Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-06-19
For President William H. Taft.


in the great political battle upon which
the country is now entering, the ma
tional convention at Chicago is SIM
ply obeying the imperative command
of the Republican masses from Maine
to California and from Oregon to
Florida The Republicans of the
country left many important things
for the Chicago convention to attend
to-the framing of the party platform,
the selection Of a presidential
candidate, the organization Of the
| forces for the coming campaign, and
all that-but the choice of the man to
lead the ticket, the selection of a great
| leader to follow Theodore Roosevelt in
the White House, was made by the
| rank and file of the Republican party
weeks and months ago.
In this matter it remained only for
| the delegates assembled at Chicago to
ratify the popular selection, and this
| they did amid scenes of enthusiasm
| rarely witnessed at a national con-
vention. Those correspondents who
| sent back word from Chicago that it
was to be a dull convention because
there was really no fight over the
| presidential nomination have realized
| before this time that they were mis-
| taken. Those people who thought
| that President Roosevelt would break
| his pledged word not to be a candi-
| date again now realize how they be-
| Titled the true character of the man.
| Unquestionably the Chicago conven-
| ticn, backed by the overwhelming
preference of the country as a whole,
would have given President Roosevelt
| another nomination if it had thought
| he would accept it, but it knew that
he said what he meant and meant
| what he said when he declared almost
four years ago that he would not ac-
| cept such denomination.
But although President Roosevelt is
| to retire from the White House he
leaves his great policies behind him.
policies to which the Republican party
stands pledged. 1t is this which gives
Secretary Taft peculiar strength be-
| fore the people of the country. They
know that he stands for the Roose-
welt policies and that President Roose-
welt himself has unbounded admiration
| for the man and every confidence in
| him. They know also that while
Secretary Taft possesses President
Roosevelt's real virtues as an ex-
ecutive and as a statesman. he lacks
that impulsiveness Of nature which
President Roosevelt possesses and
| which has occasionally given his
| friends embarrassment and his enc
| mics opportunities for attack.
The people know that Secretary Taft
has been tried for many years in
! places of great responsibility and that
he has never yet been found wanting.
Upon the federal bench, in the Philip
pines in Cuba, in department work
at Washington, in foreign lands as
the messenger of peace and good will
from our government-in all these
years and on all occasions he has
shown exceptional ability and has
demonstrated that in every way he is
big enough to fill the full measure of
any man who has ever been President
of the United States. He is a man of
tireless energy. big hearted broad
minded, and possessing a personality
which wins him the warm and lasting
friendship of all with whom he comes
in contact.
Those who have opposed the nomi-
nation of Secretary Taft-opposed him
because they knew he stood for the
Roosevelt policies, or opposed him be-
cause they We're working in the inter-
ests of some favorite son of this or
that state-have argued that the COL
ored vote would be against him on ac-
count of the punishment of the col
ored regiment of regulars which shot
up Brownsville, Texas, and that the
labor vote would be against him on
account of certain decisions which he
made as judge on the bench in Ohio.
The folly of such arguments and the
unlikelihood of such opposition are
quickly apparent upon a little in
vestigation. AS to the Brownsville
affair. whatever the justice or the in
Justice meted out to the colored troops,
Secretary Taft simply executed the
orders of his superior officer, the
President, and whatever responsibility
attaches to that affair rests with
President Roosevelt and not with Sec
rotary Taft. AS to those Ohio deci-
sions, they were simply the inter-
probation of the law by an honest