Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1904-02-12
TAFT THE imPERIous AND IMPERIAL

VIM n. Taft, an Ohioan, acquired |
the title of governor by being made
Governor of the Philippines under
orr anomalous conduct and govern.
ment of those Islands. In order to
find a suitable Secretary of War, on
y secretary Roots retirement, Mr..
Roosevelt was obliged to send to the
Philippines for GOV. Taft. There
were only about forty five million men
left In the United States from which
to choose a suitable person, but
among these none suitable could be
found, so Taft had to be brought home
aud vested with the duties of that
office. On his arrival in Washington
We have noted elsewhere how he pa
raded from,the railway station to the
war Office surrounded by military
escort. A sight for its imperial splen
dor was never enjoyed by our people
acter arrived in town. We learn that
in foreign countries where the military
takes precedence over everything else
when any little coxcomb of an officer
or foreign consul goes out for an
airing,a military detachment precedes
him, sword In hand and cleaves the
ambient air, that he may pass through.
Gov. Taft has had the air cleaved for
him so long in the Philippines that
doubtless he cannot breathe it freely
in this country until 1t has been chop
ped with swords and stabbed with
bayonets. Gov, Taft, if we can believe
the evidence of some who have watch
ed his career in the Philippines, has
grown to have a very exalted opinion
of Gov. Taft, and it is possible he sug
gested to Mr.. Roosevelt or the War
Department that the ambient air he
would be expected to breath along
Pennsylvania avenue from the depot
to the War Office should be hacked by
a cavalry regiment. This is all our
cavalry regiments at Washington have
to do. Sc we suppose they might as
well play herald to our incoming pO-
tentate as not.
To show the public what kind of
person not We, but the English Of
Hong Kong, say that cavalry parade
guarded to the War Office, We will re.
publish what the editor of the South
China Morning Post, an English paper
published in Hong Kong, says of Gov.
Taft, and his reign in the Philippines,
which we are certain has never before
been printed in America i
1.-THE other day Gov. Taft of the
Philippines entertained his subjects
at Venetian tete in the Melacanan
Palace which surpassed in magnifl-
cence even the Lucullan festivals Of
the dead Governors of Spain. It was
strange MANIFESTATION of republican
royalism-Gov. Taft In the role of
Robespierre There is little of the sea-
green ascetic about Gov. Taft, but
much of the demagogue on horseback.
If one would taste the bitterness of
tyranny, one need only place q repub.
lican upon throne. The Americans
and Europeans have felt the h0b-nailed
heel of the Cincinnati democrat as
crushingly as ever they felt the spurr-
Gov. Taft has ridden rough shod
over the privileges OF the people, and
has used his power for the same pur-
poses that the Caesars of decaying
Rome used their thrones. He has
maintained at the expense of the peo-
pie vast army of Office holders, an
innumerable force of converted insur.
rectos whose peace could be more
easily bought than compelled.
HE has stolen from the foreign
merchants and importers their private
papers, has utilized these to their own
disadvantage. He has deciphered the
law as suited his pleasure and his pur
pose. He has wrung a revenue out of
British and German tradesmen whose
businesses were were established be-
fore the Americans had dreamed of
colonial expansion. He has proclaimed
peace when there was war. He has
publised prosperity when there was
poverty and depression everywhere
outside Of official circles.
HE has upheld the nefarious Nor
gan Shuster in his illegal and uncon-
stitutiOnal despotism. He has gagged
the press, has forbidden free speech,
has sentenced men of independence
for sedition. To crown his glory he
has held triumph In palace which
the cities of bis fatherland in all their
rfroif IN
transplanted republlcanism is a curl
Gus growth One prefers the cold sim
plicity of British imperialism. Gov.
Taft, speaking from the carpeted
floors of the Melacanan Palace, cannot
equal the quiet eloquence of His Elk
celIency. Sir Henry Blake's parting
speech In the Grown Colony of Hong
Kong"
And here the Post quotes Sir Henry
Blake's speech in which the speaker
expresses himself as the exponent of
Justice pure and unpurchasable' and
all from the highest to the poorest
coolie are free to think as they like,
speak what they think, and act as they
will without let or hindrance so long
as they obey the laws made for Sc
curing the protect ton and comfort of
the community" Continuing the
Post says:
could such words be written as an
epltaph over the official tomb of Gov.
Taft? it were better for him, for the
people of the Philippines, aud for the
citizens Of the United States now than
that his name should 60 down to pos
jerity as that OF the Man who gave the |
'ecent entertainment in Manila"
WHITE H0RSES-DARK MONARCH.
The Sultan of Morocco has sent to
President Roosevelt some milk white
lorses and other presents. There is
ONE rule which has heretofore pre-
ented the President from accepting
resents, but 1t is possible Mr.. Roose-
cit will so construe this rule as to
void application of the Same to him.
his rule applied. we admit, only to