be found voting
for most measures for which the "progressives" claimed sponsorship,
but when the more radical leaders began to advocate the recall of
the judiciary, Borah rose up and delivered an invective the memory
of which lingers in the Capitol. It was one of the few speeches he
has made that had a permanent effect and, strangely enough, it was
the kind of speech that might have well been delivered by Root or
Knox.

There has always been reason to believe that Borah was never more
enamored of La Follette in his prime, or of Hiram Johnson, than he
has been of the "reactionary" leaders with whom he has been
oftentimes in open conflict. When the latter deluded himself with
the hope of securing the Republican nomination, Borah was supposed
to be his chief supporter. When Johnson had eliminated Lowden and
Wood, and seemed to have eliminated Harding, Borah showed more
interest in the Knox candidacy. He wanted Knox at the head of the
ticket mainly because he knew that Knox was an implacable foe of
the League of Nations. On that fateful Friday night in Chicago when
the signs of the trend toward Harding had begun to appear, the
Senator from Idaho was anxious and prepared to place Knox's name in
nomination and begged Johnson to swing his delegates in that
direction.

Borah has succeeded very well in concealing his own ambitions,
possibly because he is more cautious than some of his impetuous
colleagues, or because the opportunity has never come for an
avowal. But among those who have followed his career there is a
very strong suspicion that his one great desire was to be the
successor of Roosevelt. This might be one reason for his antagonism
toward the politicians of the old regime, such as Penrose, who have
barred his way in that direction, and his fitful devotion to
progressivism championed by others. The failure to realize this
ambition might account in some measure for his later reticence and
his suspicion of politicians in general. He has shown a pronounced
distrust of them. The only exception has been the audacious
Ambassador to the Court of Saint James who in his REVIEW and in his
WEEKLY flattered the Senator from Idaho with an absence of
restraint that might have made a more trusting person skeptical.

The Senator from Idaho has too many years before him to justify
predictions concerning his career. Whatever faults he might have
they do not entirely obscure his virtues. It is possible that the
occasion might ar