The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1908-08-28
The Drift Toward Taft.

promptly grasp. Led OF by the
Brooklyn Eagle, which bolted Bry-
an even before his nomination, but
at time when the nomination was
seen to he inevitable, most of the
important independent newspapers
have, in the past few weeks, taken
the same step. The New York
Times, the Boston Herald, the
Springfield Republican and the
Philadelphia Ledger are few of
the journals which usually or often
support the democratic ticket, bat
which have now come to the repub
lean side. Except the New York
World, which at last has turned to-
ward Bryan, every important news
paper III the, country of independent
learnings is supporting Mr.. Taft.
None OF the papers here referred to
call themselves republican. Some
OF them even say that they are still
democratic journals, but as their in
tiuence will he used for the election
OF the republican ticket their weight
In the scale in favor of Candidate
Taft will be of great value.
But the swing of the Baltimore
sun over to Taft has a still greater
significance than has that Of any
other paper here named. The Sun
has always been democratic. It
dlsllked Bryan in 1896, and for
time was identified with the Palmer
and Buckner democratic boilers,
but in the end it accepted Bryan.
In 1900 it supported Bryan, and
though it has opposed his nominate
on in 1908, as most of the other
great democratic newspapers Of the
south did, the country supposed
that in the end it would give him
the same sort Of support that
is being furnished him by the
Charlton News and Courier, the
Richmond Times Dispatch, the
Nashville American and the others
OF Bryan's recent opponents which
are now urging the democratic vot-
ers Of their locality to make the best
of a bad situation and vote for him.
But the Sun, which has always been
as robustly democratic as any of
them, repudiates Bryan and Bryan=
ism altogether, and comes squarely
over to the support Of the republi-
can ticket. 1t is the judgement of
the Sun that the material welfare of
the people of the United States, in
dustrial and financial, would oe
promoted to a greater degree by the
election Of Taft than by the election
Of Bryan" The Sun follows these
words by saying that Mr.. Taft's
experience in important administra-
tive posts, his judicial tempera-
ment, his patience and thorough
ness III investigation, justly the be-
lief that as president he would exc
cute the law faithfully and well, but
not spectacularly,"
Unquestionably the qualities here
cited for Mr.. Taft are having a pow
erful effect in drawing the support
OF conservative and intelligent de
mocrats over to him. 1t is a dull
day which does not see some prom
inent democrat swing to the repub-
lican side. The drift Taftward in
the south among the sane and solid
citizens of that section has given
hope to some of the republican cam
palgn managers that one or two of
the old confederate states might be
captured by the republican party
this year. This expectation will
pre-. badly turn out to be vain, how
ever. But in the border states.
where the swing toward the repubIi
cans is especially strong, the chanc-
es for Taft are favorable. The re-
volt against Bryan by the business
element in Baltimore, Of which the
Sun 5 reputation Of the Denver
candidate is feature, means that
Maryland is likely to align itself
with the republicans in 1903. Mary
land was carried by Mckinley in
1896 and 1900, and on a square vote
and count Roosevelt would have
, had the state in 1901. He obtain
ed one of the states electoral votes