Life — January 21, 1904 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

VoL. XLUI JAN. > 19 West Tminty-First St. New Yo Published every Tanrsday. $0 a year in ad- va fi coats. Jate of publicati Vo contribution accompanied by envelope. The illustrations in Lie: are copyrighted, and are not to be reproduced, Prompt notification should be sent by sub= seribers of any change of address. rerll be returned unless stamped and addressed 'PHERE is really going to be a Democratic candidate for President this year, _ and it seems, at this writ- ing, more profitable as yet toguess athisidentity than to continue guessing about a war between Japan and Russia. In a way there is war now be- tween Japan and Russia, for the intensity of com- petition and preparation that is going on constitutes a sort of preliminary warfare, But the two countries may not come to actual blows, and, of course, we all hope they won't. Bat there will be a Presidentialelec. tion this year, and there will be a Democ andidate, and it is mighty important that he should be a good one. It is of vital concern to good government in this country, as Mr. Olney said at the McClellan dinner, that there should be a strong party in opposition to the Administration. it ought to be a safe party as well as a strong one. The Democrats have chosen in the two last elections to pose Ss an aggregation of wild cats, for whose ticket no conservative citizen nuld vote. They have come sane again at last, and are evidently ready to put up their best man if they can find him, provided there is not too much to prevent. But they have been sending their able men to the rear, and bringing their blatherskites to the front so long, that the task of finding ~ LIFE: the best man is one of such difficulty as to make their struggles almost laughable. APHE Democrats ought to havea new man. The talk about Mr.Cleveland is reasonable enot He is the oul, living Democrat with a gr tion based on successful public service. There are Republicans enough whom the people know and would trust, because seven years of power have given some first-class Republicaus a chance to make records. To say noth- ing of Roosevelt, and passing over Hanna, Root and Taft would make very strong Presidential candidates. We all know them, and most of us admire and trust them. But there is a great dearth of new Democrats who have had admin- istrative experience. The Presidency has come to be too important, It is so enormously important that the re- sponsible and conservative people are loath to trust it to inexperienced hands. But there is no Root and no Taft in sight in the Democratic party. There is Judge Alton Parker of the New York Court of Appeals, who is somewhat disadvantageously identified the friend of Mr. David B. Hill. He is the only new man who is seriou: talked about. He is certainly a re- spectable and able man, bat how much more than a respectable man he is, the mass of the people have no means of knowing. If he became President, be would probably make Mr. Hill his Sec- retary of State. We would rather have Mr. Hay in that office, wouldn’t we? =. ‘THERE is another new Democrat, of whom a great many handsome things are said, and that is Mr. John Sharp Williams, the Democratic leader in the House. He is fifty years old, a lawyer and a planter, and has been in Congress for ten years. He is credited with careful and thorough education, excellent ability, and a serene temper. According to the accounts most preva+ lent, he measures well up to the standard of a first-class man. He is now one of the rulers of the country, and a very important one. He seems to be the sort of man whom the Demo- crats should push to the front. Is Mr. Williams a possible candidate for President? Alas, he comes from Mississippi, and, of course, nothing short of a political cyclone could put a man from Mississippi into the White House. Judge Parker has been a Judge for nineteen years,and so,very properly, has been out of active politics, and is not well known except by hearsay. Mr. Edward M. Shepard of Brooklyn is no longer discussed as a candidate, and of the older men they tell us that Mr. Gorman could not be elected, that Judge Gray is too lukewarm a Demo- crat, that Mr. Olney could not carry Massachusetts, and that none of the three is as strong as Mr, Cleveland. And so it comes back to Mr, Cleveland again, and, though he doesn’t want to run, and certainly will not turn his hand over to get the nomination, it may possibly come to him, for the Democrats are tired of being beaten, and a good many men who voted for McKinley are disposed this year to yote for a safe Democrat if they get the chance. M EANWHILE Tammany is get- Saas ting the warmest invitations to be good from all the leading Democrats from Mr. Cleveland down. _ It is felt that Tammany rule in New York is just now the most conspicuous example of Democratic government that is on exhibition, and that the showing it makes may influence very much the disposition of the voters of the nation to invite the Democracy to fill a larger order. McClellan certainly is capable of feeling an intelligent concern in national politics, and so, probably, is Murphy; Murphy being in that par- ticular a great deal more intelligent than Croker was. McClellan will do his best to govern New York well, and in this Presidential year Murphy may be expected to help him. comicbooks.com