The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1909-07-16

fairs that ever occupied the presiden-
tial chair. Although heralded with
much eclat, beating of timbrels and
tomtoms, so to speak, as the best pre-
pared man who ever aspired to the
grave duties and responsibilities en-
cumbent upon the nations chief. His
training, it was said, had been most
thorough, and it was prophesied, by
his friends, that his administration
and businesslike in its widespread and
wholesome influence in lettering con-
ditions for all the people in every
avenue and walk of life Will the
prophecy be fulfilled? Under President
Taft-never! That is, it will never
come true with regard to colored
American citizens whom his oath of
Office obligateS him to mete out even
handed justice to and as impartially
as to every other class of American
citizenship. Will he abide by the
mandates of the Constitution, or will
he sidetrack them by mental evasions
or otherwise when they conflict with
his Southern policy program? From
what can be gathered from the South
ern press, Mr.. Taft is dead in line"
with the wishes of that section re-
specting the colored citizens and a
further curtailment of their already
unreasonably limited and circum-
scribed rights and immunities, all of
which is in contradistinction to the
basic law of the land.
1t can truthfully be said that there
are thousands upon thousands of col
ored citizens who are not deceived in
Mr.. Taft nor will they be deceived
by anything he may do to their detri-
ment He is an entity of circum-
stance or of Dame Fortune who
sometimes plays strange freaks by the
bestowal of unmerited prizes upon
some who chance to meet her fancy
in one of her freakish moods. Now
it is meet to say in this connection
that, although Mr.. Taft was elected
as President, if he does not possess
that depth and breadth of comprehen-
sive patriotism and justice that will
allow him to act for the best interest
of all the people in every part of the
country, then he is lacking both in
the moral courage and eminent quail
tiles that should be a part of the
stock and store of the man who fills
the august and exhalted position of
President of the United States.
Mr.. Roosevelt, one of the shrewdest
and most masterful manipulators of
men, made possible the nomination
and election of Mr.. Taft. No one bet
ter knew Mr.. Taft's strong and weak
points than did Roosevelt. Is it not
conjectural and more than barely pos
sible that back of all his strenuous
and determined effort to foist upon
the country a Taft administration,
there was the well-laid plan to en-
phasizes and bring out into holder re-
lief the achievements of his own adj
ministration by following it with that
Of a makeshift one by a weak success
sor? Mr.. Roosevelt seated the man
he had raised from the ranks, and
turning the reins of Government over
to him, Immediately quilted the
country. He now sojourns in far
away Africa, going in and out of its
jungles with rife and gun mere
nimrod. He is, for the time being,
divorced from American politics, and
on that score, it is probable, would
not feel competent to give Mr.. Taft
advice should he so desire it. There
may be in Mr.. Roosevelt's African trip
something of more far-reaching signi-
ficance than bagging the denizens of
the jungles. And, too, he is compare
lively young man in possession of
a wonderful amount of mental and
physical stamina, ambitious, with still
a future, and thereby may hang a
tale that is yet to be told. He may
be making it imperative for the Re-
publican party to have to look to him
for leadership again. 1t may be he
knew that Mr.. Taft's Southern Poll
cy" might be his undoing, and in
stead of having to wait until 1916,
as his son-in-law, Longworth, init
mated, he, perchance, might be needed
to lead the old guard, the G. o. P, in
1912.
One thing is sure, mark the pre-
diction, if the country has four years
of Taftism, and he is again nominated,
and if the Democrats happen (said
advisedly) to nominate a candidate as
strong as Mr.. Cleveland, then Mr.
Taft with his insipid administration
thoroughly inoculated with his South.
ern policy" virus will lead the G. o.
P. to its Waterloo Mr.. Taft's hand