The San Francisco call., 1908-09-26

acknowledged that 1T will be an absolute dis
aster TO the whole country If the supreme
court should reverse this decision.
There were other objections to the rate Dill
that are now making themselves painfully Ieit.
The announcement was recently made that De
cause of the abolition of low through rates
for our foreign commerce our transcontinental
lines have practically abandoned competition
for oriental trade and that all ships flying the
American flag on the Pacific are going out
of commission.
Without disparaging genuine morality II can
be truthfully said that less imag mary and pro-
fessional .'rightness of action and moral
awakening and more common sense IN the
policies of the administration would have been
better for the country and would have excited
less of that opposition Of which Mr. IaftS
letter complains
HE OFFERS NO APOLOGY
At any rate. in the presence of the de-
eision on the commodities clause anu the il ua- i
forcement of the rate law as to foreign COM
merce, / do not think | need make any apology
for voting against the rate bill; certainly 1
do not think it was offense OF such heinols
character that l should be read out OF the
party account of it, as Judge Taft's letter
practically proposed
| have In mind not the stopping indefinitely
of adequate railroad construction ut any time
when 1t is so badly needed. nor tue losses
amounting TO billions of dollars which have been
sustained on of the shrinkage In values
of all kinds of securities, but the empty dinner
pals and suffering families OF unempioyed , wage
workers and the humber classes of people to
be found by the thousands in every section OF
the union.
Responsibility for such conditions is serious.
1t is the first time we have had anything like
it under a republican administration VINO
cansed all this? Not providence, which has been
generously indulgent All our natural eondi. e.,.
fullest prosperity and yet it, does rot come
A million hrimful dinner pals have heen
kicked .over. We knew that the policies or the
republican marty filed them. Whose policies
empted them? l at least thankful pro
foundly So that no one has ever cnargeuvss .,i,s
has ever been emptied. or that any wage
worker has ever lost days wages by reason
of any act speech or vote of mine.
1t was because / thought foresaw all these
disasters that / would not be stood up by the
Epresident shoulder TO shoulder with the poiicies
cratic senators to vote in support OF policies
that they rightfully, as thought claimed us
their own.
TAFT's FRIENDS NAMED
But what manner of man is Judge Taft any
how? have known him for great many
years, and II thought intimately, and yet at
times l feel as though l did not know him
at all.
July 20. 1907 when he wrote the letter the
president published. he devoted TO the
trust smashing policies of the administration
that he could not consent TO be made presi-
dent IT, as a part OF the same movement,
was to be honored with reelection TO the
senate, because of my opposition 10 that special
feature OF my policies.' and now, since the
Standard oil company matter. there Is mani
tested the most unusual Indignation.
Apparently every man who has any relation
to the company is TO be driven out Of public
life. If so, l shall probably have great deal
of company.
Only one month ago. when Mr.. Taft visited
Middle Bass and Toledo, he was the guest OF
c. 7. Lewis of the law firm of Doyle & Lewis,
who have been the attorneys of the Standard
for many years standing next In rank In that
relation to Virgil p Kline and when When, Mr.. Taft
Middle Bass and Toledo. where | had the
pleasure Of meeting him, he travelled on the
yacht Of Mr.. Richardson. prominent magnate
+ha ola md fla ha dOaIht nai
his fare, at least the papers so announced when
travelling from Hot Springs to Toledo, on his
way to Middle Bass. yet nevertheless he rode
road of which also Doyle & Lewis are attorneys.
What series Of objectionable crimes.
ACTIONS CALLED SENSIBLE
There did not seem to be any such righteous
dislike Of these Standard oil and other trust
representatives ranking In the bosom of Mr.. Taft
on the occasions 10 which i refer. On the con-
trary, he acted like good, square, sensible hon
est minded man, who really enjoyed the company
he was keeping and the entertainment he was re-
eeiving and who recognized, the late Snator
Hanna was accustomed to say, that there
good trusts as well as bad ones, and even de-
cent people in the employment Of the Standard
oil company as well as Objectionable people, and
all that is TO his credit.
1t is also highly TO his credit that when. three
United states district Judge for the northern
district OF Ohio, MIR. Taft. knowing the abilities
and high character OF John II. Doyle OF this
Standard oil firm of Doyle & Lewis. did not hesi-
tate TO recommend him to the president In strong
language for appointment to that judgeship..
The Standard oil relation TO Judge Doyle. then
well known to Mr.. Taft, did not prevent him
from recognizing his high character and general
fitness for such sacred trust, and happen to
know, as did Mr. Justice Moody, who was then
attorney general. that the president. on the rec
ommendation of Judge Taft was intending to ap-
point Judge Doyle and would have done so. no
doubt. except for reasons which did not reflect on
Judge Doyle. He finally appointed Judge Robert
W. Taylor.
But If the Standard oil company was in good
enough reDUte only three warrant
Judge Taft in recommending Judge Doyle and
President Roosevelt in appointing him to judge
ship, much more was 1t In sufficiently good re-
pute six or seven years earlier before any of the
recent virulent attacks were made on it. to war
rant me in accepting employment of the char
acter mentioned
BRoWNyILLE AFFAIR NOTED
As to the Brownville matter, Mr. Taft says
speaking Of me: ''1e has seized upon and mag
nifed unimportant and incidental matter to
embarrass the administration, using in this
without scruple blind race prejudice to
compiish his main purpose"
What does he mean; Docs anybody imagine
that the president is unable to see that he is
rubbing a sore when he should have brought
plaster? Does he imagine or can anybody
suppose that the republican coored voters or
this country be brought to the support OF
the campaign Judge Taft's beIittiing Of their
chief grievance BY mentioning it as an ..inci-
dental matter, which has been seized upon and
magnifed. using In ths without scruple blind
race prejudice" and then adding the charge that
istra tom of President Roosevelt?"
COMMENT ON PRESIDENT
What Judge Taft says in HIS letter Is the
equivalent Of assertion that the coiored peo-
pie of the country who have been grleved by
what done in the Brownsville matter have
simply been hoodwinked by designing selfshness
This is bad enough, but the president makes it
worse when ne says: The entire agita tion over
Brownsville was in large part not genuine agi-
tation on behalf of the eolored men at all, but
merely one phase OF the effort by the represent
atiFes of certain law defying corpora tions to
bring discredit upon the administration because
it seeking TO cut out the evils connected
not only with the corroupt of wealth, but
especially with the corrupt alliance between GER
tain businessmen of large fortunes and certain
politicians of great office"
In other words, the Brownsville proceeding
was not only all Judge Taft said 1t was, but In
addition to being designing and selfish it was
prompted by the representatives Of law defying
corporal tons to bring dscredt upon the adm IN
istration and its policy with respect to them
This is worse than the presidents claim that
the panic last October precipitated by lot
Of rich men in Wall street. who wanted to
bankrupt themselves and the whole country that
they might discredit him, and even than
the story that these same men raised a fund OF
4