THE administration, said Roosevelt in September, 1906, when
Speaker Cannon was running for reëlection to Congress, "has
had no stouter friend than the Speaker of the House. . . . He
is a patriotic American. He is for every man, rich or poor, capitalist or
labor man, so long as he is a decent American, and he is entitled to our
support because he is a patriotic man." ¹ A fortnight earlier, the Presi-
dent had written to Uncle Joe:

. . . you need never waste your time in thinking that I will give so
much as a second thought to any kind of a story in the remotest degree re-
flecting on you. I know your attitude absolutely. All you are trying to do
is from the standpoint of the welfare of the country and the party, to
strengthen all the factors that can be brought into play for success in No-
vember. You have done your part up to the handle. More power to your
elbow!' ²

Before the end of 1908, however, this cordiality had vanished. It had
never been sincere. Too long had the proud head of Congress bowed
to the imperial will in the White House. The memory of frequent de-
feats rankled, and the revolt began in 1907. Speaker Cannon, leader
of the Republican party in the House, became a general of the rebel
forces. The President was no longer the potent influence he had been,
for the simple reason that he would go out of office on March 5, 1909; it
had been a mistake to announce in 1904 that he would never again be a
candidate for the Presidential nomination. Roosevelt may have sus-
pected, although he never said so, that his support of Taft was also an
error in political judgment. The President was facing an unpleasant fact
-- that power was slipping from his grasp.

Theodore Roosevelt, as the day of abdication rushed toward him all
too swiftly, was not yet fifty years old. He had been the youngest Presi-
dent; he was far too young to retire to slippered ease. "When you see

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