Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1909-01-15

his speech Of acceptance. He franhN
accepted the role of me too" by de-
Tending the Roosevelt policies in their
entirety and explaining that his work.
If elected. would be To carry on those
reforms in detail.
Aug. l., at Lincoln. Ncb.. Bryan was
notified Of his nomination and sounded
the keynote of his campaign In the
question. shall the people rule?' In
subsequent speeches he gave great
prominence to the bank guaranty plan,
TO the popular election of senators and
to campaign publicity before election.
He made II special bid for the labor
vote on the injunction plank. He
would destroy all trusts controlling
! over so per cent of an industry.
Regarding the depression as the be-
! ginning Of the breakdown Of the cap
italst system and claiming the army
of idle workers as their asset. the So
cialists oe America went INTO the cam
paign with better weapons than ever
before. On May 10 the Socialist con-
ventton met at Chicago. For the first
time the Socialists Of America af-
irnied their position on specific ques-
tions Of policy. The convention NOM
mated on the first ballot unanimously
Eugene Y. Debs for president and Ben
jamin Hanford for vice president, the
same ticket put up 10y the Socialists In
1904
OF - I.,
great strides thei. cause had made on
the local option Issue in many states.
nominated Eugene w. Chafin Of ILL
noiS and Aaron s. Watkins Of Ohio
July Is at Columbus, O., on n plat
form containing many radical propos-
ais besides that against the sale or
manufacture OF intoxicants
On July % at Chicago the first ma
tional convention Of the Independence
party. Cutgrowth of the league organ
lied by Editor Hearst, named Thomas
l.. HiSgen OF Massachusetts and John
Temple Graves Of Georgia on Il plat
form containing most of the radical
Ideas Of the Democrats and some more
radical. Opposition to Bryan was its
keynote.
| The Peoples party April 3 at st.
| Louis again named = lOmas f. Watson
! Of Georgia as its standard bearer along
with s. ". Williams Of Indiana, al
though 1t did not put a ticket up IN
all Of the states.
On Sept. 15, ut Columbus. O., Hearst
| stirred up the hitherto calm current Of
the campaign by reading into his
speech the first batch Of series Of
letters which had been stolen from the
! files of the Standard Oil company and
| which threw sinister light on the ac-
tivities Of various public men. notably =
Foraker, Bailey. MacLaurin, Sibley,
Governor Stone. who was urged to ap-
point them. Most CT the letters were
written by Vice President ArchbOld Of
the trust and contained divers certi(i-
Gates Of deposit for large sums of
money. At the same time Hearst re-
/. peated the story OF the alleged attempt
to bribe former Attorney General Mon
nett Of Ohio wherein Haskell, the DEM
ocratic treasurer, was made to figure.
AS governor Of Oklahoma Haskell also
was accused Of protecting a legal
branch Of the Standard. Foraker Mt
once withdrew from the campaign. and
the president issued d hot statement
f'condemning the Ohioan and gave out
an old letter showing how Taft had re-
fused to deal with Foraker; then COM
pared this course to that Of Bryan and
Haskell. Bryan replied. demanding a
hearing for Haskell. and then ensued
bitter verbal duel on personal and
party issues. Haskell resigned, but
protesting innocence. as did also Du
Pcnt. the powder trust head, from the
craftsmanship Of the Republican speak
ers' bureau. Both the president and
Taft took the ground that publishing
names Of contributors before election
would be to invite unfair and partisan
criticism Of candidates.
Gompers appealed to all unions in
the A. F. of L. to give moral and flnan-
cial support to Bryan. Speaker Cannon
was the special target Of the Gompers
battery, and "Cannonism" became a
national issue. many candidates for
congress being pledged against Cannon
as the next speaker.
On Nov. 3 the voters Of the nation
had their say. The extent Of the Re-
publican victory can be best remem-
bered by the statement that Taft car
ried every state that Roosevelt did in
1904 except Nebraska. Colorado and
Nevada. Furthermore. Taft invaded
the solid south with small pluralitIes
In Maryland and Missouri and large
gains In other southern states. The
popular vote stood: Taft, 1851, ,676;
Bryan, 6,393. 1872; Debs, 1861; Chafin,
241 ,252; Hisgen, S3,1S6: Watson. 1851;
Gilhaus (SOcialist-Labor), 15,421; total.
IA .852 239. The total vote in 1904 was
l3,51O,10S. Several states in the Taft
column elected Democratic governors
Harmon In Ohio. Marshall in In
diana and Johnson in Minnesota. Taft
captured the Democratic stronghold Of
New York city. The Republican major
ity In congress was reduced to AZ,
the total being 90 and the Demo
cratic 172. The senate's Republican
complexion was unchanged.
The early mcnths Of the long session
Of congress were devoted chiefly to the
Republican wrangle over the terms Of
currency bill. The Aldrich relief
measure finally went through the SEN
ate March % despite the all night fill
buster Of La Toilette, to propitiate
whom the railroad bond feature had
been cut out. La Toilette named an
Ollgarchy Of fourteen wealthy men
who. he said. actually ruled the ma
ton. The Vreeland bill, in which
clearing house associations were made
the channel Of the new currency issue,
was passed by the house. and then a
compromise between that and the AID
rich bills, with provision for a joint
commission to report on permanent re-
forms, was adopted by both branches
/ onA ctUpod nv bo v,ractdort