The Controversy Over Wood

THE CONTROVERSY OVER WOOD.

The fight in the senate over the confirmation of Gen. Wood as major general is causing a great amount of picking up of ears, for if it comes to a real fight to a finish between President Roosevelt and Senator Hanna, it will no doubt be a fight of giants. No one doubts but that both have the ability and courage to put up a stiff scrap, and then the stakes are such as to interest everybody.

The military committee of the senate is strongly for Wood and no doubt its report will be in his favor. In fact there is thought to be but one man on the committee who is practically sure to vote against Wood.

But there is a certain something known as senatorial courtesy, and should Senator Hanna make this issue a personal one and ask his friends to stand by him, there will certainly be an interesting time. It is a big risk for a senator to take to declare open war on the president elected by his own party. Such a fight is pretty certain to result in defeat for the senator having the temerity to make it. Senator Hanna, chairman of the republican national committee in an open fight with the president would be a spectacle which many think the political shrewdness and judgement of Hanna will not permit him to indulge. The matter has gone so far, however, that he will have a bitter dose to take in lying down.