Roosevelt, hat in hand, turned to Borah and said, "You see, I can't
desert my friends now." The ex-President went his way and Borah
came back to the old Republican fold.
From that time to this he has followed his own way which,
fortunately for the Republican Party, has been within organization
limits, but his relations with his fellows are neither intimate nor
serene. Some of the Republicans, who can be forgiven for not
understanding a man who respects neither party decrees nor
traditions, feel that Borah is so American that he possesses one of
the characteristics of the aboriginal Indian--in other words, that
he is cunning, that he will not play the game according to
organization rules. He has a habit of making too many mental
reservations. I am not quite sure that these allegations could be
supported before an impartial tribunal. I am rather inclined to the
belief that to maintain his position in the Senate Borah has had to
become a shrewd trader.
Fortunately for himself he is too much of a personage to be ignored
or suppressed, and manages to be a power in a party which has no
love for him.
He is virtually a party to himself. He cannot be controlled by the
ordinary political methods. His constituency is small and evidently
devoted to him and his state is remote; he is not compelled to do
the irksome political chores that cost Senators their political
independence.
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