The National tribune., 1908-10-08
HE POLITICAL BATTLE.
Continued from page one.)

Continued from page one.)
Cuyahoga, including Cleveland /. $500
Franklin, including Columbus. $500
Hamilton, including Cincinnati. 5000
Montgomery. including Dayton. 300
Lucas, including Toledo. ....... L 700
Mahoning, including Youngstown l 500
Stark, including Canton. 1000
Columbia, including Lisbon. .4,20O
Belmont. including Belair. ...... 1 300
Lawrence, including Ironton. ....2 $500
summit $500
JEFFERSON .............. ........ SO0
Saiita ............. ............ ,tOO
Scloto .....-....... 100
The Republicans have their serious
troubles with the Presidential ticket in
every one of these Counties, nearly of
which have large manufacturing pop
ulations. The opposition to Taft is
more or less pronounced in these Coun-
ties, either on account of his fnjunc-
tion record as a judge or because of
the hard times. Many mills have been
closed or running on short time. The
industrial situation is improving but
slowly. Here in Columbus the manu-
featuring plants are estimated to be
employing about 1000 less hands than
their capacity. The Republicans fear
they will lose many of these manufac-
turing Counties by majorites quite as
large as those by which Mckinley car
ried them in 1900. One even hears up
here that there is danger of Taft losing
his home town of Cincinnati, which
seems hardly creditable. 1t was stated
at Republican Headquarters today that
the labor question is giving Mr.. Taft's
managers less trouble in Cleveland
than in Cincinnati
Hardest Political Battle I'm Ohio.
The lines are rapidly forming for
the hardest political battle that was
ever fought for President on Buckeye
soil. Republicans are fully alert to the
situation. They know they must find
some way of reaching the toiling
masses. Appeals are being made to
owners of mills and factories to put as
fmany men to work as possible. The
1 prosperity argument is being driven
| home. The return of good times is
! being emphasized as something insep-
arabic from the continuance of the Re-
publican Party in power at Washing
| ton. Bryan and Bryan's theories are
to be denounced and ridiculed from the
hustings and thru the party press. All
this is in accord with the plan of the
National campaign, which Mr.. Taft
outlined in his recent interview with
the Boston Herald. With five weeks of
leaders hope to convince the labor vote
and to hold enough of it to make the
State safe for the National ticket.
| Signs of an increased campaign in
| terest are encouraging them to this
end. The President, in his exchanges
with Bryan. has probably helped. at
| least. to stir up some interest. Much
as his participation in the campaign
grieves the more intelligent Repubii-
cans, it has not alienated their votes
! from Taft and it has quic'.ened the en-
fthusiasm of the rank and file. with
whom he is still very popular.
The Democratic management is very
active in trying TO meet the October
program of the Republicans. They
have q good organization, practically
| the same that carried the State for
Patterson in 1905. The two executive
committees are pretty equally matched
in strength and aggressive in resources.
President GOmper5 and his executive
council are centering their efforts upon
the State. well aware that it is d prom
ising field and that the casting of
Ohio's 2S electoral votes for Bryan
for organized labor.
The best judges say that Taft viii
win. Their closest estimates range
from 10000 to $4,000 and that in a
great Republican State that will cast
over million votes! In the meantime,
of Democratic sentiment in factory
towns and cities, Ohio is claimed by
Democrats as good fighting ground.
Want the President to Take the Stump.
The whole Western country. especial
ly the boys in the trenches. are itching |
for President Roosevelt TO take the !
stump. The reiterated statements from
Washington that he win not do so are
not taken as final. There are many
voters who think he will be unable 70
confine himself to the White House and |
the White House offices and to the daily |
afternoon jaunts out into the country, |
but that he Will ultimately yield to the |
Ia.
within him, to get aboard a train and |
travel toward the setting sun. What a |
reception they would give him! What |
an outpouring of people there would be
to see Teddy Bryan and all the DEM
ocratic issues would be forgotten for
the time being. Nobody would be thot
of but the President and his candidate
for President
Folks out this way are picturing to
themselves how the special train with
the President and Taft aboard would
look wheeling around the circuit. The
very thot of it thrills the average West
erner with enthusiasm. Some nights ago
Son-in-!aw Nicholas Longworth made
speech, calling upon the voters to elect
Taft for four years and then re-elect
him for four years more, at the end of
which time Mr.. Roosevelt would be
ready to come back into the Presi-
dency- And the West generally seems
to like that suggestion. Probably it will
add some strength to Taft when SO
many people arrange 1t in their minds
that they are only electing Taft for an
interim and that they are going to have
their Teddy back again after while.
Next to the President and Taft Gov.
Hughes is the man the Westerners want
to hear in this campaign. His appear
ance in Western State after Western
State has aroused great interest. He
has large meetings and delivers telling
arguments. The popularity with which
he is received has been striking, when
1T is remembered that his Presidential
candidacy commanded practically no
support whatever west of the Allegheny
Mountains. One hears it said again and
again out here that il Gov Hughes had
been nominated the campaign would
now be far beyond the doubtful stage
and that his election by a sweeping vote
would, by this time, have been assured.
There would have been no opposition
by organized labor to him and, as has
often been pointed out, but for such on
position to Taft there would be little or
no doubt about the country selecting
him for President by an overwhelming
vote. 1t Is by no means improbable
that Gov. Hughes, thru these popular
appearances in the Western country,
Is laying the foundation of what may