The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-19
TAFT GIVES VIEWS
WANTS WIDE PUBLICITY OF CAM.
 PAHGN FUNDS.
Referring to Gompers, He Says No Person Can Dictate How Labor ing Men vote--TaIks of
 Prohibition

FFOntbtttOD. Es Hot Springs. Va, July IS .---"The fNa- tional Republican Committee will ac-
 cept no contributions from corpora
 tions." said Judge William H. Taft, Presidential candidate of the Republi- can party. today. and in an interview, he also referred to labor, prohibition and other questions.
 Mir. Taft said that not only would
 the law of New York State providing for the publicity of campaign funds be obeyed by the National Republican Committee. but the Federal law. pro- hibiting such contributions by cor porations in connection with the elec- tion of President, Vice. President. Rep resentatives or Senators would be obeyed without regard to any question of validity that might arise in respect to any provisions of that law.
 Answering questions as to the appli- cation of the national law to contribu- tions for the election of Presidential electors, Mir. Taft declared that the law would be obeyed exactly as h was passed by Congress As to the right of q labor leader to attempt to Influence the votes of members of the organisa- ton of which he Is at the head, Mfr. Taft at first laughingiy said that that was a question of propriety upon which he was not sufficiently informed to dis. euss.
 When asked as to his idea of the power of the leader of labor oragni- zatlon to throw its vote to one party or another. he declared that In his opinion it could be predicted that there is no so-caiied class of the American electorate whose votes could be deliv. iivered by its leaders.
 He said that after eliminating mem bers of both political parties from q labor organization, the expression of a leader might indicate how the remain ing uncertain quantity might vote in the election, but he declared that just as Is the case generally in dealing with any so-calied class of citizens before expression could be given of the na- ture of their vote. 1t would be neces- sary to eliminate the members of one or the other political parties.
 The question calling forth this state- ment referred to President Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor, but Mir, Taft avoided making any per sonal reference to Mfr. Gompers or any other leader of organized labor.
 Asked whether he would have any new remedy to offer for the so-called trust problem in his speech of accept anee. he replied that he did not know of anything new that he could add to question that had been so widely discussed and stated that he would have nothing to say on that matter outside of what he had said at vari- ouB times in his public utterances.
 Mfr. Taft's attention was called to- day to assertions of some journals rep. resenting the liquor interests that he Is opposed to prohibition. He ex- plaiued that he had never publicly dIs- cussed the ethical side of prohibition 1 and he took the view. as he understood | Mr Bryan had done. that the prohi- | bition issue was not involved fin the national campaign. From what had come to his attention In respect to the | of these journals, he l inferred that they had based their | statements on speeches he had made | in which he had criticised the action | of some State legislation in passing 1 and other laws without proa | vlding the machinery for enofrcing | them. Frank B Kellogg will return here Monday to further discuss with Mir. | Taft the features of hts speeches in rec | lation to the regulation of so-calIed | trusts. f