Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1908-06-18
MISSOURI VALLEY TIMES.
HARRIS & HOYLE, Editors
Weekly Established July 8, '6s
Daily Established April l, '91
Weekly $1.5o a Year, Daily 15c
per week.
Entered..at the Post Office at Missouri
Valley. Iowa. as second class matter.

Valley, iowa, as second class matter.
Not a Man Of Discretion.
AS it is apparent that Gen.
Taft will be the Republican can
didate for President, it is very
important~to the people that his
public and private character be
thoroughly investigated before
intrusting the destiny of the
nation to his keeping.
In view of his public utter
ance at the tomb of Gen. U. S.
Grant on Memorial Day, it was
manifest that he is lacking in
ordinary discretion. No man
of ordinary propriety would be
so reckless as to dare, in the
face of the American people
in the presence Of the citizens
Of New York, lin the presence
of the children of Gen. Grant,
standing at the tomb of the he
roic dead, utter the language
uttered by Gen. Taft on Memo
rial Day at the Grant monu-
ment in New York.
It is better when speaking of
the dead, if you have no good
word to say, keep silent.
Gen. Grant was the idol of
the American people his name
is surrounded with a halo of
glory, and will live on the page
Of history when that of Taft
will be lost in the vortex Of po-
litical forgetfullness. Why did
he make such a speech? Who
can tell? But there it stands in
all it's naked deformity, and the
American people will not be
slow to resent the insult. Why
did he, while standing at tomb
Of the great general, feel called
upon to drag up the early his
tory Of Gen. U. S. Grant? Let
him who is without sin cast the
first stone. We are none per-
feet. An Independent Journal
in it's notice of Taft's attack on
Gen. Grant, in his Memorial
Day address, has this to say:
"Taft made an attack upon Gen.
Grant which hasaroused resent
ment wherever war secretary
Taft's words have penetrated.
Without just cause he arraign-
ed Grant as having been a drum
kard, saying:
cit is true that Grant receiv-
ed an education at West Point,
but certrinly nothing was devel-
oped in him to indicate his fit
ness or ability to meet respon-
sibilities.
"He did we'll in the Mexican
war, as did other lieutenants.-
He manifested as regimental
quartermaster energy and fa-
miliarty with its duties. But in
1854 he resigned from the army
because he had to. He had
yielded to the weakness Of a taste
for strong drink, and rather
than be court-martialed he left
the army. He returned from
Vancouver, on the Pacific coast,
to his family in st. Louis with
outmoney, without property
disheartened man. He accepted
from his father-in-lawa loan of
Is acres Of land upon which he
constructed a house for his fam
lily to live in. His chief bust.
ness seemed to be that of selling
wood, of cutting it, and piling
it in the back yards of the we'll.
to-do people Of st. Louis.
"After six years of this life
he gave up farming because OF
i'll heath and went into the real
estate business for a year. He
failed in this. His associates
dissolved the partnership. then
his father offered him 5000 as a
clerk in his leather store at Ga.
lena, ILL.,, and then he moved
from st. Louis. He worked at
that for a year also. During
these seven years, though eve
rything looked dark, he over.
come, in a great measure, his
weakness for strong drink. But
he was so constituted that il
seemed impossible for him t.