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Show ! 11 "naTpolitical gossip. i If (Harper's Weekly.) i II , President Roosevelt un- I f SinZ Ids In tentlon of visiting Texas II "Tv In he coming spring, in order II fttend a reunion of his Rough Rid-r Rid-r MM to at ie"u t h0 has received so many ' II ff JfS frSm cities and towns in ! II ?I south tSt months of his time ! II 'nil be consumed should he accept 1 II Ifi nil Unable to accept them all, . wm them discriminate against ' H SSv Te as decided to stop nowhere II ;?hte wS to and from Texas. There ) II s Ji doubt that these Invitations 1 I I 1 t of which would probably not II h,vB been tendered a year ago, indl- II iSflii crowing disposition on the part 1 II o? our southern brethren to heed the H luest that our chief magistrate is ,Z to have made through Mr. Thomas t 'icon page, that the south would sus-' sus-' pend Judgment on him. The request aliened to have been coupled with ' he expression of a belief that at the H pnfl of two years the southern peo- nle would see cause to revise their minion of him. It is evident that the appointment of a son of General H "Stonewall" Jackson to a cadetshlp at ' H the West Point military academy has H tended to allay the resentment pro- H voked by the persistent nomination of H the negro Crum to bo collector of Cus- ' H toms at Charleston. This is not the fk only proof which the president has WM given of a readiness to honor the mem- III ory of a great confederate soldier. Tho IB other day ho appointed to tho post of S United States marshal for tho district H of Virginia a son of General Stuart, Hfi the confederate cavalry leader. These H Incidents, viewed In connection with Hj the fact that the president and those Hm members of tho Federal legislature Hj who are understood to rcllect his 8 views show no sign of an Intention to BS enforce tho Fourteenth Amendment, BJ afford some basis for tho rumor that during the coming administration a Mm systematic attempt will bo made to B8 break what is left of tho "Solid South" fl by organizing a white man's Republl- Bs can party in several, if not many, Bfl southern states. Bfi The states wherein slavery was n legal before tho civil war have long Bjj ceased to constitute a "solid" political j entity. Delaware has been Republican Kj since and Including 189C. Maryland J twice voted for McKlnloy, and this V year gave one of her electoral votes III to Mr. Roosevelt. West Virginia, like MB Delaware, has chosen Republican elec-M elec-M tors in the last three contests. Ken-f Ken-f tucky gave twelve of her thirteen M electoral votes to McKlnley in 189G. Mm Virginia and Tennessee each gavo Mr. MM Bryan a plurality of loss than 20,000 f in 189G, and Missouri, which twice vot-BJS vot-BJS for Mr. Bryan, was carried by Mr. MM Roosevelt this year. It will bo remem-j! remem-j! bered that Virginia was for a number MM or years represented by two Republish Republi-sh cans In the United States senate. To MB regain that state, to hold Missouri, and I MCa?tuF Kentucky and Tennesso, aro 1 S.ie,ci3tto atta,n whlch Mr. Roosevelt I I,, .b?,Just,ned ln devoting a great I t,f 0f4thoUBht antl offrt- The next I ,2 ? which organized endeavor I H nb9 ducted are Arkansas, 1 t tL Carollna and Louisiana. I iw?aLseem Premature, when Mr. I S elts lnai'euration Is some two 1 S8 Ty' for Politicians to bo I S,n,B plans w,th reference to tho 2St0ll Nevertheless, some hav ) f es , Th0 Bryanites of Indiana the Mm ? hldlns a conference with Scat I? f .curing control of the Dem- flueno?nSati,0nal conmittee, and of in-H in-H from th& 1 !l1 solecon of delegates I SSon? 8tat0 t0 the next Democratic , I Po e rn ,,C,O?V0nt,on' The latter pur-y pur-y tho ni ho, carr,eu 0Ut they think, ' "a even?nf " ,Zat,on of Bryanlto clubs be an Lni Ct on l)recinct. That would doubt ,efxp,onslvo undertaking, and we forthcnL; needed money would be the at thls time. Whether next Democratic national conven tion is dominated by the Bryanized west or by tho relatively conservative east and south will depend mainly upon the course pursued by the Republican Re-publican party with reference to tariff revision, unless, indeed, some new and paramount issue should bo introduced by' Mr. Roosevelt. It looks now as If the "stand-patters," whose