The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1908-07-31
TAFT OUTLINES
PARTY POLICIES
Acceptance Speech Keynote Of
Campaign.
HIGH PRAISE FOR ROOSEVELT.

Republican Candidate Rebukes Oppo-
sition's Stand on Philippine lnde-
pendence-Promises Steps Toward
Tariff Reform Immediately After In
auguration If Observation-Disclosures In
Income Tax by Statutory Law il
Necessary For Revenues Rather
Than by Amendment to the Const-
tuton-Rchts Of Both Organized
and Unorganized Labor Should Be
Impartially Upheld.
Senator Warner and Gentlemen OF
the Committee: | am deeply sensible
of the honor which the Republican Ma
tlonal Convention has conferred on me
in the nomination which you formally
tender. ! accept it with full apprecia-
ton of the responsibility 1t imposes.
Gentlemen, the strength of the Re
publican cause in the campaign at
hand is in the fact that we represent
the policies essential 70 the reform OF
known abuses, TO the continuance of
liberty and true prosperity, and that
we are determined, as our platform I'M
equivocally declares, to maintain them
and carry them on. For more than ten
years this country passed through an
epoch of material development far be-
yond any that ever occurred In the
world before. In It's course, certain
evils crept in. Some prominent and in
fluential members of the community,
spurred by financial success and In
their hurry for greater wealth, became
unmindful of the common rules Of
business honesty and fidelity and of
the limitations imposed by law upon
their action. This became known. The
revelations of the breaches Of trust,
the disclosures as TO rebates and dis
examinations by railways, the accumu-
lating evidence Of the violation Of the
antitrust law by number Of corpora
lions, the overlssue of stocks and bonds
on interstate railways for the unlawful
enriching of directors and for the pur-
pose of concentrating control of rail
ways in one management, all quick
ened the conscience of the people and
brought on moral awakening among
them that BODIED we'll for the future OF
the country.
What Roosevelt Has Done.
The man who Formulated the express
sion of the popular conscience and who
led the movement for practical reform
was Theodore Roosevelt lie laid
down the doctrine that the rich violatcr
Of the law should be as amcnable -
| restraint and punishment "a the Of
fender without wealth and without in
fuence, and he proceeded by recou
mending legislation and directing OK
Ccutve action to make that principle
good in actual performance.
President Roosevelt directed suits to
| be brought and prosecutions 10 be IN
St'tutel under the antitrust law, TO en-
force its provisions against the most
powerful cr the industrial corporations
| He pressed 10 passage the pure food
law and the meat inspection law in the
interest Of the health Of the public
clean business methods and great ulti.
nate benefit to the trades themselves.
lie recommended the passage Of law,
which the Republican convention has
since specifically approved, restricting
the future issue Of stocks and bonds by
interstate railways to such as may be
authorized by Federal authority.
Chief Function of Next Administration
The chief function Of the next Ad-
ministration, in my judgment, is dis
tinct from, and Il progressive develop
ment of that which has been performed
! by President Roosevelt. The chief
function Of the next Administration is
TO complete and perfect the machinery
| by which these standards may be main
tanned, by which the lawbreakers may
be promptly restrained and punished,
but which shall operate with sufficient
accuracy and dispatch to interfere with
| legitimate business as little as possible.
! Such machinery is not now adequate.
Physical Valuation of Railways.
Some Of the suggestions of the Demo
cratic platform relate really TO this
subordinate and ancillary machinery
/ to which | have referred. Take for in
| stance the so-called physical valuation
of railways" 1t is clear that the sum
/ of all rates or receipts OF railway,
/ less proper expenses, should be limited
/ TO a fair profit upon the reasonable
! value of its property, and that if the
sum exceeds this measure, it ought TO
| be reduced The difficulty in enforcing
the principle is in ascertaining what Is
the reasonable value of the company's
property, and in fixing what is a fair
profit 1t is clear that the physical
value of n railroad and its plant is an
| element to be given weight In deter
mining its full value; but as President
| Roosevelt in his indianapolis speech
and the Supreme Court have In effect
| pointed out. the value of the railroad
as a going concern, including its good
| will, due to efficiency of service and
many other circumstances, may be
| much greater than the value of its tan
gible property, and it is the former that
measures the investment on which