The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1908-06-26
WA7TERS0N ON TAFT.
"A MESS OF POTTAGE and A man OF
STRAW"
ION a Platform Constructed Out OF
TimberS Stolen from Bfyan'S
Back Yard"


Back Yard"
Henry Watterson in Louisville Courier-Journal.
Upon a platform of imposture,
largely constructed out OF t1mbers
stolen from Mr.. Bryan's backyard, the
Republican party has set man OF
straw-a very portly and pleasing
man of straw-and has said to the
voters, Behold in William Howard
Taft the counterfeit presentment OF
| Theodore Roosevelt"
The answer which the voters are
likely to make in November may be
| found in the first chapter Of the Horn
Book of Common Sense, which, trans
lated from the original Vulgate into
modern English, reads, "The voice is
Roosevelt's voice, but the hands are
hands of Rockefeller"
Thus, after many centuries, we
have the recurrence of famous pas
sage of Holy Writ made political and
brought to date, in the last instance,
as in the first, a great fraud and a
mess of pottage, playing the leading
parts.
At length the Republican party has
had to disguise istelf as a Populist,
and to join to the cry of stop, thief"
in order to escape the consequences
of it's own acts.
We mean no disrespect to the Sec
rotary of War. He Is a gentleman of
noble character, an official of signal
service and merit, a citizen of unblem-
ished reputation. He was a typical
Republican of the school of Sherman,
Garfield and Mckinley until he began
to temporize with Roosevelt and got
the Presidential bee in his bonnet.
James Schoolcraft Sherman, chosen
as his running mate, is like unto him,
a gentleman of character, of high
connections and a man of straw. He
is New York Congressman and the
president of a New York trust COM
pany. There is plenty OF ruff1e to
his shirt, just as, considering Mr..
Taft's ruffle, there is too much Tuffle
to the whole ticket. Mr.. Sherman
will be depended on to see that every
corporation in and about Wall street
does it's duty The thought,
however, will cut little figure in the
Campaign. Everything will center in
and eddy about Mr.. Roosevelt's desig-
mated successor and heir-apparene,
the Secretary of War. Il sH ..-ss
The platform on which they have
placed Judge Taft contradicts his
rulings as a judge on the bench. His
party in Congress has falsified his at
titude toward our insular depen-
denotes. He is put forward as the
star performer of an enterprising and
spectacular manager who has sue
ceeded in adapting ragtime music to
the serious business of the state and
in turning the Government of the
country into comic opera, the White
House his theatre and the Federal
officials his sceenshifter, civil SER
vice, reform, though sadly torn and
furnished, the fantastic drop-curtain
relied upon to conceal, but not con-
cealing, the mechanism of the stage
carpenters and the meaning of the
Suggesting.
For the second time in it's history
militant Republicanism goes to the
country without conviction and with
out enthusiasm. In 1884 the candi-
date was the handicap. In 1908 the
handicap is the issue. That issue as
defined by Mr.. Roosevelt and accepted
by Mr.. Bryan, as originally defined
by Mr.. Bryan and accepted by Mr..
Roosevelt, is the encrOachmentS of
predatory wealth. - -.
The people will question them
selves and one another, they will ask
the politicians why, if Bryan means
it and Roosevelt means it,there should
be any need of the turmoil and outlay
of a Presidential campaign; why the
two parties should not equally di-
vide the Offices and share the expense;
Bryan to have the first four years in
the White House as guarantee Of
good faith, with Taft a sure bond to
follow, thus not only restoring to the
Government the lost poise and bal
ance of parties, but giving hostage
to the many against the depredations
of the few
AS the Republicans frame the stu
alton somebody is to be fooled might
lily. Who is it likeliest to be, Rookie
Teller and Company, who will provide
the sinews of war, or the masses of
the people, who are expected to pro-
vide the votes? That is the sum of
it, whichever way we take, or consid-
er it.
We are promised a change of pol
icies. Of which policies-the policies
of the Republican President or the
policies of the Republican Congress
The Republican party cannot be true
to the one without repudiating the
other. 1t cannot at one and the
same time keep step with Roosevelt,
the radical, and Cannon, the stand
patter; with tariff reform and the
gospel of protection; with the trusts
of the East and the farmers of the
West; with the people and the system.
In one word, Republicanism, for all
its arts and resources, cannot serve
both God and Mammon.
When the Republican Congress re-
fused to enact a law of publicity,
under whose operation blackmail
could no longer be levied upon any
interest by the managers of either or
ganization, it proclaimed the purpose
of the Republicans to lay tribute upon
the corporations and to fry the fat
out of the manufacturers, again to
sell the foreign embassies to the mil
lionaires and promises of no real in
reference to the trust magnates as a
return for the means of corrupting
the ballot-box and buying the election
Is it possible that they look for a
hidden letter of Mr.. Taft, prematurely
exploded, to make denial of this? Is
it possible that they rely upon certain
glittering generalities of the Presi-
dent adroitly kept out of sight and
mind at the crucial moment to hell
them deny it? By a vote of eight tc
one they struck the ideal out of their
platform. They have no hope OF