ho (Roosevelt) asked Mr. E. H. Harriman to contribute £50,000 towards his election. As Harriman* was one of the big chiefs of the Wallstreet money gang .that Roosevelt was then fighting, it has t>een imputed that he was guilty of bad faith and compounding with' the enemy. It now appears, by the publication of a letter written to Mr. Roosevelt ,by George R. Sheldon, treasurer of the Republican National Committee, that the £50,000 was not asked for by Roosevelt, that it was not spent in his election, but that it was asked for and spent in behalf of Higgins, who was running for Governor of New York at that time. The letter giving the truth as to the occurrence was written at Mr. Roosevelt's request on the, 15th of this month and' published on the 20th j and naturally the affair is looked at in the light of an effort to remove an obstacle from the path of his nomination. The fact that in many States delegates to the nominating conventions are to be elected ' by the voters at large in a primary election adds to the possibility of a popular uprising in his favour, ana in one State at least— Nebraska — a petition is already on file for placing the Colonel's name on the official ballot. As against these indications must be set the plain words of Colonel Roosevelt himself. The Outlook, of which he is associate editor, publishes the assurance that those who really know the mind of the ex-President "know that he is not a Presidential candidate, that he does not desire to be such a candidate, and that; the • thought' of such a candidacy never occurs to him in "his discussion of questions of public and national interest." Still more emphatic is the authoritative statement published in the Philadelphia North American, with Mr. Rooseveltte consent and knowledge, containing th© following sentences :—: — ' " Colonel Roosevelt will not support any man for th© nomination in 1912, neither Mr. Taft nor anyone else. He never gave Mr. Taft any pledge or 'offer of support, nor did Mr. Taft have such an impression. As to himself, Colonel Roosevelt is not a candidate, nor has he been at any time. He has repeatedly discouraged suggestions of this character, not only from his friends, but from potential political leaders who, for on© reason or another, desire to use his name; *nd he has emphatically refused pledges .of active support, even delivery of delegates. He says, anU wishes the statement to be accepted at its full value, in its clear and unequivocal meaning, that he desires talk of his supposed candidacy to cease." * This was published early in the month ; and since then, contrary to Mr.' Roosevelt's desire, talk of "his supposed candidacy" has been more persistent and general than ever. The Roosevelt enthusiasts recognise that he will not openly become a candidate, but are hopeful of forcing the nomination upon him. They are frank in stating that them purpose is to work up a demandi for him to be expressed in the nominating convention.