Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-06-23
In Fuu Retreat


William j. Bryan in the next issue of
the Conmoner will discuss the repub-
lican convention as follows:
THE republicans who attended the
national convention as spectators and
joined in the demonstration in favor
of President Roosevelt and Senator La
Toilette must have felt indignant as
they watched the panic-stricken dele
gates running over each other in their
effort to get away from the LaFollette
reforms, some of which had been
Endorsed by the President himself.
CONGRESSMAN Cooper of Wisconsin,
representing tie LaFci.lette men,
brought in minority report signed by
himself alone ffty-two members of the
committee signed the majority report
and one signed the minority report.
The republican party will find the ratio
of fifty-two to one very embarrassing
one to deal with in the coming
campaign.
OPPOSED TO PUBLICITY.
Mr.. Cooper's report contained a
declaration in favor of publicity as to
campaign funds. 1t was lost by vote
of $50 to "a, more than nine to one, and
yet the President has been advocating
legislation in favor of publicity as to
campaign contributions and Secretary
Taft wrote letter to Mr. Burrows
advocating the passage of a publicity
bill.
How fortunate it was that Secretary
Taft's letter was finally discovered and
published. Senator Burrows, the man
to whom the Taft letter was addressed,
was the temporary chairman of the
convention over which he presided
turned down the publicity plank by a
vote of 9 to /. Who will deny that, on
this subject the republican party is re-
treating
Another plank of the LaFollette
platform authorized the ascertaining of
the value of the railroads. This plank
was lost by vote of OF to Sc, nearly
| fifteen to one and vet President
Roosevelt has advocated this very
proposition. Here is retreat on the
railroads question.
RETREAT ON INJUNCTION.
SIN another column reference is
made to the injunction plank. The
injunction plank adopted by the repuo
lican convention is a retreat from the
| position taken by the President, and
| from the position taken by Secretary
| Taft in his speeches, although neither
of them went as far as they ought to
have gone in their effort to prevent
what is known as government by in
Junction Here is the third retreat.
| "The President has advocated the in
come tax as a means of preventing
swollen fortunes and of equalizing the
burden of government. The republican
| is silent on the subject. Was the Pres
ident right in the position he took If
so, then the convention was wrong in
not undressing him. Will therepublican
voters follow the President in this just
demand or will they follow the repub-
lican organization in retreating from it?
THE President advocated an in
heritance tax, but the republican cen.
vension is silent on that subject. Mas
| the President ahead of the republican
party in advocating this reform, or has
the republican party receded from the
Presidents position Did the Pres
ident give false alarm on this question
or has the party sounded retreat /?
SIN the Presidents message to Con-
gress last spring he presented an in
dictment against the conspiracy formed
among the great lawbreakers to pre-
vent the enforcement of the law and to
evade the punishments provided by
law. The platform adopted by the
republican convention contains no
intimation of danger. If there are any
conspiracies, the convention did not
see them if there are any ordinations,
it had not heard of them if there are
any dangers, they are unconscious of
them. Was the President mistaken
when he issued his defiance, or are the
republican managers deceived when
they think that an aroused public will
calmly contemplate the encroachments
of predatory wealth. This is retreat
No. 6.
POPULAR ELECTION LOSES.
1.-The convention, by vote of 500 to
1l4-more than seven to one-yoted
down the plank in favor of the popular
election of United States senators. 1t
is true that the President and Secretary
Taft have never advocated the popula1
election os senator's. They seem to
take the Hamiltonian rather than the
Jeffersonian view, but the most popular
reform in the United States today is
the reform that has fer its chiect the
election of the United States senators
by direct vote 1t has five times been
Endorsed by the national House of
Representatives-thr times when the
House of Representatives was repub-
lican. 1t has been Endorsed by nearly
two-thirds of the states of the. Union,
and there is probably not state in the
Union in which it would not be indorsed
at popular election, and yet in spite
of the record madeiR the houses and by
the various states this reform is rejected
by a SEVENTH one vote in a republican
national convention.
Here are seven propositions upon
which the republican party, in national
convention assembled, has retreated
from the position taken by that party in
Congress or from the position taken by
the President. What have Roosevelt
republicans to say The President has
awakened spirit of reform within his
party, he has at least revealed to the
world that there are reformers in the
republican party. Can that spirit now
be qUelled by standpat convention ;