Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-07-19
TAFT FOLLOWS
BRYAN'S LEAD
NAUGHTY CORPORATIONS CAN
NOT CONTRIBUTE NOW
REPUBLICAN LEADER ATTACKS
eoMPERs GUARDEDLY
Trust Problem Is Quickly Sldestepped,
Ditto the Prohibition Cues
ton, Ditto Other
Things

By Associated Press.
HOT SPRINGS, Va, July 1s.-"The
national Republican committee will ac-
cept no contributions from corpora
tions," said Judge William H. Taft,
presidential candidate of the Republic
can party, today. In an interview he
also referred to labor, prohibition and
other questions.
MIR. Taft said not only would the law
of New York state, providing for pub
LEFTY of campaign funds, be obeyed by
the national Republican committee, but
the federal law prohibiting such con-
tributions by corporations In connec-
ton with the election of president and
vice president, representatives and SEN
ators would be obeyed without regard
to any question of validity that might
arise in respect to any provision of that
law.
Answering questions as to the appli-
cation of the national law to contribu-
tions for the election of presidential
electors, Mr.. Taft declared the law
would be obeyed exactly as 1t was
passed by congress.
AS to the right of a labor leader to
attempt to influence the votes of mem
bers of the organization of which he is
the head, Mr.. Taft at first laughingly
said that that was a question of pro-
priety upon which he was not suffi-
GENTLY informed to discuss. When
asked his idea of the power of the lead
er of labor organization to throw its
vote to one party or another, he de-
clared that In his opinion 1t could be
asserted that there is no so-called class
of the American electorate whose votes
would be delivered by it's leaders.
lie said that after elimina ting MEM
bers of both political parties from a
labor organization, the expression of
leaders might indicate how the remain
ing uncertain quantity might vote in
the election, but he declared that just
as is the case in dealing with any So
called class of citizens, before express
sion could be given of the nature of
their vote it would be necessary to
eliminate the members of one or the
other political parties.
The question calling forth this state
ment referred to President Samuel
Gompers of the American Federation
of Labor, but Mr.. Taft avoided making
any personal reference to Mr.. Gompers
or any leader of organized labor.
Asked whether he would have any
new remedy to offer for the so-called
trust problem in his speech of accep-
lance, he replied that he did not know
of anything new that he could add to a
question that has been so wildly dis
cussed, and stated that he would have
nothing to say on that matter outside
of what he had said at various times in
his public utterances.
Mr.. Taft's attention was called today
to assertions of some journals rep
resenting the liquor interests that he
is opposed to prohibition. He explained
that he had never publicly discussed
the ethical side of prohibition, and he
took the view, as he understood Mr..
Bryan had done, that the prohibition
issue was not involved in the national
campaign.
From what had come to his attention
in respect to the representations of
these journals, he inferred that they
had based their statements on speeches
he had made, in which he criticised the
action of some state legislatures in
passing prohibition and other laws
without providing the machinery for
enforcing them.