against such a course, it is proper for me to state definitely that under no circumstances could I, or would I, accept the nomination for the Vice-Presidency. It is needless to say how deeply I appreciate the honor conferred upon me by the mere desire to place me in so high and dignified a position. But it seems to me clear that at the present time my duty is here in the State whose people chose me to be governor. Great problems have been faced and are being partly solved in this State at this time; and, if the people so desire, I hope that the work thus begun I may help to carry to a successful conclusion.

How the

The governor's position was apparMovement ently understood and accepted by Was Revived. everybody. Mr. Hanna, the Administration leader, ceased to consider him among the possible candidates for the Vice-Presidency. A governor is to be elected this year in the State of New York, and the demand among Republicans that Colonel Roosevelt should be accorded a second term seemed general and urgent. It was felt that he was as admirably fitted for the arduous and difficult duties of the chief executive of the great commonwealth of New York as he was, in every way, ill adapted to the passive and functionless role of the Vice-Presidency. Moreover, it was also felt that in no other way could the State be so certainly held by the Republicans this year as with Roosevelt renominated for his present office. This was his own

attitude, and it had received the indorsement of Senator Platt and all the party leaders. But it so happened that the governor had supported and signed the so-called Ford franchise tax bill, under which street railway and other corporations holding valuable and lucrative franchises are required to pay taxes on the value of such franchises. Such corporations, in New York as elsewhere in the United States, are in politics. And it is a leading part of their business to make it desirable for political managers to be deferential to their wishes. Governor Roosevelt had not been deferential. They therefore decided that he ought to be put out of New York politics; and they are said to have made practical representations of their views. The Republican organization, headed by Mr. Platt, was led to the conclusion that the governor would be a weak candidate for another term, and that it would be altogether desirable for him to take the Vice-Presidency. In fairness, it should be added that the governor's belief in very radical canal improvements was said to have alienated the farmers in certain parts of the State, who are greatly opposed to this colossal enterprise. The Republican organization, in short, took the ground that Roosevelt would run brilliantly if named for Vice-President, and badly if named for governor.

manager, was called upon to aid in solving the Vice-Presidential problem, and in a few hours Pennsylvania's great group of delegates was added to that under Mr. Platt's control from New York in active promotion of the plan to confer the nomination upon the unwilling gov ernor. The programme was aided not a little by the fact that the administration itself, as represented by Senator Hanna, had not selected a candidate, but had left the matter to take its chances in the convention. It is true that Sen. ator Allison, of lowa, had been urgently requested to accept the position; and, if he had been willing, it would have been his unanimously. But Mr. Allison did not want it, and had said so in a tone that was entirely conclusive. Meanwhile,

Governor Roosevelt's unbounded popularity in the Far West, and the devotion to him of the young Republicans of the Middle West, began to crystallize about the nucleus that had been provided in the definite action of the Pennsylvania men. The two movements taken together quickly reached the point where unanimous agreement upon any other name seemed impossible; and it was fated that all things in this convention should be done without a dissenting voice. A series of Western States, like Kansas and Colorado, where Populism and Bryanism are especially strong, demanded that Roosevelt should accept. All important elements in the convention soon reached the same conclusion. His terse and vigorous speech seconding Senator Foraker, who had proposed President McKinley's name for renomination, added the final touch. His name was presented by the Hon. Lafayette Young, secretary of the Iowa dele. gation, in a speech withdrawing Mr. Dolliver and eulogizing the man whom Mr. Young himself had accompanied in the Santiago campaign. Governor Roosevelt received every vote in the convention-excepting, of course, his own.

