The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-03-12
TWILL BE HEARD WHEN HE is OF
BELIEF 1T is NECESSARY.
When Storm Comes Thunder May Be
Heard Beneath the White House
Roof; President Is No Gentle
Lamb Whenever Things Go Wrong;
Not Afraid to Use Forceful Words.

Washington, March lO-Lightning no
longer may flash necessarily from the
White House, but when the storm comes
no one need doubt that thunder will be
heard beneath the roof.
Washington conversation is this, the
first week of the new administration,
occupies itself almost wholly with the
change of personality that has come
in the administration. There are per
sons VINO mourn the passing of pictur-
csqueness-t change from the cliff
climbing in Rock Creek Park to the
peaceful traversing of the golf links
at Chevy Chase, the shift of the saddle
from the charger to the roadster, and
the change generally to the nolseless
! tenor of a new way.
But the mourners may be comforted.
Judging from the experiences of three
working days The world strenuous" is
not to become obsolete under the Taft
administration. 1t may be displaced
| by another word, for perhaps 1T be-
longs by right of adoption to Theodore
Roosevelt, but the expression that does
duty for it will not lack the signif
canoe of action and endeavor The ca
pacitv of Mr. Taft for labor has under
gone the test and has stood it, and
though some of the vim of another
may be lacking, the vigor always is
present.
Correspondents Had Their Fears.
If it is permitted to talk shop, it
may be said that the Washington cor
respondents looked with apprehension
news aprehension-upon the going of
Roosevelt and the coming of Taft, but
the anxiety has moved from the storm
center. From the time Mr.. Roosevelt
/ became president in his own right there
were no periods of dull dependency or
telegraphic inactivity in the correspon-
dents lives. When it was not race
suicide OF muck raking or nature fax
| ing. or malefactors of great wealth, or
''whose son is fool and his daughter Il
/ foreign princess or railroad rates. or
sources, or something else to keep the
| lift. or conservation of the natural re-
sources. or something else to kee the
pen and the world moving. Little Won
der it is that the men who wrote news
looked upon Theodore Roosevelt as a
personal as well as public bene-
| factor!
The fires in the White House furnace
may cool somewhat, but that enough
live Goals will be left to start things
going when the necessity arises no one
who knows Mr. Taft's abilities as a
stoker doubts. He can get into the
condition of white heat himself, as some
persons could testify. 1t takes righte-
Gus Indignation to make the Taft fires
roar, but they roar properly when well
started, and the boilers 90 to the
safety valve limit. Men of long as.
ISOLATION with the new president say
that when his wrath is aroused it is
time for the wicked to tremble. Every
body who goes to the White House to-
day is Mr.. Taft's friend and he is of
Il disposition, apparently, to value
friendship as few men value it, but it
is said of him that he never hesitates
to make enemies i'll the advocacy of a
cause which he believes is right
Spoke Plainly on Philippine Tariff.
In recent dispatch the present
friendliness of the high-tariff chieftains
i'll congress was told. These are the
men before whom Mr.. Taft once APP
peared as secretary of war on behalf
of a tariff bill which would do Justice
to the Filipino. One of the chieftains
said to Mr. Taft OH that occasion
What would you really like to get for
the islanders?" The answer came in
family and far from softly: Free
trade"
1t was direct and bold pronounce
ment of IA policy that was as the pro
verbal wormwood and gall to ma
jority of the members of the ways and
means committee, who in a political
way had much power in "a day when
Mr.. Taft's thoughts were just begin
ming to turn, even if reluctantly, to
the presidency.
As secretary of war he stood for a
course in Panama canal procedure that
ran counter to the course the strong
ones III the senate would have the
country pursue. He never wavered
He said that men who knew the char
acter of the work and whose honesty
OF purpose could not be challenged
were the ones upon whom he relied
for advice and information, and that
with these men he stood and would
stand against the opinion of any legis-
lative body
Instances might be multiplied of the
aggressive tirmness of the new president
when. with the future at stake, he
stood out against the politically power.
full for those things which to him
seemed just. There are four years
ahead of Mr.. Taft to let it be known
that the White House notwithstanding
the passing of Mr. Roosevelt, is the
scene of activity, and, if need be, of
combativeness.
!
Can Point With Pride
| Chicago Post: Mr.. Knox is one of