The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-08-06
PRESIDENT TAFT WINS
Aldrich, Payne and Cannon are Com
PEELED to Concede What He Asks

| Wouio hdNO DCGu
the fact that it has demonstrated
to Senator Aldrich and Speaker
Cannon that they have in the
White House dominant and
forceful character to deal with,
instead OF the good natured, easy
going and corpulent individual
they have unwisely assumed Pres
ident Taft to De. They have learn
ed, moreover, that Mr.. Taft pos
sesses, like most great men, an
exceedingly simple mind and, in
the political world, a most re-
markaole disposition to assume
that people mean what they say,
and say what they mean with the
purpose Of keeping their word.
Many weeks ago it was remarked
] in these letters that there was
some anxiety for fear Mr. Aldrich
had misjudged the temper of the
| President and was somewhat too
complacently assuming that he
when the time came in securing
executive approval of the tariff
bill. The same assertion was made
3y your correspondent elsewhere,
in a place where it attracted the
attention of Mr.. Aldrich himself.
1t somewhat disturbed the sena-
tor from Rhode Island who is re-
markedly indifferent to public
criticism, but who is keenly touch
ed when any one impugns his as
| tuteness in taking the measure of
the men with whom he comes in
contact. Mr.. Aldrich ridiculed the
statement, declared that there
were few men who knew William
Howard Taft Better than himself,
that there was a perfect under
standing oetween them and sug-
gested that it was piece of pre-
sumption which ESCAPED the RI
diculous only because it was sub
lime' for newspaper correspond
ent to suggest that he did not un-
derstand the President. Mr.. Aid
rich has perhaps forgotten the
incident, but subsequent events
have amply demonstrated the ac-
curacy of the first assertion. When
President Taft declared publicly
that he favored removing the du-
ty entirely from certain raw ma
terials, and that he regarded the
House rate of ST. thousand feet
ON lumoer as amply high, there
was no one more amazed than Mr..
Aldrich. He rushed to the White
House and confidently assured
the President that he had made
grave tactical Slunder, that his
published statement amounted to
criticism of a Repuolica tar
if measure, and that it would
arouse antagonism in Congress
which i: would De extremely diff
cul. to overcome. The President
calmly replied that it was Mr..
Aldrich who had made the mis-
take, that he, the President, fully
appreciated that his statement
amounted to criticism of the Dill
and that he realized perfectly that
it would arouse antagonism in
Congress that could not oe over
come; that such was his purpose
in making the statement. He said
Mr.. Aldrich had assured him all
along that the bill would be made
satisfactory to him in conference;
that now Mr.. Aldrich was attempt
ing 20 induce him to agree to a
Dill which was not satisfactory to
him, :a1 that constituted the real
tactical 5lunder, and that Mr.. Aid
| rich and his colleagues were evil
| dently laooring under misap-
| prehension when they assumed
that he could oe easily cajoled in
to approving tariff dill which
did NOS meet with his sincere ap-
proval.
When the fight for free hides
/ had oeen won-by the President
Mr.. Aldrich thought that the time
was rips for exacting compensa-
ton from the President, and SO
did Mr.. Cannon. They arranged
an agreement on the tariff BILL
with a rate of $1.50 a thousand on
lum5er and portion of the House
rates on gloves. The House rate
on gloves is an increase prom
| ised oy Speaker Cannon to ex-
Representative Littauer, the Dig
/ gest glove manufacturer in the
country, as the price of Mr.. Lit
tauer's successful efforts to pre-
vent change in the House rules,
which would have curtailed the
lSpeaker's power.
i Mr.. Aldrich wanted the higher
rate on lumoer to compensate his
western friends who had been OBJ
lliged to accept free hides. Hav-
| ing agreed upon this scheme, the
conferees, headed by Mr.. Aidrich,
gave out the news that an agree
ment had been reached on the tar
iff Dill. They went to the White
House and showed the ,oill to the
President, saying they had seen
o5liged TO put the higher rate on
gloves to please the Speaker, and
| the higher rate ON lumoer to se-
lcure the votes OF the weatern SEN