| Show SEEKING THE presidency the washington poet says there Is no office for employment under our government from president to wafer boy the seeking of which by honor able means abil in proper ways ia condemned by public sentiment an honorable ambition Is entitled to and rocelies roc elves respert res the notion that the office should seek the manthe man meanwhile saying or doing nothing to manifest a desire to be discovered and seized by the see kerIs a myth if that idea ve had any strong hou on public sentiment which is extremely doubtful it ong ago became obsolete open candid seeking of tho highest office in the gift of the electorate taking the people into a candidates di confidence letting tho country understand what he wants and expressing his convictions on the great questions of the time that la the approved manner of trying to win a presidential nomination that was mr Roosevel ts way aej although he was pore frank than any of his pro been it may bo said tant most of them sought office diligently and the result in mr roose belts case would seem to warrant the opinion that hla greater frankness wag af octor in the production of his greater success the new boik globe however holds that whatever may as to other high offices the history of the presidency does not reveal that the of thought and the devising 0 plains help much in attaining its honors the globe refers to webster clay and blaina as examples confirmatory of its opinion but they certainly 0 o not render that service it was not the fact of seeking the prevented pith of those aspirants from attaining it the globe cannot find historical tion faor ts theory that a modest maidon alke receptivity or passive willingness this is about as far as a presidential candidate may profitably go lincoln sought the presidential nomination of sought it wisely and welb he sought his ion in 1864 as wisely and as well indeed the presidential nomination of both of the great parties for many years with the single exception of 1868 have gone to candidates who openly sought them in that exceptional year general grant could have had tho nomination of cither party the only vote he had ever cast in a presidential campaign had been cast tor james buchanan there was no occasion for the heno of the appomattox to ask either party to avail itself of his popularity his competitor horatio seymour alil not want the democratic nomination it was in the face of his earnest declaration to the democratic national convention your date I 1 cannot be that he became the candidate in a campaign in which his defeat was coraly certain at this date a modeal receptivity or passive willingness is a phrase that does not fit either of statesmen who are most prominently mention as candidates for 1908 when abo office goes out to the roan when the convention of the two competing parties meet to chobe candidates there will be no necessity for scouring tho woods in search of the man to lead either of the hosts it is always possible for the leading candidates to create a situation which necessitates the bringing out of a dark horse but this 1 not the result of popular feeling against seeking the presidency |
