Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/177

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 141 portation. An act of January 26, 1907, had for bidden national banks and corporations organized under Federal law to contribute money to political campaigns. The great public purveyors of food and drugs were to be watched. Here was enough machinery to benefit the many and control the few; and Mr. Roosevelt had been saying that Mr. Taft was the man to keep it going after him. Numbers of people wished Mr. Roosevelt to stay on. In November, 1907, Federal office-holders were active in advocating a third term, and he issued a letter forbidding them. A month later he repeated his announcement that he would not again become a candidate for the presidency. A month after that, January 30, 1908, Mr. Taft resigned as secretary of war to become the Republican candidate for president, Luke E. Wright succeeding him in the following July, five days after Mr. Taft s nomina tion. This nomination was opposed by Mr. Roose velt s enemies from the moment they began to fear it might occur. Believing that Mr. Taft would keep the machinery going, they made a ticket according to their financial taste Cannon and Sherman doing what they could to impair the powerful popular influence of Mr. Roosevelt s recommendation. Their latest weapon was the "rich men s panic" of the Autumn of 1907. Mr. Roosevelt had caused it, they said, by his incendiary threats against "big business." Equally prepos-