It is of some perHis Own View tinence to recall of the Office. the fact that four

years ago, during the progress of the Presidential campaign, the editor of this Magazine asked Mr. Roosevelt, who was then president of the New York Police Board under Mayor Strong, to write an article on the office of the Vice-Presidency, together with comments upon the three prominent Vice-Presidential candidates; namely, Mr. Hobart, Mr. Sewall, and Mr. Watson, of Georgia. A very interesting article was forthwith produced, and

it will be found in the REVIEW OF REVIEWS for September, 1896. Among other things in that article well worthy of citation, Mr. Roosevelt made the following remarks:

The Vice-President should, so far as possible, represent the same views and principles which have secured the nomination and election of the President, and he should be a man standing well in the councils of the party, trusted by his fellow party-leaders, and able, in

the event of any accident to his chief, to take up the work of the latter just where it was left. . . . One sure way to secure this desired result would undoubtedly be to increase the power of the Vice-President. He should always be a man who would be consulted by the President on every great party question. It would be very well if he were given a seat in the cabinet. It might be well if, in addition to his vote in the Senate in the event of a tie, he should be given a vote on ordinary occasions, and perchance on occasions a voice in the debates. A man of the character of Mr. Hobart is sure to make his weight felt in an administration, but the power of thus exercising influence should be made official rather than personal.

These suggestions touching the official status of the Vice-President were, of course, made in connection with a theoretical and historical discussion rather than as a matter of immediate urgency. It is needless to add that Governor Roosevelt would not for a moment have permitted himself to be nominated if he had not felt that he could meet his own tests as to the necessity of harmonious relations between the Vice-President and the Administration. Mr. McKinley,

Future. Roosevelt, be it said, has made no sacrifice of principle. Through all his public life he has shown himself willing to do hard work steadfastly in positions where no one could accuse him of seeking anything else except the service of his country through his party. It is exactly in that

spirit that he yielded his own preferences at Philadelphia to what finally came to him as a unanimous party demand. We do not believe the sacrifice ought to have been demanded; but doing what he believes to be his duty has become a fixed habit with Theodore Roosevelt. His friends will not for a moment attribute to him any reason for changing his decision at Philadelphia other than his belief that it was his duty. The party to which he now shows such loyalty will have a strong sense of allegiance to him in return. He will be forty-six years old on October 27, 1904. If one must indulge in predictions, it is far safer to prophesy that he has thirty-five or forty years of active and valuable public life yet before him than to assume that the Vice-Presidency would necessarily end his political career. Four years of constant observation and study of national affairs from the safe vantage-point of the chair of the presiding officer of the Senate, added to Governor Roosevelt's existing qualifications as an executive officer, would make him unquestionably the best-equipped man for the

real work of the Presidency that the Republican party could bring forward four years hence. Let his admirers, therefore, take the view that they have now the opportunity to transfer him from the sphere of New York State politics, and from work of intense activity, to a place that affords the best conceivable chance for the deliberate study of every question of national impor

HON. LAFAYETTE YOUNG, OF IOWA, Who presented Governor Roosevelt's name to the

convention.

assert that New York might again turn a national election over to the Democrats if a conservative platform were adopted. Last year Tammany Hall again attempted to destroy Mr. Bryan's leadership by putting forward Judge Van Wyck as a candidate for the Presidency upon an anti trust platform; but the "boom" it launched for Van Wyck at the ten-dollar" Jefferson dinner was counteracted even in New York by Mr. Bryan's defense of the Chicago platform at the "onedollar" Jefferson dinner held immediately thereafter; while, throughout the South and West, Mr. Bryan became all the stronger because of the enemy with whom he refused to make terms. The nation was forced to realize that west of the Alleghanies the mass of Democrats preferred defeat under Mr. Bryan to success obtained through concession to his Eastern Democratic opponents. This year even Tammany Hall was forced to accept Mr. Bryan as its candidate the ice-trust revelations making the continued candidacy of Judge Van Wyck on his anti-trust platform too ridiculous for even Tammany's sense of humor to bear up under. The New York convention held last month instructed its delegates to Kansas City to vote for Mr. Bryan, and by its action assured his nomination by acclamation. Few Presidential candidates have entered a convention so absolutely under their control as that which Mr. Bryan will enter at Kansas City.

A Platform to Match the Candidate.

