The daily sentinel., 1908-03-31

II
president is not a Democrat, for he
leans toward Hamilton, rather than
toward Jefferson, and favors a con-
centratiOn of power in Washington
and a Capitalization of government
which Democrats regard as distinctly
hostile to the national welfare. 1t is
proof that the reform sentiment in
the Republican party is not only
large, but militant, that the corpor-
ate interests, powerful and they are.
have not been able to coerce the mid
die west into the support of any of
the Republican candidates who are
regarded as reactionary. This in
itself Is the most hopeful sign of
Democratic victory for the president
having aroused this sentiment, the
Republican party must satisfy the
expectations excited or lose the sup
port of the rank and file of the
party.
Now. what prospects is there that
the Republican national convention
will satisfy the urgent demands of
reform Republicans? l venture to
predict that no serious attempt will
be made to satisfy these demands.
Two things are necessary to establish
confidence in the intention of the
party to repeat its own laws and to
reform the abuses which have grown
out of Republican legislation and ad
ministration; and these two things
are, first. platform specifically
pledging the party to clearly defined
reforms. and second, the nomination
of ticket composed of men imbued
with spirit of reform.
''If in the coming campaign the
Republicans have an ambiguous plat
form, filled with glittering gener-
oil fro N wi tn
throw at the Republican party, a
Republican president, selected upon
it, would be as powerless as the pres
ent president has been. l say pow
erless-for what has the president
succeeded in doing? There are more
trusts today than there were when
he entered the office. and he has
newer succeeded in getting a law
enacted to strengthen the present
law. He has not succeeded in put
ting a trust magnate in the peniten-
tiary, and the only large fine that
has been imposed has aroused more
criticism than commendation among
Republican leaderS. He has not Sc
cured any tariff reform and yet he
has been in office for over seven
years. He has not secured the en-
actment of the necessary labor leg
islation. He has mot secured an in
come tax. and the Republican. sena-
tors forced him into compromise
on the railroad question. But even
a good platform would be worthless
without candidate who embodied
the spirit of the platform. And what
candidate have they? If the presi-
dent had picked out Senator La Fol-
lette, a real reformer, if the Repub-
Ncan party had rallied TO Senator
La Follette's support, it could have
compelled the confidence of reform
Republicans. Senator La Toilette
has a record as refOrmer, he has
fought corporate domination in his
own state for a decade.
"The president has picked out
Secretary Taft and given him the
support of the administration. With
out the spirit of the administration
and with the presidents support, he
is having an uphill fight. He has no
record as a reformer, and his
speeches do not indicate definite
purpose or courageous program.
He may be the best man the presi-
dent could find among his cabinet
officers; but Secretary Taft's super
iOrity over his colleagues is due not
to his positive virtues but to the fact
that none of the rest of them has any
reform tendencies whatever, in fact,
among the Republican masses is not
reflected to any considerable extent
among Republican leaders.
What does Secretary Taft stand
for? What does he dbnounce hs
wrong? What does he propose as a
remedy?
What would he do with the
trusts? He tells us that he could
not exterminath them, but simply
regulate them.
What does he propose on the
until after election.
what reform does Secretary Taft
propose for the benefit of labor?
The laboring men insist that they
are entitled to trial by jury; but
Secretary Taft went all the way to
Oklahoma to find fault with a pro-
vison in the Oklahoma constitution
securing this protection to the labor
ing men.
what relief does Secretary Taft
propose to give us from the burdens
which Imperialism has imposed upon
the country? The appropriation for
the army and navy has increased
more than a hundred million a year
since We entered upon our colonial
experiment. Our army Is more than
twice as large as it was in 1896. and
We are still denying the Philippine
Islands the doctrine set forth in the
declaration of Independence, that
governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed.
what Is Secretary Taft going to
do on the railroad question? In one
speech he took occasion to explain
that the president was not respon-
sible for rate reductions; this would
indicate that Secretary Taft does not