Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-06-19
LOCAL POLITICIANS
No Great Enthusiasm Among Re.
 pubIicaus Over Taft.

The nomination of William H.
 Taft has not stirred up much en-
 thusiasm in Waterbury. Nobody
 took the third term talk seriously
 and as a consequence the result of the convention Is regarded as a cut and dried affair. The republican or
 ganization, locally anyway, is much
 different to the democratic body. A
 republican who is quoted against his
 own party, especially on national
 politics is down and out for good
 and all wi h the management and
 knowing this men with any politi-
 cal aspirations are careful of what
 they say. In fact none of them
 wants to speak out in open meet
 ing so that nobody except those whA
 are willing to toot for Taft will be heard from on the question. Every
 body knows that it is quite different in the democratic camp. It is nOth-
 ing unusual to find men prominent
 as workers for the opposition occu-
 pying positions of trust in the coun- cils of their own party. We are not NAoSdopih6 thS Soou VI pua pOAheo of these opposite ways of doing things but simply stating with a view to explaining why citizens who think it time the g. O. p. went into the repair shop, are not shouting 1t from the house tops.
 A representative of this paper talked with over a dozen men to- day who have voted the republican ticket all their lives and while none of them cared to be quoted at least two-thirds of them made no bones of stating that they should not make up their minds until after the demo- crats put forward their man. T don't see,' remarked one of them, how they expect the people to continue them in power if they can't do better. No matter what the papers say to the contrary, times are not good and nobody knows this better than the merchants. No sir, I'm not throwing my hat in the air for Taft nor burning any red fire. l leave that to those who live by politics. It may be all right for them, but l see nothing in it for . man who never got dollar out of politics to lose his head over"
 This IS about the way most people look at 1t, but 1t is thought that after the oily tongued orators come around and get in their fine work the average party man will forget about his own family and line up with his party for the sake of old times. Many are welded closer 10 their party than to their wives and feel in duty bound to ieopardize the com forts of the latter in order to keep the former in the ascendency. This IS true Of men in all parties, but 1t IS much more prominent in the re- publican party than in the others.
 Of course the campaign cannot yet be said to have opened. but even at that some missionary work is being done and appears to be bearing fruit. The heelers appear to know that Taft stuck up for the friars in the Philippines, talked the whole matter over with the pope and did nearly everything his holiness suggested. This. it is said. is expected to cut quite swath, but 1t is a question If will be influenced by 1t one way or the other.
 It is also said that Mir Taft has of relatives in Waterbury and that all of them will be out stumping for him, but there is some doubt about this. He is ! near rela- tive to Commissioner JiIson of the department of charities, one of the most uncompromising democrats in the Naugatuck valley, and it isn't likely that he is going to change his politics simply because relative Is placed at the head of the opposition ticket. Besides this, of course, it Is we'll known that the republican nominee is brother to Mir Taft of Watertown, but this will not amount 10 anything either.