Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-08-31
s7semh,iea,, knsrafnu, inaua August 81 1908

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mill Of politics than is the policy of the
/ Panama canal something to be
stamped either as republican or demo-
cratic.
These questions are fruitful of trou-
BILE and perturbation, and the primary
requisite of the man or men who must
deal with them is an abundant knoWl-
edge of the people of the outlying do
main. That Mr.. Taft is possessed OF
this knowledge as is no other man in
the country is hardly to be denied;
granted that he has had extraordinary
opportunities, he has shown himself
able to improve those opportunities in
a manner which it is not eXtravagant
to say will be his broadcast claim SO
far to enduring fame when the acute
| visual distortion of the present and OPP
| perfume shall have given place to the
| memorable perspective of history in
which the relative values of public
deeds to public duties are completely
clarified and announced to posterity.
| The misery and misfortune which an
| ignorant or obstinate administrator,
| no matter how high the ethical stand
ard of his motives, could entail upon
| our wards of the Pacific and Caribbean
are appalling to contemplate; were his
administration to be at fault I'M any
other particular, in those things Mr..
| Tafts record shows him to be entirely
| dependable.
Since the last presidential election
there have been the following large
movements of public sentiment which
have bearing either remotely or i'm
| mediately pertaining to the present
campaign: The temperance sentiment
has developed nrarvelously and ex-
tended to a greater scope than any
thing else in our history since the
| abolition of slavery; the evils of THE
various forms of gambling have pro-
voked a smaller tho considerable re-
| form; the manifest wrongs of the tar
| iff system have excited clamor, based
| on anger and resentment turnout the
| business world; the growing power OF
| corporate interests has met "a stub
| born retaining wall in the resistance OF
| the individual to domination or disad-
| vantage, and the doctrines OF socialism
| long looked upon as an excresence OF
4 economic friction, have entered deeply
into the thought of a disturbed people
and must be reckoned with.
| The movement which has resulted in
the closing of a hundred Thousand sa-
looms is fortunately something nonpo-
litical, or. rather, it is so local a mat
| ter and is so nicely equalized that 1t
can have no general party effect. In
New York state the action of Governor
Hughes in compelling the racetrack
gambling legislation has merely served
to widen the breach between the demo-
cratic city and the republican country.
| Not in this election or the next is the
/ question of the tariff at all likely to be
a paramount issue of the principle in
| volved. That will come later when
conditions have altered nationally and
| our foreign trade interests have as
sumed something of the gigantic pro-
| portions that are their ultimate des-
1 tiny.
In the policies of the present admin
| istraton, which are announced as to be
continued should Mr.. Taft receive both
nomination and election. there is an
effect on the present campaign of a
very puzzling nature indeed. If there
were three large parties, one liberal,
one radical, and the third conservative,
there is no doubt that the east and the
1 manufacturing west would assemble it's
| forces behind the conservative stand
| ard and would carry them forward to
a meager victory, but this is to be d
campaign in which the vested interests
| can have no candidate and in which
! they can best secure their selfish ends
by taking the safer choice. 1t is not
likely that the business interests of
the country would be disturbed by the
| victory of either party, and certainly
| Mr.. Taft's reiterated attitude toward
| corporations of all sorts contains no
| hint that fair dealing on their part will
be met with anything but conservative
and discriminating generosity on the
part of his administration From inn
pressions gathered among men with
much at stake, it is clear to me that
the corporate interests of the
country, tho convinced that IL
legal combinations, illegal repression
of competition, and illegal exploitation
of the public are things which the pub
| lie intends to make no longer possible.
| have no fear of the outcome knowing
that honesty, whether compulsory or
voluntary, never caused panic or a de-
cline in genuine values.
Gravely different, however, are the
/ facts underlying the social movement.
1t must be realized that this is no agi-
tation for fairer adjustment of mat
tiers between capital and labor; it is
something which attacks with the idea
Of destruction the fundamental idea of
property and the plain principle of
wage employment. With socialism in
the ascendancy, capital and labor cease
| to be things which their terms now
signify. 1t is not within my province to
discuss controvert, or elucidate the OPP
posed conditions; rather should the
political effect be considered.
Quite as the average citizen viewed
with establishment the total figures of
the last election, seeing that even
against the tide Of Mr.. Roosevelts per-
sonal popularity Mr. Debs had polled
nearly half million votes, SO will they
contemplate the results in November.
If Mr. Hearst's party were not in the
| field, and therefore should not draw to
| it a large body of diSaffected voters
who will be chary of advocating rad
! ical socialism, and the socialist and So
| cialist labor parties were to mark the
| full count of those who have become
imbued with the fallacies of the nom
competitive state of society, they
would be found to be more than mill