The candidate being thus in complete control of the convention, and standing as he does for a definite platform, the resolutions to be adopted at Kansas City are

One-Man

The convention about to meet at Kansas City will probably be dominated Convention. by one man. Mr. Bryan's campaign of 1896 was one which in a rare degree gained for him the hearts of his supporters-the votes of many of them expressing their feeling for the candidate rather than a definite intellectual be

lief in his programme. When a candidate has thus gained the affection of his party, defeat only intensifies its devotion. Because of his defeat, Mr. Bryan has remained the idol of thousands of voters who would have become his critics in the event of his success. At no time since 1896 has he lost his ascendency. In 1898 it was seriously threatened by the almost successful effort of Mr. Croker and Mr. Hill to elect Judge Van Wyck governor of New York upon a conservative Democratic platform. This movement was defeated by the personal popularity of Colonel Roosevelt, which prevented Mr. Croker's becoming able to

be raised as to the general indorsement of the platform of 1896. The leading plank in that platform, however, cannot be inserted bodily into the new creed of the party. Its opening statement, for example, is as obviously false now as it was obviously true four years ago. No platform adopted this year can begin with the assertion that the money question is paramount to all others at this time." The money question, even in the minds of those most devoted to the free coinage of silver, has become less pressing by reason of the great increase of our currency through the doubling of the output of the gold mines and the large gold imports into this country. The Populists at Sioux Falls in May recognized this change in condition by recommending that the silver added to the currency shall be used to retire an equal amount of bank-notes, in order to maintain relative stability of prices; and the Democratic platform is likely to urge free coinage rather as a means to prevent a fall in prices in the future than as essential to imme

diate conditions of trade. It is not unlikely that the second portion of the currency plank of 1896 -the protest against the control of the currency by private corporations-may this year be given the greater emphasis. But the currency question, though it will remain first in position in the Democratic platform, is not likely to be treated as first in importance. The question of trusts, which in the platform of 1896 received but a few lines, will this year be given capital importance. It is not unlikely that the convention, in addition to demanding the repeal of the tariff wherever it enables a combination to raise prices, will also demand Congressional action by which corporations combining to create monopolies shall be denied the privilege of interstate commerce. The question, however, which will probably be given preeminence is the policy to be pursued toward the Philippines. Mr. Bryan's programme respecting this issue is set forth in an article in the North American Review, from which we quote at length on page 83. Its three essential points are stated in these words: "First, establish a stable government; second, give the Philippines their independence; third, give them protection from outside interference while they work out their destiny." The convention seems certain to indorse this programme, and will undoubtedly add to it a warm expression of sympa thy with the struggles of the South African republics to maintain their independence. fact that the Republican platform was cautious in its expression upon this issue is believed by many shrewd observers of public sentiment to afford the Democratic party greater hope of substantial gains than any other factor entering into the contest. The knowledge that it does not make the smallest material difference to the American people what the result in South Africa shall be -so these observers assert-in no sense lessens the political importance of the issue for the American people, who, far from being the most money-seeking people in the world, are the most certain to be influenced by moral sentiment.

The Difficulties.

The

With its Presidential candidate seof lected in advance and its platform Fusion. practically written, the Kansas City convention has none the less a most difficult practical problem to settle. There is no possibility of Democratic success without the support of the Populists and Silver Republicans who supported Mr. Bryan in 1896. The recent Congressional election in Oregon, where an Independent Democratic candidate in one district and an Independent Populist candidate in both districts polled together upwards of four thousand votes, shows that even in the West it is difficult to get parties

SENATOR JONES, OF ARKANSAS.
(Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.)

Falls, report that they find it almost impossible to get the active workers in their party to accept a Vice-Presidential candidate as well as a Presidential candidate first named at a Populist convention. Had the Sioux Falls convention, they tell us, left the selection of a common candidate to a committee representing the three parties, Mr. Towne would, with little doubt, have been selected as the most available man. But they question whether the Democratic convention will feel that it can afford to accept a ready-made ticket throughout. Mr. Bryan, however, can probably dictate who shall be his associate; and his close friendship with Mr. Towne seems, at the time of our writing, to assure either the ultimate agreement of all parties upon a single candidate for Vice-President or the agreement of their State committees upon a single set of electors in each State, who shall divide their votes for VicePresident between Mr. Towne and the Democratic nominee upon some definitely arranged basis. Among the leaders, the sentiment for fusion is so strong that fusion is likely to be effected; but the difficulty may be that many Democrats, many Silver Republicans, and many Populists, dissatisfied with the basis of agreement, will refuse to go to the polls to support it.