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Show POLITICS. Events in the political arena move smoothly on the surface, .though beneath the surface there may be a swiftly moving current which will change the destiny of some half-dozen presidential aspirants and make history in the next few months which will materially affect the destir. of the republic. About the time the battleship fleet rounded the Horn and began its northward journey in Pacific waters, in Washington the president' was holding a conference with the Democratic members of the House naval committee in an endeavor to impress them with the need of an enlarged navy. The proposition prop-osition of the president was put upon the broader basis of patriotism rather than politics. He told the Democratic members that the withdrawal a year ago of Aoki, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, was for no other purpose than for an extended consultation on conditions in America. He pointed out the activity of the Japanese in naVal construction and warlike preparations, and ' ' 'v . . . V reviewed the troubles between America and Japan, and suggested that these troubles were by no means settled. In order to bring the Democratic members mem-bers to his way of thinking, the president showed the position of President Grover Cleveland with respect re-spect to an adequate naval establishment. All of which indicates rather indefinably that war with Japan is not amciig the impossibilities as viewed in Washington. Diplomacy smoothed the troubles arising from tLj San Francisco incident but then we had no battleship fleet in the Pacific. Should the old troubles trou-bles be renewed (and who will say they may not be'O the nice diplomacy could now be supplemented supplement-ed by a strong defi, which the Japanese, always with a chip on their shoulders, would be quick to resent. re-sent. It is yet about four months before "the national na-tional conventions of the great American parties meet to place in nomination candidates for the presidency. Four months in world-politics may bring startling changes. Should the old troubles with the Japanese be renewed, what more natural thing could happen than the rcnomination of the president, and what argument would prevail against that which questions the advisability of swapping horses midstream? Circumstances with which students of politics are familiar indicate that President Roosevelt is not a candidate for re-election. He has not been since the last election. But n one denies that he has been active in support of Secretary of War Taft. Should events move during the next two or three months as indications point they may, .when the Republican convention assembles in Chicago, we would not be surprised should Secretary Taft. mount the rostrum and, in a speech sparkling with patriotism, announce his withdrawal from the race in favor of the president, and that Theodore Roosevelt Roose-velt should once more go before the people as the candidate of the Republican party. Though not a candidate now, he may be a candidate in June. |