Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-04-10
CONTINUED FROM 1sT PAGE.l
(" WHY Democracy 2"

Wiling W ittoteu uPoil tlIc Il lllpinO PeO-
pie perpetual franchise, and give to
railroad company the power to hold this
franchise forever
On page eighty-three of the same re-
port, you will find that Secretary Taft,
in discussing the bill under considera-
ton by the committee, favored pro-
vision that would give the Philippine
commission the power to give perpet-
ual guarantee of income to a railroad
Mr.. Jones asked him:
'That leaves it to the commission to
say whether it the railroad) shall pay
anything (of the GUARANTEED back or
not?" And Secretary Taft replied:
ayes, sir, ii does, and it leaves it to the
commission to make perpetual guar
antee if ii would. In many of the
guarantees of England this was the
form taken"
From these two quotations it will be
seen that Secretary Taft was willing,
when he was governor of the Philip
pines to grant perpetual franchise to
railroad, and was willing, after he be-
came secretary of war, to authorize the
commission to make perpetual guar
antee of income to a railroad.
Remember that the Filipinos are
often described as our wards, and that
we are benevolently described as their
guardian. Remember, too, that our
occupation of the islands is only tenn
porary, for our government has never
announced its purpose to hold the
islands or to administer the govern
ment for any particular time, and we
are assured by prominent republicans
that we can not yet tell what ought to
be done with the islands. Now
guardian is under restrictions which
are not applied to one who acts for him
self. If Secretary Taft is willing to
give perpetual franchise when he is a
guardian of the Filipinos, how long
franchise would he be willing to give
if he were acting for the American peo-
pie? If he would be willing to bind
the Filipinos forever to fixed profit
on railway enterprise, how would he
be willing to bind the American people
in corporate matters?
How long is eternity? Does Secreta-
ry Taft realize what it means to grant
perpetual franchise? If, for instance,
Columbus had been given perpetual
dinand and Isabella, when he discover
ed America, that franchise would be
legally running yet. And yet neither
Columbus nor the king could have look
ed into the future or have estimated the
changed conditions that the last four
centuries have brought. But eternity
is longer than four hundred years. If
Caesar had given to a commission the
power to grant perpetual franchise in
one of Rome's colonies, that franchise
would be legally running yet. And
yet eternity is longer than twenty CEN
turtles. If the ruler of Babylon had
granted perpetual franchise to one of
his favorites, that franchise would le-
gally be running still, although the
glories of Babylon have been forgotten
for thousands of years. But eternity
would still be young. If Adam had
had the power that Secretary Taft de-
sired to vest in Philippine commits
sion, and had given to Cain perpetual
franchise, and guaranteed an annual
income, the descendants of Cain, so far
as the law could secure it, would still
be drawing an income to be paid by
taxation, levied upon the rest of the
people
Eternity is long time, and the man
who will attempt to bind any people by
a perpetual corporate charter must be
strangely Indifferent to the rights of
posterity, or strangely ignorant of the
subject matter with which he deals.
And one who would attempt to fasten
a perpetual debt upon helpless race,
must excuse himself, either by saying
that he would do the same thing, if
possible, to the people of the United
States, or admit that he would not ac-
cord to the Filipinos the same measure
of justice that he would secure to Amer
leans.
Take the most Charitable view of the
subject that you can, and | ask you
whether Secretary Taft can safely be
trusted with the protection of the pub
lie against corporate greed, when he
has placed himself on record in favor
of giving such vast powers to corpora
tons, and in favor of burdening peo-
pie forever with the taxation necessary
to make an investment profitable.
The trouble is that Secretary Taft
looks at public questions from the
standpoint of the men who own and
operate the corporations which need
regulation, whereas reforms must come
from those who look at the question
from the standpoint Of the masses of
the people.
l have taken the three republicans
who have been mentioned most in con-
nection with the presidency. l have
not included Senator LaFollette, who
is, | believe, real reformer, and who
has boldly championed reform meas
ures. / do not mention him because,
outside of his own state, he does not
seem to have any Influential support
ers for the republican nomination, and
in his own state he has had a ten years
fight against corporate influence. But
President Roosevelt is the leader of the
reform sentiment in the republican par
ty, and yet he favors national incorpo-
ration. Secretary Taft is the presidents
chosen candidate for the republican
nomination, and behold how biased he
is in favor of the corporations and