The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-11
WHERE HE STANDS
Mr.. Taft Makes Clear His PO-
sition on Many Questions
In Address at Cooper Union on
Labor and Capital.
OPPOSES ROOSEVELT.
Says the Country Is Not Ready
for Income Tax.
Refuses to Discuss Tariff or
Brownsville Affair.

New York, Jan. 11-For the first
time since he became a recognized
candidate for the Republican presi-
Dental nomination Secretary Of War
William H. Taft last night faced a
New York audience and set forth in
detail his stand on the question of the
relative interests and rights of labor
and capital, and in turn submitted to
a rapid fire attack from the audience
which quizzed him keenly and in a
somewhat controversial spirit, ac-
cording to the practice of the Peoples
Institute, whose guest he was. The
secretary proved equally effective in
attack and defense, and his prompt
and forcib1e replies and occasional
witty sallies evoked the same demon
stration of applause as greeted the
salient points of his address proper.
Two thousand persons, it's capacity,
had crowded into Cooper Union when
police reserves were summoned to
clear the walks in front of the build
ing, where a thousand or more had
congregated. AS the form of the sec
rotary of war made it's way through
the throng, a shout of three cheers
for the next president was the signal
for noisy ovation that continued un-
til Mr.. Taft bowed his acknowledge
IN his prepared address the Secre-
tary pointed out the dependence, one
upon the other, of capital and labor.
He declared that great aggregations
of wealth properly employed widened
the field of labor and were to be well
coined, while wealth improperly used
was to be condemned. He advocated
unionism insofar as sympathy and
the resultant cooperation made for
the common good
At the conclusion of his address the
audience had its turn. Chairman
Charles Sprague Smith announced
that Secretary Taft would read ques-
lions az they were handed up.
Brownsville Was First.
The first questioner desired to know
If the secretary would stake his poll
teal future on the attitude taken by
the administration on the Brownsville
incident.
the question stating that the matter
was now before the senate committee
and there had been no discussion in
the senate.
do you think laborer gets enough
money!" was another question, to
which Secretary Taft laughingly re-
Piled: "I don't know what the labor
er gets 1 don't know what labor he
performs, but I do know. that, some
get more than they ought to have,
and think some should get more"
There was a loud shout when the
secretary commenced to laugh while
reading over a question which inquir-
ed why he had changed his attitude
toward labor since he left the Ohio
bench. The secretary declared that
his attitude had not changed, and
that the things he had said tonight he
had always stood for.
us not an industrial situation bas-
ed on a tariff false one ?'
The secretary REPLIED that il the
tariff was abolished now there would
be no business at all. Further. he
said, he would not discuss the tariff
issue at this time
A question concerning the right of
an employer to bring Injunction pro-
ceedings induced the secretary to cite
a case in which he appeared as coun-
sci. Moore & Co. had obtained a
judgment of $1,000 against a labor
union, he said and it took ten years
to obtain the money. The secretary
added that if an injunction had been
obtained by Moore they would not
have suffered any damage. Shortly
afterward a humorously inclined au-
dftor sent up the following question,
which caused a general Taught
eff it took Moores G. Co. ten years
to collect $1,000, how long would it
take the United States to collect $685.
10000 from the Standard Oil?"
The secretary said that the solution
would require an advanced form OF
mathematics with which he was not
familiar.
A Serious Question.
There was one query over which the
secretary hesitated, while his face as
sumed a thoughtfully serious express
sion. Then he read:
What is a man to do who is out of
work in a financial crisis and is starv-
ing?"
There was an audible pause. The sec
rotary looked to the far corner of the
big room and the long lines of work
men gathered there. God knows" he
replied They have my deepest SYM
pathy if they cannot get work. It Is an
awful case when a man is willing to
work and is put in this position.
81 am asked" said the secretary, '.if
the government ownership of mines
and railroads would make disputes be-
tie. I don't think so. Do you realize
what a power you would put in Wash
ington? You would put power in the
hands of one man or set of men that
would we'll make you trenble for the
safety of the republic.
These and many other questions were
volleyed at the secretary, who answer
ed them with facility and great good
humor, which reflected itself in the at
titude of his audience. One questioner
wanted to know IL workingmen We're
ready to work so hard for private indi-
viduals, why they would not be ready
to work as hard for the government
under federal ownership The secre-
tary replied without hesitation
because human nature is not built