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Show i HAY OR FAIR B A N K S REPUBLICAN NOMINEE IN 1908 - . ' . . . Mr. Roosevelt declares I himself out of the running. But two men, apparently, appar-ently, are already in tha field: First, John Hay, Secretary of State and the recognised dean of the world's diplomacy. Mr. Hay's inclination! are all literary. We were comrades la the old Tribune office, and he never waa happier than when Bitting with the left foot on hla desk before him writing a bantering- paragraph or. a good-humored but never flambuoyant article of commendation. He tried hla hand aa a special correspondent at the Chicago and tha Boston fires. In editorial work, he waa a man of ideas. Nobody haa forgotten hla wonderful article: "Did We Escape a Napoleon?" It was such an eulogy of CoL Ellsworth aa never had been written and, I must confess, nobody else haa confirmed. But, It was superb. It-ought to be read in the new schools of Journalism that are springing up throughout the land. . ' I now approach a delicate point The authorship of "The Breadwinners" never has been admitted; but grounda for believing Mr. Hay the writer ara countleaa. If he be nominated, that now-forgotten book -will be the rage like "The Simple L4fe." It doeen't exactly put Hay on the side of labor, but It will make votes among the tradesmen of the land.' People who haven't time to read ,it will think it a detense of the tollers, and "Little Breeches" will catch tha cowboy cow-boy element. . e e . John Hay's rle has been like that of Disraeli. Hie is a triumph of high literary lit-erary intellectuality, over the commoner methoda of modern poMtics. He haa grown Into a big figure in our American life, and he is today the largest and strongest personality In hla party outside the White House. . e e Second. Charles W. Fairbanks. Senator from Indiana and Vice-Presidentelect. Mr. Fairbanks Is a product of domestic growth. He began as a country hoy, la wholly and essentially a Western man, but be haa firm'.y-eeaUd convictions con-victions on all public questions. He had the best of reasons for expecting to be the residuary legatee of the McKlnley following; but Theodore Roosevelt baa changed that, and Senator Fairbanks will now have the fight of his life to succeed suc-ceed hla present chief in the first executive office of the land. I hava known Charlea Falrbanke since he was 17 years of age. We, were born in adjoining counties In Ohio; I sawxhim matriculate at the Ohio Wesleyan university, and was in the press gallery at Washington when he took the oath aa United States Senator. see During the campaign, I remember to have heard him spoken of as "a man of ice." Nothing could be more Inaccurate. He la anything but conservative If by conservatism one means to describe a man who is evasive of responsibility or chary of frankness. Fairbanks always haa an opinion about anything known to him. Of things unknown he Is the frankeBt confessor of Ignorance I ever knew. That Is a mark of greatness. Too often, men discourse with affected seriousness about subjects that are strangers to their mentalities. Many Washington Wash-ington correspondents will recall an instance in whjch Fairbanks followed a speech by his colleague from Indiana, who had lately returned from a trip over the Trans-Siberian railway. In which he stated more facta about the actual condition con-dition of that great travel route than Senator Bovertdge had been able to gather during hla long journey or publish in a weekly magazine that exploited him. Now that Senator Hoar is gone, there Isn't an abler lawyer on the floor of the Senate than Fairbanks. Spooner will be suggested, but opinions differ widely about that Wisconsin gentleman. Mr. Fairbanks will have a large following. He never has published any books that his enemies, personal or political, can distort and twist to his Injury. He has plenty of money and many rich friends. Thus endeth the cyclonic campaign season. The political Indian summef follows. Julius Chambers In Brooklyn Eagle." |