stronghold Is the Union Leaguo club of Philadelphia, Philadel-phia, might prove successful ln their opposition to any readjustment of tho tariff during Mr. Roosovolt's second term. In that event they arc certain to provoke an amount of disaffection In the Republican rank and illo thaj. would give tho Democracy an opportunity opportu-nity of victory. Most candid students of tho results of last November's contest con-test aro convinced that there aro not enough Democrats In the country to elect a president, and that a Democratic Demo-cratic nominee will never reach the White House, unless, like Mr. Tilden and Mr. Cleveland, he obtains some-Republican some-Republican support. We repeat our former prediction that if tho DIngley tariff Is left Intact by the Republicans during tho next four years, nobody ln 1908 will believe their profession of an intention to revise It, and a well-known well-known and highly respected conservative conser-vative Democrat of tho Cleveland type, if ho ran on tho single plank of Immediate tariff revision, would be very likely to win. Such a one-plank platform might be put forward If tho next Democratic convention were controlled con-trolled by eastern and southern delegates. dele-gates. If, on tho other hand, tho Bry-anites Bry-anites should regain ascendency, tho winning issuo of tariff revision would bo apt to be lost sight of in tho farrago farra-go of "Isms" that they might bo expected ex-pected to concoct. Mr. Bryan's friends are not alone In taking time by tho forelock. Mr. Thomas Watson, who "also ran," it may bo remembered for the presidency, on the People's party ticket, tick-et, has been talking more or less since tho election, and now announces that the campaign of 1904 was but a prelude pre-lude to the campaign of 1908. A start, ho says, had to bo made, and it seemed to him of vital necessity to start at a time when both tho old parties were virtually pledged to class legislation. He intends, ho adds, to devote tho next four years to a campaign cam-paign of education, In which ho will preach, ho says, "the gospel of equal rights to all," and will try to make his fellow citizens comprehend how ruinous to tho masses are tho "present "pres-ent tendencies" of municipal, state, and national legislation. From the general tenor of his remarks wo Infer In-fer that Mr. Watson moans openly to co-operate with tho Democracy ln 1908, provided its platform and nominee nomi-nee are of tho desired Bryanito tlngo, instead of Indirectly aiding tho Republican Re-publican ticket, as he did this year. It should further be noted that at least one eminent Republican Is already al-ready laying pipes for his party's nomination nom-ination for the presidency four years hence. Wo refer, of courso, to Vice President-elect Fairbanks. Scarcely had Mr. Roosevelt announced that ho would not bo a candidate for tho nomination nom-ination in 1908 than Mr. Fairbanks let it bo known that he should not personally recommend any citizen of his stato for appointment to ofllce, but should leave tho distribution of federal patronage In Indiana to its senators and representatives. Tho avowed reason for this attitude of impartiality im-partiality was his purpose to request tho Indiana delegation to present his name to tho next Republican national convention. Since that avowal a bureau bu-reau has been organized ln Indianapolis, Indianap-olis, with United States District Attorney At-torney J. B. Keallng at its head, with a view of launching a Fairbanks boom forthwith. That tho vlco president elect will have formidable competitors competi-tors in Mr. EHhu Root, of New York, in Judge Taft of Ohio, and in Johnj Hay, of tho District of Columbia, goes without saying. Even in Indiana, Mr. Fairbanks mny not ilnd his path altogether al-together smooth. Ho may encounter tho snmo kind of opposition from Mr. H. S. New, vlco chairman of tho Republican Re-publican national committee, who has virtually boon mado chairman ad interim in-terim by Mr. Cortclyou, Hint General Harrison encountered from Judge Gresham. It was Mr. Now who was In charge of tho Republican forces In Indiana during tho recent campaign, and who had received much of the credit for tho Republican majority of over 92,000, which for that state was phenomenal. |