Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-10-02
BRYAN TO TAFT.
Continued from Page One.)

uC IIIdhCS Tic ScllC CudI6c
that the President does, the astounding
charge that the voters are so liable to
be misled that the knowledge must be
kept from them. l insist that is an
insult to the intelligence of the yot-
ers and it does little credit to Mr.
Taft's judgement of the men to whom
he is making his appeal. Mr. Roose-
welt may have made his statement
thoughtlessly and on the impulse of
the moment, but Mr.. Taft brings the
same Indictment against the voters
with deliberation and after he has read
a criticism of the Presidents views.
ut is fair to charge, therefore, that
Mr.. Taft is either expecting to receive
contributions which would arouse just
suspicion of an intelligent people or
contributions which if known would
arouse an unjust suspicion among the
people too ignorant to form a correct
judgement upon the facts.
This is an invasion which I can
neither retract nor excuse. 1t can only
be explained by a consciousness that
the Republican campaign methods will
not bear the light and that it would
be dangerous to his party If the public
NlIc" DclOIc lIlC clcCtlol WIdl lie
promises to make public after the cleo
ton.
His subsequent argument that the
publication before election Of the
names and amounts contributed would
discourage those who desire to contrib
ute to the legitimate purposes of the
campaign by Exposing them to the
bitter diatribes of slanderous condem-
nation Of partisans in an electoral fight
ought to have little weight when it is
considered that publication will be ef-
flcatious in discouraging those who
now desire to contribute illegitimate
expenses and for the purpose of put
ting officials under obligations to them.
While publications after the election
may enable us TO judge whether sub
sequent official action has been i'm
properly affected in favor of the con-
tributors by the successful candidate >
this is of very small value compared
with the benefit to be derived from the
publication of contributions before
election.
1.-The people have a right to know in ad-
vance of election whether those with spe
cial interests to look after are contrbut-
ing sums larger than public spirit, patri-
otic motives and general interest would
explain.
MIR Taft misrepreSents what l have
said in regard to MIR. Hughes. 1 callet; at
tention to some OF the contributions that
were made to Mr.. Hughes fund, and in
view of the fact that Mr.. Hughes at
tacks the remedies presented in the DEM
ocratic platform as a cure for the trusts
wit n aH of 10
OWE. and IN view Of the further fact that
this testimony was quoted by the Fresi-
dent against me, 1 asked the President
whether he thought that these contriou-
tionS by trust magnates would lessen or
increase the weight of Mr.. Hughes tcs-
timony on the subject of trusts 1t will
not Go for Mr.. Taft to put Mr.. Hughes
upon a pedestal and claim for him i'm
munitv frGm criticism. 1t is not necessa-
ry for me to pass judgment upon Mr..
Hughes or upon what he has done in or
der to pass judgment upon the question
;lnde: discussion. He is only human and
was one of the allies before the Chicago
convention. We assumed that public Of
tica!s will be honest, and yet we require
bonds Of those who handle money, no
matter how much character they may
have. The law will not permit judge, q
juror Or IN official to accept gift il the
gift is from ore who has an interest i'll
the official action of the official. and in
forbddinG this the law does not ask as
to the character of the officials.
''The law is based upon human nature
and human experience, and it is rot
necessary to furnish specific proof of spe-
cial weakness in the man who receives
the money, or to prove that his decision
was in any manner affected by the gift.
'It is only fair, however. to assume
that in using Mr.. Hughes case as an
argument Mr.. Taft means to say that
he will not object to contributions from
trust magnates, railroad magnates. no
matter how much those contributions
may ne. even though he may. if elected,
be compelled to pass upon questions
where their demands may be on the one
side and the interests of the general
plain if he finds that many Republicans
Of the rank and file will differ from him
on this subject. for the average man
will judge aspirants for Office by the
rule applied to average men. CoInmon
sense and universal judgment are
against Mr.. Taft's position and against
the arguments which he advances in
its support"
After giving out the above statement,
Mr.. Bryan referred to Mr. Taft's state
ment that Thomas F. Ryan contributed
$1,000 to the Nebraska campaign fund
in 1904 and said:
This has been denied, but 1 assume
that he has taken the statements of
scme of his Republican advisers with
out taking time to verify those state
nents Mr.. Ryan did not contribute any
money to the Nebraska campaign fund
The national committee contributed
$4,000 in 1904, and the members of the
national committee who had charge of
the fund have stated that the con-
tribution was made from the genera
fund of the committee and was not con-
trlbuted to the committee by anyone
for the purpose of being sent to Ne
braska."
BEVERlDGE IN NORTH DAKOTA
Sceaks To LARGE Crowds at Both Far.