Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-14
ROOSEVELT Fur TAFT
CONTINUED from FIRST PAss.)

61NA 49, So -
pie as a whole, over these great eombins-
ions as will deprive them Of the power to
work evil. Mr.. Taft's decision In the Addy-
stone Pipe Line case while on the bench
is proof, by deeds not by words, Of the
far-slghted wisdom with which he serves
the interests OF the whole people even
when those Of the most powerful corpora
tions are hostile thereto.
II there is one body Of men more than
another whose support 1 feel 1 have a
right to challenge on behalf Of Secretary
Taft. 1t is the body OF wage-workers OF the
country. A stauncher friend. q fairer and
truer representative, they connot find
within the borders OF the United states. He
will do everything in his power for them
except to do that which is wrong; he will
do wrong for no man. and therefore can
be trusted by all men. During the ten
years OF my Intimate acquaintance with
him. since l have myself, as governor and
president, been obliged to deal practically
with labor problems, he has been one Of
the men upon whose judgment and aid 1
could always rely in doing everything pos
sibie for the cause of the wage-worker, Of
the man who works with his hands, or with
both hands and head.
Mr.. Taft has been attacked because Of
the Injunctlons he delivered while on the
bench. 1 am content TO rest his case on
these very injunctions; / maintain that
they show why all our people should be
grateful to him and should feel 1t safe to
entrust their dearest interests to him. Most
assuredly he never has yielded and never
will yield to threat or pressure OF any
sort, as little II 1t comes from labor as II
1t comes from capital; he Will no more toll
crate the violence OF a mob than the cor
ruption and oppression and arrogance of a
corporation or OF a wealthy man. He will
not consent to limit the power of the courts
to put a stop to ~wrongdoing wherever
found. This very fact should make the
labor people feel a peculiar confidence in
him. He has incurred the bitter hostility
Of foolish and bigoted reactionaries by his
frank criticism of the abuse of the power
Of Injunction in labor disputes, and he is
pledged to do all he can to put a stop to
the abuses In the exercise OF the power Of
injunction. He will never promise any
thing that he will not do all in his power
to perform. He can always be trusted to
do a little better than his word, and the
fact that before election he will not prom
Use the impossible is in itself a guaranty
that after election all that is possible will
be done.
His record as a Judge makes the whole
country his debtor. His actions and decI-
sions are part OF the great traditions OF
the bench. They guaranteed and set forth
in striking fashion the rights OF the general
public as against the selfish interests Of
any class, whether OF capitalists or of
laborers. They set forth and stand by the
rights of the wage-wOrkers to organize
and to strike. as unequivocaily as they set
forth and stand by the doctrine that no
conduct will be tolerated that would spell
destruction to the nation as a whole. As
for the attack upon his injunctions In labor
disputes. made while he was on the bench,
l ask that the injunctions be carefully cx-
amined. l ask that every responsible and
fair minded labor leader, every responsible
and fair minded member of a labor organt-
cation, read these ~injunctions for himself.
II he will do Sd, instead OF c~ondemning
them he will heartily approve Of them and
will recognize this further astonishing fact
that the principles laid down by Judge Taft
in these very injunctions, which laboriny
people are asked to condemn, are them
selves the very principles which are now
embodied in the laws or practices of every
responsible labor organization. NJ re-
as WAN INV AANoAANAN
to condemn the abuses against which Judge
Taft's inJunctIons were aimed. The prinei-
pies which he therein SO wisely and fear
lessly laid down serve as a charter of
liberty for all of us. for e-workeTs,
for employers, for the general public; for
they rest on the principles of fair dealing
for all. of even-handed Justice for all. They
mark the Judge who rendered them as
standing for the rights OF the whole people;
as far as daylight Is from darkness, so
far is such a Judge from the timc-server,
the trucker to the mob. or the cringing
tool Of great. corrupt and corrupting cor
porations. Judge Taft on the bench-as
since, in the Philippines, in Panama, in
Cuba. in the War OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES him
self to be a wise, a fearless, and an up
right servant of the whole people, whose
services to the whole people were beyond
all price. Moreover, let all good citizens
remember that he rendered these services,
not when II was easy to do so. but when
Iawless violence was threatened. when
malice, domestic and civic disturbances
threatened the whole fabric of our govern
ment and OF civilization; his actions showed
not only the highest kin OF moral courage,
but Of physical courage as well, for his
life was freely and violently threatened.
Let all fairmihded men, wage-workers
and capitalists alike. consider yet another
fact. In one OF his decisions upon the
bench Judge Taft upheld in the strongest
fashion. and for the first time gave full
vitality to. the principle Of the employers
liability for injuries done workmen. This
was. before any national law on the sub
ject was enacted. Judge Taft's sense Of
right. his i~ndisnatioa against oppression
in any form, against any attitude that Is
not fair and Just, drove him to take a posi-
ton which WAS violently condemned by
short-sighted capitalists and employers Of
labor, which was SO far in advance OF the
time that IL was not generally upheld by
the state courts, but which we are now
embodying in the law OF the land. Judge
Taft was a leader, a pioneer, while on the
bench. in the effort 10 get Justice for the
wase-worker. In Jealous championship of
HIS rights; and all upright and farsighted
laboring men should hold Il to his credit
that at the same time he fearlessly stood
against the abuses OF labor. just as ne
fearlessly stood against the abuses OF capi-
tai. II elected. he has shown by his deeds
that he will be president OF no class. but
Of the people as a whole; he can be trusted
TO stand stoutly against the two real
enemies Of our democracy-agsinst the man
who to please one class would undermine