The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-26
Roosevelt Again Tries
 To Capture Labor Vote
In Answer Letter From Member of Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen the President Becomes Prophet of Calamity and Tries to Scare Labor Vote Away From Bryan
 by Forecastng Business Disaster

letter to senator knox haVlnB Idllen ndI the President today gave out at the White House another political screed iA the vain hope of winning away the votes of labor from the advice of it's chosen representa- tives-the officers of the American Fed eration of Labor.
 This time the President replies to a letter written him by P. H. Grace of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and seeks to persuade him that Judge Taft with his record of injunctions is the friend of labor Samuel Gompers of the American Federation will tomorrow make public his reply to the Presidents Knox letter and those who have seen it de- clare that it will be a complete answer to both the Knox and Grace manfestoes
 In the Grace letter the President closes f by predicting hard times in the event that MT. Taft is not elected. This could as we'll he answered by democrats by : saying that continuation of Rooseveltis n by proxy-Taft-nSil increase the aeute- i ness of the present panic. It becomes evident that under the lead of the Pres- , ident every republican on the stump dur. ing the closing week of the campaign i,
 
 Country to be Saved.
 The country from one end to the other, | is to be warned that business and com mereal disaster would follow Bryan's election.
 This cue has been given to every re- publican spellbinder in the land.
 The danger slogans that were sounded | 4l,. paign of 1896 are to be repeated with double emphasis. The country is to be scared out of the i notion of electing Bryan if it can be done by such false argument.
 The democrats at western headquarters : understand that this Is to be the policy ! of the wind-up of the republican cam paign, and have instructed their speakers to meet it aggressively in every quarter by demanding an explanation of the de- pression of the past year, under repub- lican administration. Emphasis will be put upon the large number of men out of employment or working half time. and upon the shutting down of mills and factories. In business, commercial and financial circles of the west these tactics on tho , part of the republicans are seriously questioned. There is no doubt that the campaign has hurt business, which is the case with every campaign, but it is the consensus of conservative opinion un- biased by partisanship, that the result of the election, whatever the turn it takes, i will not retard returning prosperity.
 4l.o4 ,1,alA .4 jobbing houses are peremptorily reject ing orders received subject to cancellation l in the event of Bryan's election. They l take the position that the country is big | and strong, and that goods will be need ed whoever is elected to administer the 1 country's affairs.
 RooseveIts Letter.
 The correspondence follows:
 Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen,
 Binghampton, N T., October 16 1908. | Theodore Roosevelt, President of the Uni
 ted States, Washington, D. C.: i Dear Sir-The questions involved in the approaching election must affect the railway employees. On one side the papers and speeches assert that Mr. Taft is the father of injunctions in labor disputes and the enemy of the workingmen. On the other side it is declared that MT. Taft has recognized the right of labor and has in fact been and now is friendly to the best interests of organized labor. We are not all clear in our minds as to just what to believe and as to just how to act. We all have great confidence in you I am a member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, being the fnancier of Parlor City Lodge No 36 of Binghampton, and in behalf of myself and many of my asso- ciate employees I wish to respectfully ask that if you are willing to do so, you give us your views to how we can best serve our own interest in this connection and why. I trust that this is not an im- proper request, and I hope you can see your way to comply with 1t. Yours re- spectfully, P. H. GRACE.
 The Presidents Reply.
 October 19, 1908. My Dear MT. Grace:
 thank you for your letter. I need hardly say that I take a peculiar interest in the men who work on the railroads in this country, and I prize as one of the honors of which I am most proud the fact that I am an honorary member of the Brotherhood of Loeomotive Bremen.
 Throughout my whole term as Presi- dent, now in it's eighth year, I have de- voted myself with especial interest to the questions affecting labor. The lasting prosperity of this country rests upon the welfare of the wage workers and the wei fare of the tiller of the soil. My greatest aim and desire have been to do all that in me lies to advance their interest. I wish to help them to get the best out of their present positions; I wish to help them make those positions permanently better, of permanently greater import ance and reward. No consideration of party fealty or personal friendship would induce me to advise either farmer or workingman to do anything that was not for his permanent benefit. With this fact keenly before me- I earnestly advise all workingmen in their own interest as workngmen, but above all as American citizens concerned in the honor and the prosperity of this great free republic, to support Mr. Taft for President; just as I advise all farmers, business men and men of the professions
 Taft and Injunctions.
 I do not believe the wage-workers or this country have ever had a better friend in the White House than MT. Taft will prove to be. He has already shown his faith by his deeds In the matter of the injunetions he issued he was ab- solutely right and the principles he laid down in those injunctions have since then been accepted by every worthy leader of labor, and they are embodied in the prin- c;ples and practices of all the railroad broth herhoods at the present day. The