Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1908-08-29

llOl Will CdAhO DCAOAO NAO
matters it endorsed and those it re-
jected. Every American voter
knows precisely where the eonven-
ton stood. 1t was a strategic blum
der for the Denver convention not to
act likewise. The Denver eonven-
tion-in other words, MI. Bryan
was all things to all men. Fol ex-
ample, through his temporary chair
man he bid for the Roosevelt Re-
publican vote, and through his per-
manent chairman he fiayed the presi-
dent to the bone to appease a differ
ent element. Their platform bulges
with reckless promises and reckless
denunciation. May it not charitably
be attributed to the party's long
habit of not being held responsible
for its words? Nor will the Novem-
Der election change the habit. The
day after the Denver nomination, a
great New York Democrat, reviewing
Bryan's disastrous career as a leader
these past twelve years, bitterly said:
THE Democrats of the United States
are now at liberty to resume their
accustomed occupation of electing a
Republican president. They will
walk cheerfully to the polls and vote
Mr.. Taft into the White House by
a larger majority than any person
has had since Grant ran away from
Greeley"
The action of the Chicago conven-
tion stands out in sharp contrast. 1t
was t~ypically consistent in the Re-
publican party to endorse certain pol
ices and then nominate for president
a man who has helped to promulgate
those policies and who has given
more and better guarantees of his
fitness to execute them without abuse
than any other man in the country.
II the Chicago platform may lack
anything as a party declaration of
principles and policies, it has been
supplemented and completed by If.
Taft's speech of acceptanee,-de-
clared by many authorities to be the
ablest document of the kind ever
published. The New York Times, a
Democratic paper, commenting on
the speech of acceptance, warns it's
readers that Mr.. Taft carries a big
stick, eve though he speaks softly.
1t protests against parts of the
speech. But after ALL" it adds,
1T is a campaign not of issues but
of men, and Mr.. Taft is incomparably
the better man Of the two"
1t is error to say that he is a
dictated candidate. Two years ago
his election was logically foreseen,
just as McKinley's succession to the
presidency became patent during his
g~ubernatorial incumbency of Ohio. He
is as thoroughly and completely the
candidate of his party as a man could
be. 1t was only state loyalty to a few
favorite sons that withheld from him
the almost unanimous vote of the
convention; and even some of the
delegates from the favorite-son
states cast their ballots for the fav-
orite son with the accompanying dec
laration on the floor of the v
ton that personally they favored
Taft.
Our American political life has
gained much these late years through
the new tradition which precludes the
possibility of a reputable or author
~itative attack on the private life and
character of any of the candidates of
the great parties. Now and hence
forth, the first credentials of such
candidates will be a clean manhood
and a pure fireside. Thus much, all
their fellow eountrymen gladly con-
cede both to Mr.. Bryan and to Mr..
Taft. Both men are admitted to be
great Americans; high-minded gentle
men, with an irresistible charm of
manner and blameless personal char
acter. Both are heads Of houses,
and their home life is typical of the
best American firesides.
/ But all this is not enough. The
t people of the country generally are
4 beginning to regard the great office
{ Of the presidency not as a reward tc
I go solely to exalted manhood, politi-
: cal leadership, Or military genius
! but a solemn responsibility to be i'm.
! posed upon the citizen whose exper.
: lence and training in governmental
]. affairs logically equip him for thu
d specific task. Viewed from this cole
y standpoint of public business, how dc
d these two men compare?
l. For many years one has been
o private citizen, the other a publi
servant; one a lecturer and pub