The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-02-11
TAFT Far In the Lead.

Samuel G. Blythe. one of the best
known and most thoroughly posted
characteristic satire ridicules efforts
to defeat Secretary William H. Taft
through the combination of favorite
sons, and admits that the secretary of
war will probably be nominated on the
first ballot.
After discussing his belief that Les
lie M. Shaw. former secretary of the
treasury, hopes to be nominated as a
dark horse" through a combination
of favorite sons. Mr.. Blythe, writing as
1.-THE New Reporter In the Saturday
Evening Post of February 8. says:
"The attitude of Shaw is typical of
the attitudes Of the, other Republican
candidates. Each one Is standing in
dignified position. hoping to inherit
the strength of the others. You can
hear fifty times day the thrilling
statement that the salvation of the
country depends on the defeat of Pres
ident Roosevelt, through his candidate,
Mr.. Taft, but nobody has plan. It is
quite likely In the present generation
no president has had so many power
full enemies as President Roosevelt
They are all convinced he Is a menace
to everything, especially themselves.
They are. walking about growing he
must be defeated, but nobody seems to
know how to do the trick. Daily stor-
les are brought in of combinations that
are being formed. of secret movements
that are being fostered, but the plain
truth of II is that the men who are op-
posed to the president have no plan,
no leader and few prospects. They
cannot crystalline. The idea OF beat.
ing Taft with few favorite-son move
ments In various states is 80 fantastic
1t makes the president laugh. He
cheerfully asserts Taft will be named
on the first ballot, and 1t begins to
look as IL he had the votes.
Meantime, there are loud cries that
Taft should take stand for himself
that he must not go into the campaign
as the mere carbon copy of the pres
ident, pledged 10 all Roosevelt poll
cies and only q rubber stamp for his
present chief. Why inquire some
Of the anti-Taft men, doesn't Mr.. Taft
put out line Of thought of his own?
Why does he subscribe fully to all the
Presidents policies? Why does he
not attack some OF those policies and
prove his independence"
That is an interesting line Of in
terrogatories, but 1t is met with sim
pie, single question by Taft's friends,
and that question Is: What other can
didate for the Republican nomination
has attacked any of the policies of the
president with the possible exception
Of Senator Foraker? Names. please!
When did Mr.. Fairbanks, or Mr.. Knox
or Mr.. Cannon. or Mr.. LaFollette, or
Mr.. Cortelyou, or Mr.. Hughes get up
in open meeting and make such an on
slaught? And after that proposition
Is thought over for a time, It may APP
peal to some of the sh0uters that, pos
sibly Mr.. Taft knows what he is do
ing.
"The trouble with the opposition to
Mr.. Taft is that it has no candidate
on whom 1t can center It has not yet
found the man. The search has been
frantic. The abilities Of everybody
have been canvassed The interests
have secured the country. And, all
the time. Taft has been humping
along and getting support, because the
president is for him. It may be
combination can be made strong
enough to defeat Taft, but II has not
been made yet, and II 1t isn't made
pretty soon the Chicago convention
will be only a ratification meeting. A
great many powerful men are in the
movement to defeat Taft and, through
him, the president. They all say the
deed must be done, but nobody has
specifications for the operation. It Is
quite likely they will keep trying, and
they may succeed. Meantime, Taft is
a long ways in the lead and 1t will re-
quire lot of sprinting by the people
opposed to the president to catch him.
Colonel Roosevelt Is somewhat Of q
politician himself"