The Washington times., 1908-12-06
PRESIDENT = ELECT STANDS
WITH THE NEW SOUTH.


William H. Taft believes in the New
South. In proof of it he gives out for
exclusive publication in The Times an
interview which reveals his faith more
clearly and fully than any other such
statement he has made Such decla-
ration strikes straight into the mind of
North, East and West, as well as South.
More than that, its interest TO all those
sections Is matter OF today, not to-
morrow or next day, but now, Just as
soon as the reader can get it in his
hands Here is proof enough of the need
to print news when it is news, to work
today in gripping the problems of to-
day and the future. Says Mr.. Taft:
~What I would like particularly 10
accomplish in my administration, is
the union of the South with other sec
administration. would like to ap-
pear as an agent in the movement 10
make southern politics consistent
with Southern business interests"
How are tbs present Southern poll
tics inconsistent with Southern busi-
ness interests? The next President
makes plain his own view. Il cannot
see how any argument Is needed to
convince the South that it needs the
protective tariff system, q Republican
policy, to continue and maintain its
prosperity" he says. Then he cites
declarations by Senators Daniel and
Bacon "that the South has had no in
fuence Sg the last twenty or thirty
years IN the councils of the Govern
ment." The reason he thinks Is easily
found. ''The South has made itself a
mere instrument of the Northern Dem
Ocracy. Southerners have been the tail
to the Northern Democratic kite. Make
the outcome of every election in the
South a doubtful one instead of GER
tainty and from that moment the sec
tion of the country below Mason and
nixon's line will be tremendous fac
tor. in all governmental affairs"
The President-elect is right, of course.
No need to make Dingley protectiOnists
out of Southern leaders to prove it.
They stand today ready to vote for a
protective tariff equal TO the difference
between the cost of production here and
that abroad, to make elections doubtful
instead Of dead eertainties no matter
whom the Democrats nominate and on
whatever platform. They want to
keep step with progress. They have no
desire 10 gin cotton by horsepower or
ship their iron ore to the North to be
smclted- They will read this interview
and thank their stars for two Repub-
iiCan Presidents In succession who are
real friends of the South.
But they can't make Southern poll
ties consistent with Southern business
interests" by themselves. Unless Mr..
Taft is willing to meet them half way
they are helpless now as they have
been for thirty years. The reason? Here
il Is:
That Republican selections for office
have given the party leadership in the
South for a whole generation into the
hands of men almost wholly out of
touch with the real South, its purposes,
its resources, its white men. As far
as the live wires in Southern commerce
arc concerned, the Southern Republican
party has been a negro party. We may
not like that thought. Mr.. Taft may
not like it. But it is based on a fact
which Republicans as clear-sighted as
the President-elect have come general
ly to accept.
Mr.. Taft may be assumed to accept
it. Mr.. Taft may be assumed to be
ready 10 back up this interview with
appointments that will not make 1t so
hard for Southern white men to speak
out as Republicans. A man so honest
so intelligent, so manifestly in sym-
psthy with the South would never have
expressed such hope if he had meant
not to work to fulfill it. If he does
work to fulfill 1t, our judgment is that
TO a greater degree even than Theodore
Roosevelt he viii find behind him the
public sentiment of the South expressed
with an enthusiasm that will mean
business.