Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-21
BLANK CARTRIDGE
RATHrR pitIfuI beeinninr a.

1 M
| ~ presidential campaign was that
of Secretary of War Taft, nomin-
ally the Republican candidate. at Co.
lumbus, O., Monday evening last. Sur.
rounded by crowds of political parti-
sans he made what he termed his
political confession of faith" which
stripped of excrescences, was a trite
recapitulation of the assumed benefits
to the country growing out of Repub-
lican party rule.
That he shot oral blank cartridge is
shown by his remarks on the tariff
question, wherein he reiterated his Te-
vious declaration in favor of revision
(after the presidential election) and de-
clared that 1t would be both unwise and
unsafe for the Republican party to fail
to pledge itself to revise the Dingley
law.
There are. or soon will be, in Wash
ington Speaker Joe Cannon of the house
of representatives and Senator Aldrich
of the senate, both leaders of the
"standpat" forces and both controlling
dominant sentiment in the Republican
ranks, and just how Mr.. Taft can ar
range to ignore them and their follow
ing does not appear. 1t should be re-
called, too, that Mr.. Taft or his imme-
diate following will have precious little
to do in the work of framing a plat
form and that the men who are certain
to be the architects of that platform will
permit very few Of Mr.. Taft's pre-
election utterances that do not jibe with
their castiron policy to go into 1t.
Secretary Taft is wise and knows the
popular demand for tariff revision, and
knows the Democratic party stands for
that great and sorely needed work, and
sees it would be good politics to fore
stall the action of the Democratic party
by the enunciation of purposes he can
not be sure his party managers will
indorse. Stealing other peoples thun-
der to heighten their political pyro-
technics is a common trick of Mr.. TAFT
and his confreres, but the CALLED neck
of the people is a constant reminder of
the yoke Of oppressive exactions that
calls for more than promises to cure.
In the matter of trust prosecutions,
Mr.. Taft said less; much less than the
demanded. Just few glitter
ing generalities, carefully studied so as
to fit into the action OF removing the
big stick" effects on the stock market,
but no more. Jailing would cure the
evil, but the way to jail these con-
scienceless robbers is to Jail them, and |
that cannot be done till the big stick
falls on them. Neither the stand
oatters" nor President Roosevelt care
TO swing the "stick' now, as its direct |
effect would fall on conditions both |
have helped TO make, and the results
are, politically speaking, not desirable.
For these and many kindred reasons
Mr.. Taft's guns may be said to have
been shotted with blank cartridge, to
use a Hibernianism, and the dead and
wounded are not in evidence.
The great and burning questions now
up for settlement in the field of social |
enonomy were conspicuously absent |
from the occasion, and the only in
terests of apparent weight to Mr.. Taft
seemed to be the panicky stock market,
and how not to increase the panic and
yet be true to the people. The address
was remarkable, chiefly, as being the
shadow of the coming deliverance of
President Roosevelt at Provincetown.