The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-03-08
bUhkEM REEF AND
ROCKS ARE AHEAD
OF TAFT
PREolpENT DID NOT CREATE
CONDITIONS AND MUST GET
SUPPORT FROM pusLIc-TAR.
IFF QUESTION VERY COMPLEX.
sy ALFRED HENRY LEWIS.

WASHINGTON, March S.-Mr.
Taft's oficiaI Housekeeping is already
running as even and true as the
breathing OF baby. Also there is
Feeling. presidential. congressional and
on the part Of the hydra-headed, curb
lining public, that the ceremonies.
IKE one OF your big cathedral wed
Qngs, which choke the streets and
occupy two pages in the papers, offer
no guarantee against divorce.
One may look backward. look for
y ward. or look about one at an inaug-
ufation. The natural look is forward;
Cor the nation, never old, is like u
yong man and spends its days in the
Bows or existence, scanning the hori-
non ahead. II goes aft only at inter
walls, consults its wake merely by way
Of self-warning.
M Mr.. Taft will need the loyalty. the
0ith, the forbearance, the help OF all
the people-the good people who
y neither hold office nor hope to hold
once. but from the plowstilts or the
factory benches must pay the ex-
pense, and whose lone interest is that
government. not OF men. but law. shall
persist throughout the land. The
Y path now opening TO the White House
feet Of Mr.. Taft he did not make.
Nm More than was the path OF any
other president. il is beset by diff
entity. When Mr.. Cleveland came 10
the White House he followed one of
Opposite politics to himself. The same
fortune was that OF Mr.. Mckinley.
They stood bound by no policy, com
mitted TO nothing. They were presi-
dentially free. The world was all be-
fnrt- them where choose
RooseveIt's Policies.
With MIR. Taft IL is strenuousiy the
other way about. He follows Roose-
4 velt-at once of his own party and,
after manner. the influence that pro.
duced him. MIR. Roosevelt has been
aggressive, original, very thunder
bolt OF a president. He has revived
b old policies. constructed new ones
and the mildest OF them no policy OF
milk and water, but possessing the
teeth and cutting edge OF acid.
IL has been said. and il is expected.
that Mr.. Taft will push those policies
to conclusion. Today. when the enc
difference between the parties is a
difference of name, ii is those Roose
( welt policies which separate American
mankind. Some oppose, some support
them. and all to the bitterest last
ounce OF their strength Mr.. Taft must
move forward between these two
fighring lines. How shall he agree
with both? IL he push those Roose-
welt policies, he arrays one army
against him. Ii he oppose those pol
icies. he arrays the other. Should he
4 do neither he will be assailed by both.
Look where you will, It's sunken reef
and rocks ahead.
faf
men who have the public good at
heart, will hesitate and step forward
bu; slowly to fasten blame upon Mr.
Taft. He did not create the stormy,
\ rock-sown conditions which confront
him He can but do his best and trust
providence and the public for the bal
ance.
Also, as the days unfold, do not
4 forget that a president is not all-pow'
erful. The White House Is a heavy
K load. I've known four presidents.
There was but one among the four
equal to moving in the least degree
that load The other three were held
by is as helpless as three flies in am
Der. But one of the four had strength
to WELD his Office. In the feebler in
stances OF those others the office
welded them.
No Time for Taft to Learn.
~ Congress will come together March
is. This will be an added disadvan-
tage to Mr. Taft II doesn't give him
time to learn his White House trade.
4 Ii doesn't give his cabinet people time
to learn theirs. All Of which offers
\ another reason why, concerning Mr..
Taft, the world should leap to NJ
conclusions. Considering conditions
rs they align themselves, no one for
round year to come may say with h2lt
certainty that Mr.. Taft as president
Will be an influence for good or H.
The near coming OF congress Is not
Cniy unfortunate. but that IL will con
vene over tariff multiplies the mis-
fortune. It's AS though Mr.. Taft hat
leen iDaugnrated to shoe some pitch
1ng. struggling. kicking savage OF a
horse. What is easier 10 cry than
~Tariff Revision?" What is more diff
cult 70 accomplish? The government
Sy penalties and extrayagances, which
Mr.. Taft had no hand in bringing
+ about. is costing an annual sl.500,0O0.-
600 That money must be raised. TIE
present tariff and revenue laws, I'M
touched and unrevised, don't raise IT,