The Democratic advocate., 1908-08-21
AUTOCRATIC GOVERNMENT.
Taft Represents Protection, Privilege
and PlutOcracy.

Taft Represents Protection, Privilege
and PlutOcracy.
From the New York World August Is.
| Under Theodore Roosevelt person
al, autocrat1c government has been
carried to the furthest extreme known
to American politics.
Although Mr.. Taft is the Republi-
can candidate, it is Theodore Roose-
welt and Theodore Roosevelt's Admin
istration that are on trial and asking
for vote of confidence. AS an op-
portunity for registering public dis
satisfaction with arbitrary govern
ment, for recording the protest
against one man power, for measur-
| ing public conscience toward sane,
statesmanlike progress and reform,
the election in November must have
great significance.
Regardless of Mr.. Taft's great abil-
ity, wide experience and engaging
personality, he cannot escape from
his political environment. His party
is still the party of Protection, Priv
| ifege and P1utocracy. Practically
every Trust promoter in the country
! is a Republican; practically every
ruthless malefactor'' is a Republican.
Although Republican House of
Representatives passed the Campaign
Fund Publicity bill and Mr.Taft wrote
to Senator Burrows indorsing the
measure, the Chicago Convention re-
jected the publicity plank, with only
| 94 votes for it to $50 against it. The
man who permitted this capitulation
in order that the protected industries
might secretly be bled and blackmail-
ed on the eve of tariff revision is the
man who took George B. Cortelyou
from the post of corporation inquisi-
tor and made him collector Of corpo-
ration campaign tributes. He is the
same man whose own candidacy was
financed in part by insurance money
filched from the policy-holders; who
wrote the letter to My Dear Mr.. Har-
riman" assuring him that you and I
are practical men," and who encour-
aged Hartman to raise $260,000 as a
corruption fund to help carry the
State of New York.
In spite of the creditable declara-
ton from the Taft headquarters that
all contributions to the campaign
fund will be made public in accord
ance with the laws of New York, the
record of the Roosevelt surrender
still stands as representing the senti-
ment of the party.
Although Mr. Roosevelt in his stump
speeches for two years vehemently
insisted upon the restriction of "swol-
len fortunes" by means of income and
inheritance taxes, not one word ap-
pears in Mr.. Roosevelt's Chicago plat
form in favor of these just and eQuit-
,, able measures. In spite of all his
!, frenzied denunciation of maIefactorS
of great wealth, all "the malefactors
; of great wealth are praising the plat
form and pledging their support to
the ticket.
To make assurance doubly sure that
the work of his convention would
command the approval of Wall street
and the predatory elements in gener-
al Mr.. Roosevelt made James S. Sher-
man the party candidate for Vice
President. Mr.. Sherman represents
the very tendencies in politics that
Mr.. Roosevelt pretends to oppose so
violently Yet Mr.. Roosevelt elevates
this astute representative of Wall
street politics to the dignity of a Man
, Of My Type. at
Never in the lifetime of the Repub-
lie has there been greater need Of a
!, virile, aggressive, uncomprOmising
Opposition to the party in power-to
Rooseveltism, militarism, jingoism,
centralization, personal government
and panic The American people
need peace, they need prosperity, they
, need unemployment = they need
bread.
The World will treat Mr.. Bryan
with scrupulous fairness and justice.
1t will endeavor to treat him more
than generously because it so vigor-
ously argued against his nomination.
Our conviction is stronger than ever
that Gov. Johnson or Judge Gray
could have polled tens of thousands
of votes which Mr.. Bryan cannot get.
But if Mr. Bryan should adhere to his
admirable speech of acceptance and
the gratifying pledges to bury the
past,and should prove during the
campaign that he has profited by de-
feat and unlearned his past follies in
the school of experience; if he should
resolutely keep his back turned upon
the delusive issues which he has hith-
erto advocated; if he should refrain
| from attacks upon the Courts; if he
should avoid all appeals to class pre-
judice; if he should prove that he is
not the old Bryan but a new Bryan
courageously leading the popular pro-
test against the excesses of RoOse-
veltism, he can then appeal with fair
prospects of success to the great in
dependent vote-in some States the
deciding vote-that will be governed
not by clamor but by reason, not by
clap-trap but by conscience, not by
noise but by facts and truth, not by
appeals to class hatred and ignorance
but by appeals to public intelligence.
public intelligence.