Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-10-22
Prosperity, Reform-.na Tar.

prosperity, RefOrm-and Taft.
There is a threat Of grave peril to
the nation in the present pose of in
difference assumed by many so-called
Independent" newspapers in the pres
ent campaign. These Journals, too
| cowardly to oppose Taft and the Roose-
welt policies, too faint-hearted to advo-
| cate the Bryan cause openly, are de
claring that Bryans election can cause
no uneasiness In the Industrial world
because Republican senate Will tie his
hands
The nonsense of the plea is obvious
What earthly reason can there be for
electlng a President of so uncertain q
| brand that it is necessary to tie his
bands? If Bryan is entitled on his rec
ord and the promise of his platform to
election to the chief executiveship of
the United States, then he is entitled TO
the absolute trust and confidence of the
I-etIle. He should be given full faith
and full power if he is to be given any
power at all. If he should be elected.
he should be elected a President, not a
| figurehead
As matter of cold fact and hard
headed reason, William Jennings Bryan
is no more fitted for or entitled to the
Presidency to-day than he was in 1896
or 1900. His record makes him a Presi-
Dental impossibility. The measures he
advocated in his former campaigns
r..
theories of 1896 and 1900 had been en-
acted into enforced laws black dis
aster would have overtaken the nation.
His present adherents admit as much :
| practically he admits the fact himself
i'll MS complete abandonment of the
| theories he advocated so hotly in his
first two campaigns
And the disaster that would have fol-
lowed his election then would as surely
follow his victory now. The recent
panic has left industrial America on the
tenterhooks. The business of the coun-
fry is IT. no condition for experiments.
Consider the effect on the industrial
and commercial world if it were 20
fact that the country has named a Pres
ideht whose only guarantee of safety
lies in the knowledge that his hands are
tied bv a Republican senate.
The argument won't answer. It
won't win. The man who must make a
living can't afford to take such
| chances. With the grocery bills and the
butcher bills of 365 days year to
face he can't risk government changes
ana government experiments that
threaten to close the avenues of labor
to him. Nor can he risk the block to
Roosevelt reforms that would follow a
deadlock between a Democratic Presi-
dent ard Republican Congress.
There has been more reform in the
affairs of the nation, more unearthing
of iniquity in high places. more real
progress toward bette- things in the
last years of Republican rule than ever
before in the history of the country.
And the man who wants these reforms
continued must and will vote for the
Republican candidate
There has teen more prosperity in
America, more smoking chimneys and
Eusy mills and full dinner pals and ma.
ferlal progress Under Republican admin
lstrations tlan the Democratic party
has even been able to promise. much
less 10 give. And the man who wants
an honest living and a good one must
and will cast his ballot for William
Howard Taft
This country is not going to turn it's
back on Theodore Roosevelt 1t is not
going to shut up its shops and mort
gage its farms. 1t is going to elect
Taft-Toledo Blade.