The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1908-03-05
Reasons Given Why; Taft People Sus-
pect Treaehefy on Part Of South
Dakota Insurgents
They Fought Taft Until Alter Mitchell.
Rally and Quit Only When They
We're Beaten 1. !
Called Taft "The Imitation Candi-
daie,' and Said That II Nominated
He Would be Defeated by Bryan

1t. is now a clear case of Taft against
the field in the presidential fight, and
if the anti Roosevelt people can defeat
Taft they will do it. The big secretary
of war has the fight of his life on his
hands. 1t is. well enough to say that,
he is a .'sure winner" but enthusi-'
i asm. should not carry the people into
the realm of fancy. The fact is that
Secretary Taft is facing grim and
determined fight, and that 1t behooves
all of his real friends to send to Chi
icago men who are steadfast and de-
voted supporters of Taft, and who will
mot desert him the moment the first
ballot is cast.
| That the real friends os Taft in
South Dakota are the stalNarts ought
tnow to be clear to everybody and that
1.-The delegation to Chicago. should CON
tsist Of eight tried and'- true stalYart
tfrienas -of Taft to avoid any possible
Ifreac&sry should be equally clear. .Let
Eho o1S deceive you about this matter
when 1T .colles. atess selecting delegates
Ito the Huron convention-f
1t was on March %, 1907, that Sen
i.ator kfttredget iii the ante room of
1.-the white house, after "a prolonged
Iconferepce with President Roosevelt,
declared himself for Taft and said
Ethat Taft would secure the delegation
Ifrom South Dakota. -
This. announcement was enough to
farouse the hostility of the" Crawford
,geople Ito Taft, and that hostility
Efasted Until THE rising wave OF Eaft
sentirnsht datiEe, jt. awas-*No ,the
livery men WHO a few mopths-ago Were
Idoing everything they couid'to defeat
Taft are declaring that they .,wenesthe
ogiginal Taft men, and that the sSal-
wartss-sge not in good faitH Lett US
see ahoSt this. -. il
l4tor Kitfredge and the stalgarH yere
far Taft, the Insurgents opeyedseup
their fight upon him. They Xcsfffed afim
ian imitation candidate" They Said
5e was a ''re-actionary.' They said
the Taft boomers We're simply trying
ItA kill off Roosevelt. When it BECAME
Known that Roosevelt would not ac-
cept the nomination, they tried to
create a LaFollette boom, and failing
in this, they began to demand "an
uninstructed delegtion." Being whip
lped all along the line, and showed off
the sidewalk, at the eleventh hour,
they meekly came into the Taft camp,
after the great rally at Mitchell, and
then brazenly put up the claim that
|,&S4la! ,SaSRaEs HaE msa to rs found 'R the
L, In Ibis paper, the Canton Leader,
Col Linn said: There is no real Taft
sentiment in this state" The Sioux
Falls Ffess said: THE progressive
factiost now demanding the renomina-
tion ofsMr. Roosevelt, could easilyturn
from Its favorite to the. WISCONSIN
senator" The Flandreau Herald
said: &.,ghe Herald did not pretend to
lie giving away any political secrets
| when it stated that, the. progressive
republicans everywhere would support
i La Fciiette." The White Lake Wave
i said: eff it ever comes to "a show
| down 1T will be- found that Senator
LaFollette is the. choice for president
OF more people in the northwest,
South Dakota included, than any 9TH
| er man. with the possible exception Of
Mr.. Roosevelt" On Octiber 11tfI:, last,
Judge John Nicholson, county judge
of Codington county, an insurgent
leader, suggested the organization of
Roosevelt-LaFollette clubs. II, for
one, believe" he. said, that Senator
La Toilette on square issue at the
polls can get two vptes to the Sec
retary's one. notwithstanding Mr.. Mar
tins wishes to the contrary" On Oct
23d, last, the Sioux Falls Press said;
tain that Taft COULD BE ELECTED
If NOMINATED." Nice talk this, for
paper which now claims to be the
originals-Taft boomer. In the same
article. the Press. quoted DIR. Z. Ben.
jamin afndsSys as Rfsdicting that Bry-
an would defeat TAFT if the two were
candidates. IT. declared that Taft was
of "unk kfiown and doubtful quantity
This being the case said the Press.
six months after Kittredge had de-
clared- for Taft, 'the progressive. re :
q publicans of the. state are not in a
frame of mind to enthuse over the
Taft candidacy" Only eight days be-
fore the insurgents fiopped to Taft,
i the Aberdeen American, the paper
which the Crawford machine is send
ing out free to anybody who wants
it, declared that Taft could not be
nominated and evidently hoped he
would not be, for on November .11th,
the Same paper had said that There
is nothing in his (Taft's) makeup
that will arouse enthusiasm, nothing
that will make men respond The
same paper said: Every day the
chances of Taft appear duller and
duller'' Be it remembered that this
paper iss sufficiently recognized as a
spokesman for the insurgent cause
that it is being distributed free by
the thousands of copies.
/ The evidence could be extended
without limit. but this is enough to
| prove the case.
Now these same people who fought
| Taft as hard as they could until they
saw that South Dakota was for Taft,
| ask the voters of the state to trust
| them. The people fear duplicity and
| treachery, and they have a right to
! fear ii. A man who is converted with
| a club Is not a good convert. The in
| surgent heart is still anti-Taft. Let
a delegation OF the real friends OF
of Taft be sent to Chicago.