The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-04
sUproRrrNc TAFT.

vote for Secretary Taft if he should be nominated for President" The pa- per refers to the strong effort that has been made to turn the negroes away from Taft because ha carried out the orders of the President discharging three companies of the 2sth In-' fantry for alleged participation in the Brownsville outrages. It argues that as member of Roosevelt's Cabinet he had to obey and carry out the orders of the latter or resign his position. and insists that to have resigned under the circumstances would have been a breach of duty. and would not have been of any benefit to the accused sol-. diers.
 We do not know whether The Inde- pendent has authority for its opinions. but t very plainly intimates that if Taft should resign from the Cabinet and announce his candidacy he could let out some information that would change the feelings of the negroes and cause them to pledge him their sup- port. This is interesting. but is it plausible? If Taft was really opposed to the course adopted by the President 1t seems that he has all along been playing the hypocrite in allowing it to be understood that he and Roosevelt were of one mind on that much tan- gled Brownsville affair. On the other hand. if he should come out boldly and declare that he was opposed to the dis charge of the negro troops he would naturally incur the enmity of the President and perhaps find the infu- ence of the adminisration and it's head used against him.
 It seems to be delicate situation for the big Secretary. and according to The Independent line of reasoning he stands chance to lose the negro sup port or that of the President. Can he be nominated against either? Roose- welt yields strong influence. not only
 
 patronage and official favor. and in all probability he can prevent the nomina- tion of Taft if he sets himself earnest ly to accomplish that object and sets about 1t in earnest. But on the other hand. unless he has the support Of the colored delegations, especially from the South, his chances for the nomination will be doubtful, at least for the Republican strength from the South in the Chicago Convention will be very largely of a dark hue, and all know how easy it is to influence" them at the right time.
 But that Is not the only danger that Taft may encounter. for 1t is not by any means sure that he cam be elected without the negro vote in some of the doubtful States North of the line. It may turn out that the election will be very close, and if from any cause the negro vote should be turned against the Republican candidate, or remain neutral it might cause the defeat of the party. Either way we look at it there seems to be trouble for Taft, and in line with what we have already written we find in The Manchester (N. H.) Union an editorial which gives us some more insight into what is going on in the colored samps. The edito. rial starts out with this information:
 The reported plan to call a meeting In Worcester sometime in May, of the colored @oters of New England, in an enort to Qrganize them against the Presidential candidacy of William H. Taft is in line with similar movements | n some other parts of the country The chief. and practically the only, means means D, by which which 1t is hoped by the emotions of these voters is persistent ] agitation of the Brownsville. Texas, shooting affAip and its consequences to certain colored soldiers; the line of ar gument being that those soldiers were punished by the Roosevelt administra- tion, and that President Roosevelt has signifed a sympathy with the Taft can the white antl-Taft workers to the | colored voters, by opposing Mir. Taft, | the Secretary of War. under the Roose- welt administration, the colored breth- ALa back at" Roosevelt.
 The Union undertakes to break the force of these arguments by setting itself to show that Roosevelt is the true friend of the negro. It calls at tention to the fact that he Invited Booker T. Washington to break bread with him.; that he has appointed col ored men to important Federal posi- tions. and goes on to show how the President has in various ways shown himself about the best friend the ne- gro has ever possessed.
 But will not this sort of reasoning cut both ways? There are very many Republicans who have no liking for the negro. "Too much nigger'' is one of the things that has caused them to feel coldly to Roosevelt and now causes them to oppose Taft because he is look ed on as the roosevelt choice and heir apparent. To expand on the PresIden- tial partiaIity for dark meat is not the surest way to endear Taft to this class of Republicans. and 1t may be that he will be weakened by those who are trying so hard to placate the negroes by showing how much Roosevelt loves