Mr. Roosevelt is having a personal triumph in his speech-
making tour in the Western States. The bosses of the "Old Guard" are looking on with much alarm while Mr. Roosevelt denounces them before rapturous audiences. Meanwhile Mr. Taft holds aloof. We do not suppose for a moment that Mr. Roosevelt wants to smash the Republican Party. He only wants to pull off the tail which has too long wagged the dog. If he succeeds, Mr. Taft will of course accept the fruit of his friend's labour, and the Republican Party will be much purer, even if it be temporarily weaker. We do not underrate the strength of the bosses, who, we may be sure, will fight for their lives ; but Mr. Roosevelt is a man at whose touch landslides of political feeling take place. It is quite possible that acting as the unofficial prophet of his party, he will be able to effect its moral regeneration without impairing its strength so much as to let the Democrats into power. The whole Republican Party will have swerved bodily towards the views of the Insurgents.
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