New-York tribune., 1908-10-11
WHY TAFT GOES SOUTH
REGARDS 1T As DUTY.
Hopes to Shoe That Prosperity De
pendS IN Republican Policies.
rBv Tslssraph 70 The Tribune ]

Cincinnati oct. 10 an going South to
make & few speeches-one in Kentucky, one in
Tennessee, one in North Carolina. one III Virginia
and one in Maryland-not 50 much with view to
carrying those states as TO show the people
down there that, no matter what they think.
they are part of the Union, and. being a part
OF the Union they ought to vote for the Repub-
lcan party, voting for which viii make them a
part of the nation and give to them that infiu-
ence which people of their intelligence and
energy and progress and enterprise ought to
enjoy"
In these words. Mr. Taft. addressing the Taft
and Sherman Club, Of Fort Thomas, Ky, to-
Gay explained his pu1.;ose in going into the
South in the heat of the campaign.
There is" he also said, mot the slightest
doubt that the South has lost much of the in
fiuence that it ought TO exert in the government
of the United States through the certainty that
our Northern Democratic friends have always
had in the allegiance of the South, matter
what the issues of the campaign to the Demo-
cratic party. There good people in the
South and there are reasons accommodating every
year in the enormous material expansion that
they have made, in the dependence that they
have on. the system of protection. which is a
Republican doctrine, why they should support
the Republican ticket rather than the Demo-
cratic ticket. and I believe in the last Presi-
Dental election and inside elections there has
been a gradual breaking away But it may be
that this is not the time for the complete revc-
luton 10 take place. but that it is coming I am
confident l am Of anything in the future
and it would crafty me very much if 1t could
come in the campaign for which I am more or
less responsible, and therefore in which l have
an interest"
Mr.. Taft has been urged by some Of the most
influential members of the party TO confine his
speaking tours TO the North, where it is be
heved he make more votes with given ex-
penditure of time and energy than in the South
but he has rejected all sucn advice and has
regarded it as a duty to go into the South
and spend as much time there as possible. From
the first he has admitted the force Of the argu-
ment that he is not likely TO win Il sufficient
number of votes TO carry any really Southern
state, but he has insisted that II a Presiden-
tial candidate makes speeches at all. he should
not ignore any section of the country merely
because It was regarded as surely Democratic,
and he has emphatically declared his conviction
that it was his duty TO win as many votes in
the South as possible even If he could not
make sufficient number in any one state to
get its electoral vote 1t is, therefore in accord
ance with that conviction that his itinerary
has been planned to include the Southern states
he named while it is matter Of great regret
to him that he cannot also make at least one
speech in Georgia as he had intended
There was a large gathering of members Of
the Taft and Sherman Club in the assembly
room Of the Sinton Hotel. when Mr. Taft ap-
peared on the stage at 1880 p. m, and their
reception OF him was enthusiastic. while he In
turn. was sincerely glad of their coming in such
large numbers.