The progress of the American Presidential campaign already points to
the success of Mr. Taft. A heavy blow has been struck in his favour by Mr. Roosevelt, who in a long letter to a friend, evidently written for publication, has renounced the pretensions of Mr. Bryan to be an interpreter of the "Roosevelt policies." Mr. Roosevelt writes of Mr. Taft as a man of great constructive talent, and generously says of the policies, " They are as much his as mine." It is strange that Mr. Bryan should have exposed himself to this reverse, which surely might have seemed to him inevitable unless he assumed that Mr. Roosevelt would take no part in the electioneering. But in any case the Democratic Party cuts a weak figure with its chosen candidate doing nothing more than advocate a programme which is a pale reflection of his opponent's. It is not surprising that Democrats are beginning to demand the production of a characteristic " platform:" We may add that Mr. Hughes has been renominated for the Goveinorship of New York by the Republican State Conven- tion at Saratoga. As a last resource, according to the Times correspondent, the " machine " politicians telegraphed to Dr. Hill, the new American Ambassador in Berlin, asking him to stand in opposition to Mr. Hughes. Dr. Hill naturally refused, and the " machine " politi °jals are left with wholesome reflections upon the victory of Mr. Hughes's self-respecting restraint over all kinds of intrigue.
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