New-York tribune., 1908-10-05
TAFT ROUTS APATHY
BY WESTERN TOUR
BRY4N'S STATE COUNTED
REPUBLICAN,.
Candidate Has United WdYing Fac
tions-K Kansas Enthusiasm Guar
antees TictorY There.
rRy Telegraph to The Tribun..l

Kansas City. Mo. Oct. 4.-The republican
| Presidential candidate had visited eight states
| and spoken In fifteen large cities and something
over seventy-five towns on his present Trip
when the Taft special pulled into Kansas Clty
this morning, and the two weeks trip is al
| most completed it is now possible TO give an in
telligent review of approximately the entire TOUT
which is TO end at Chicago on Wednesday
OF all the states visited. Kansas has given the
candidate the most encouraging welcome. Here
people came further to hear him. PAID the
strictest attention to his speeches. and mani
| tested the most hearty appreciation OF the sen
! timents he voiced.
| Second only to Kansas come Nebraska Mr.
Bryan's native state and Iowa. and it would be
difficult TO determine which Of these TWO states
| was the encouraging or made the greater
| effort to demonstrate its loyalty to William
| Howard Taft. When the Taft special raced
| across the rolling prairies and through the
| ripening cornieds of Iowa 1t seemed as II nc
state could be better for Mr. Taft than this one.
| and it was remarked that Judge Tatts own
state (Oho) would have to look to its laureis IL
! it was not to permit Iowa to outdo it in wei
! coming Ohio's favorite When. however
| Nebraska was reached, and village after village
had assembled its thousands Of neighbors from
/ all the adjacent farms TO meet him, it became
difficult to detect any difference between the en-
! thusasm of Mr.. Bryan's home state and that OF
| the rock-ribbed Republican commonwealth to
! the East.
! Des Moines turned out crowds which for size
seemed Impossible of attainment in other states
| But when Grand Forks and Fargo were reached
the multtudes in proportion to the population
were even greater, and men and women were
found to have come two hundred and three hun
dred miles to see and hear their standard bearer.
Members of the Taft party were convinced that
Fargo had reached the limit, only TO be unde-
ceived when Mitchell. S. D.. reached on the
following day. It surprised no one to- find at
Sioux City crowd so large that no human voice
could reach its furthest confines That
Iowa again--Iowa. the home of genuine Repub-
lican enthusiasm and ancient Republican tradi-
tons
Nebraska proved the greatest surprise OF all to
every man on the special Not only did Mr.
Taft himself marvel at his reception, but did
the Republican officials; and Lincoln, where
twenty thousand visitors and thousands of Citi-
zens seemed all bent doing honor to the man
whom they hailed their next President
capped the climax.
ENTHUSIASM STEADILY INCREASES
OF course. the increasing fervor of Republi-
in the West, the steadily larger crowds |
the frantic efforts of the people to shake Judge
Taft's hands, to touch his coat, the very
manifestation of unrestrained enthusiasm, must
naturally suggest that his Western trip has |
routed apathy. that the enthusiasm he arouses |
gains momentum as it travels and that even :
with equal Republican loyalty, greater and more |
Representative receptions must hereafter be i
looked for.
This explains the smaller, and, comparatively !
speaking only. apathetic crowds encountered in
Wisconsin previously. with the exception of the /
Milwaukee meeting
Looking back almost two weeks however It !
that
Milwaukee dominated Des Mones Fargo,
Minneapolis. Lincoln and Topeka. Tie automo-
bile trip from the station 10 the Pfster in the
Wisconsin metropolis was made without
cheer and with crowd pressing dangerously
close to the hHrrying motor. and yet no one
questions the loyalty of the Republicansm of
the Badger State. There were some serious
factional troubles in Wisconsin state con-
veptton which had just adjourned left many
heartburnings. but Mr. Taft captured the lead
ers Of the opposing factions Governor Davidson.
the successful and Senator La Toilette, the de
fested. He induced them to ride with him in
his private car, and at Madison the Senator
placed upon the judge the hall mark of his ap-
proval.
He stands for progressive ideas" said Mr. |
La Toilette, and that all sufficient to bring
to Judge Taft the support Of that insurgent ee-
ment which is La Toilette rather than RepubIi-
Judge Taft will carry, it now seems certain
seven of the eight states he has visited Wis
consin, Iowa. Minnesota, North and South Da-
kota, Wyoming. Kansas and Nebraska will
choose Republican electors. and her party lead
ers insist that he will carry Colorado also; but
there Is no question whatever that this can he
said with far greater confidence because of Mr.
Taft's visit. In Wisconsin since his visit fac
tionalism has given place to a stern determine
tion to elect the national ticket
AS for Colorado, if the factionslism and per-
sonal ambitions which menace Republican
success in that state give place to united effort
for party success it will be only because Judge
Tafts brief presence in the state aroused the Q,
people to broader view and spurred the leaders
to less selfish aims
THE SPEECH AT AIDES FARM
Before he entered Wisconsin Judge Taft made
single speech in Indiana, at George AIDES farm |
and another in Chicago. Were a state to be
judged by a single meeting, Indiana must be |
described apathetic. But there were certain
local factors which may have accounted for the
lack of responsiveness on that occasion. Thou :
sands of farmers had gathered at the AIDE home {
stead under the impression that refreshments
were free to all only to find that % cents a !
head was charged. Many Democrats had come
to the free picnic" and they were obviously I
disgruntled. Then Mr. Taft talked much Of the
Philippines a topic he likes. but which seems
east to interest his hearers.
Mr. Taft submits that the Democratic Mat 4 :
form declares for the abandonment of the ISL
ands as soon as stable government shall I
have been established" He asserts that such a c
government is now established and agrees there I
fore that the election Of Mr.. Bryan would be an I
of l,a