The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-08-29
WASHINGTON
From our Regular Correspondent.

NhiNh thSIl AliSluS, tllG NCpuDll-
cans are experiencing with the
tariff question Secretary Taft has
come out in the speech which is
understood to be the platform on
which he will stand for the nomi-
nation of his party, for tariff revi-
sion to take place after election, or
eighteen months hence" and it
is known that President Roosevelt
read aud approved Mr.. Taft S
utterance before it was delivered.
Moreover, Mr.. Taft says that he is
convinced that in order to win the
Republican party must pledge it
self i'll its next national platform to
this programme and the President
is known to hold the same view.
These views of the party leaders,
however, cause unmitigated agony
to those stanch old protectionists
who have always been the bone and
slnew of the party, and Honest
John Dalzell," who is sent to Con-
gress year after year by the Steel
Trust, and made member of the
most influential committee of the
House, that on Rules, by Speaker
Cannon, to please the same corpora
tions, is groaning so loudly that
his wall can be heard all the way
from Pittsburg to Washington.
Speaker Cannon is also in severe
distress because he we'll realizes
that his long record as "stand
patter" naturally units him to Sue
ceed himself as Speaker of House
elected on such platform as the
President and Secretary Taft pro-
pose. Were it not for the fact that
the venerable General" Grosvenor
of Ohio had fallen by the wavside,
SO 10 speak ; in other words failed
of reelection, his wall of grief would
already be piercing the ambient
atmosphere all the way from San
Francisco to the Atlantic coast.
T#*
Perhaps Secretary Taft did make
a mistake il thus committing him
self so far in advance of the nomi-
mating convention, as in addition to
the railroads and the trusts he will
now have the protected industries,
which have long been the special
pets of the Republican party, and
in return have furnished the
"sinews of war" for each campaign
fund against him, and it is not i'm
possible that the combined interests
may accomplish his defeat.
r**
To hear the good old-fashioned
Republicans, men of the stamp of
Vice e-President Fairbanks, Senator
Aldrich, Senator Foraker, Senator
Crane, Senator Knox, Governor
Hughes and others, talk among
themselves about Theodore Roose-
velt and the Republican party, one
is reminded of that story once fam
Gus in popular fiction, of the SCI
enlist who so far perfected his SCI
ence that he created a man, al
though he was unable to endow it
with a soul. His creation dogged
his footsteps all his life, proved a |
verltable nemesis, and when he
finally, in desperation, took the life
he had created, he committed sui
eide from remorse. So, say these
Republican leaders, the Republican
party created Roosevelt, but he has
proved to be man without a Re-
publican soul, at least. His poll
cies are Democratic, not Republi-
can. He has not hesitated to bor-
row from Mr.. Bryan, or from any
other source, anything he regarded
as good and he has so far had the
people with him as to compel his
Republican brethren in Congress to
support measures which were in
the last degreee repugnant to all
that has hitherto stood for Republi-
canism. And now, to augment and
refine the agony of the old-fashion-
ed Republicans, Mr.. Roosevelt
seems bound to infict the party
with another man of his own stripe
in William Howard Taft. Truly,
in these days of progression, the
way of the Republican is hard.
*x*
Democrats in the national capi-
tai are greatly interested in the OBJ.
vious fact that the President and
Secretary Taft have come to the
conclusion that William J. Bryan
will again be the Democratic stand
ard bearer, and they assert that the
attention which Mr.. Taft paid to
Mr.. Bryan in his keynote speech
demonstrates that they regard the
Peerless Leader as truly
formidable opponent. Mr.. Taft de-
voted a goodly portion of his speech
at Columbus to an attemDt tO show