1 111/. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN AMERICA.
[To THE EDITOR OP TB& "SPECTATOR."] Sia,—While apologizing for trespassing on your space, let me say that I think a few observations of an unbiased spectator of the presidential race in this country might be of some interest, The most prominent feature of the whole race is, of course, the complete elimination of Mr. Taft. His prospects of gaining the Presidency again are practically nil, and per contra the candidature of Mr. Roosevelt is daily increasing in strength. The Democrats are very much alert to the situation, and Dr. Wilson's present extended tour is being made in an effort to dam the flowing tide' of public, opinion that is setting so strongly toward Mr. Roosevelt. I firmly believe, however, that for every day Dr. Wilson remains on the hustings his chances of election will be appreciably lessened, for as a campaigner he has already proved himself to be greatly inferior to Mr. Roosevelt. Even here, in the constitutionally democratic South, there is a large Roosevelt following—his explicit, unequivocal statement of his views in regard to the negro's political status in the South has relieved many men of independent thought of the necessity of voting a ticket that in everything else they had long ceased to believe. As things seem now, Mr. Roosevelt will control nearly all the independent votes in the country. The votes Mr. Taft will get will only be those of the bide-bound, dyed-in-the-wool. Republicans. The question is : Will Mr. Roosevelt he able to draw enough votes from the Demo- cratic Party to ensure his election ? I fear not, and if not, the next election of a President will almost certainly be thrown into the House of Representatives, where, in this country of anomalies, a democracy will elect its President by State vote, i.e., New York's vote counting for no more than Nevada's. What the complexion of the new House will be when numbered by States no one can tell. As the House is constituted at present, it would be nearly an even break between Wilson and Taft. In the two State elections held so far, the Democrats have lost, losing the Governorship and several Congressmen in Maine. One thing is certain, that whatever the result of the present Presidential race may be, the Progressive Party, as a party, has come to stay, for its platform (or programme) embodies the everyday ideals of the " man in the street."—I am, Sir, &c., ROET. BLAIR. Selma, Ala. : September 22nd, 1912.
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