that Hanna might be induced to try to defeat him. In
1903 the Ohio convention, with the consent of Hanna, approved the
candidacy of Roosevelt, and early in 1904 the death of Hanna removed the
last hope of Roosevelt's Republican opponents. The delegates went to a
national convention in Chicago, for which the procedure had all been
arranged at the White House, where it had been determined that Elihu
Root should be temporary chairman, and that Joseph G. Cannon, the
Speaker, should be permanent chairman. Through these the convention
registered the renomination of Roosevelt and selected Charles W.
Fairbanks, of Indiana, as Vice-President.

In the Democratic party the forces that had dominated in 1896 and 1900
had lost control. William Jennings Bryan, after two defeats, was not a
candidate in 1904. He had become a lay preacher on political subjects,
lecturing and speaking constantly in all parts of the United States, and
reinforcing his political views in the columns of his weekly _Commoner_,
which he founded after his defeat in 1900. Roosevelt had adopted many of
his fundamental themes, but Bryan retained an increasing popularity as
did the President, and, like the latter, had relations of doubtful
cordiality with the leaders of his own party. The Cleveland wing of the
Democrats still believed Bryan to be dangerous and unsound upon
financial matters, and some of them made overtures to Cleveland to be a
candidate for a third term himself. His emphatic refusal to reenter
politics compelled the conservatives to find a new candidate. Judge
Alton B. Parker, of New York, was their choice. The owner of the most
notorious of the sensational newspapers, William Randolph Hearst,
offered himself. Several other candidates were presented to the
Democratic Convention at Chicago, but Parker received the nomination,
over the bitter opposition of Bryan. When a doubt arose as to his status
on the silver issue, Judge Parker telegraphed to the convention that he
regarded "the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established."
Bryan supported the ticket, Parker and Henry G. Davis of West Virginia,
but without enthusiasm.

There was no issue that clearly divided the parties in the campaign of
1904. Roosevelt asked for an indorsement of his Administration and for
approval of his general theory of a "square deal," but it was obvious
that his party associates were less enthusiastic for reform than he, and
that only his great personal popularity