Arizona republican., 1907-12-12
PHoENIX ARIZ., DEC. 12, 1907.
MIR. TAFT's OPPORTUNITY.


 IL is expected. that. closely follow ing the return of Secretary Taft, the early part of next week. there will be a rapid development of the republican political situation. The so-called Taft boon. is everywhere conceded to be in a disorganized state. This condition may be apparent rather than real, but it is pretty clear that the interests of Nr. Taft have lately suffered from neg feet. as from the outset, they suffered from the grossest mismanagement.
 Of the popular strength of the big. jovial and capable secretary there was never any donbt; but the mistake was made in the beginning-and many of his friends joined in it-of keeping him in a state of eclipse; persistent effort was made to throw upon the mstre of his achievements, a borrow ed and a lesser light IL was inevit- able that the secretary should be dim med and belittled.
 Added to this fearful handicap. the management Of his campaign was put into startlingly incompetent hands with the result that even before the secre- tary's departure his boom was natur- ally becoming a national joke. Then there was that disastrous defeat in Cleveland. followed by a general sub -fa.,,o. ,f a,4h,,Gfa.,,
 Ills boom though is by no means f,attened out. Mir. Taft has strong following in nearly all parts of the country in spite of the weight he has had to carry. If he should now shake it off he would sill be in the running ahead of the ruck of candidates.
 one Of the mistakes made by the friends of MT. Taft was the reiterated declaration that he was President Roosevelrs candidate. whereas. the re- publican party wants a party's candi date; another error was the guaranty by his campaign management that he would carry out the presidents pOli- cies. whereas, there is now strong
 
 tendency toward a popular repudia- tion of the foremost of those policies.
 While MT. Taft, as a member of tine cabinet has tacitly accepted the pres idents proffered guardianship of his political estate and has been obliged as a member of the administration, to defend certain of its policies whose objectionable features have later been confidence in the secretary's honesty and good judgment and in the quality and breadth of his statesmanship, that, ii on his return. he were to come out boldly and stand alone on his own pub Inc record, there would turn to him a great deal of the strength which, in MT. Taft's enforced attitude Of depend eLce. has been attracted to favorite sons.
 We believe that this favorite son movement is a formidable crystalliza- tion into various groups, of opposition to the very policies which the cam paign managers of Mir. Taft believed would constitute the greatest element of his strength, and that, unless he dces extricate himself from the pre- dicament into which he has been fool ishly placed, will be further solidified into a single group for his defeat.
 4 forecast of such a coalition is found in the choice of Chicago as the location of the republican convention. which choice, the Kansas City Journal thus attributes to the continued folly O1 the Taft boomers:
 Kansas Citys failure to land the republican national convention was the direct result of too much Taft talk While the delegation that went from this city to work for the convention Was composed for the most part of splendid citizens imbued with loyalty and unselfishness. they were unable to O. ercome the fatal impression that this city and the surrounding country are fully committed to the big secre- tary for the presidential nomination.
 IL was the poorest kind of politics to talk Taft in Washington. for aside from a few blustery newspapers there iS no crystallized Taft sentiment out this way. Kansas City has no presi- dential candidate. It was entirely neutral and il offered everybody a fair show. with no favorites. There is a good deal of Taft sentiment in this city and vicinity. but il is not of q kind that would preclude a square deal for all candidates. The mistake was in permitting the impression to go out that the people oi this part of the United States were bowling themselves black in the face for the ohio man. . That kind of campaigning could have been expected to unite the opponents ot Taft in favor Of Chicago. and that's . what it d.d
 Last Wednesday the Kansas City , delegation in Washington considered the fight practically won. There was no particular effort on the part of Chi .