The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-02-14
TAFT,s LINCOLN DAY SPEECH.

| III n l[IuCplD udy SNlli ~ u
usual on such occasions to make thu
special theme the splendid character
and mighty service of the great wal
President in the preservation of the
Union. President Taft, however, tool
the occasion to endeavor to quiet the
fears of New York s corporations, will
respect to the attitude of the Republi
can party towards their business inter
ests, and also to defend the Paine-Al
drich tariff law which is measure
directly contrary to what he himself IL
his campaign speeches declared the
Republican party to be pledged to enact
President Taft seems especially so
| licitous to quiet the fears of the New
York "high fnanciers,o with respect Il
the Republican party programme or
corporation legislation. Apparently
his anxiety took largely the form of al
effort to undo the impressions made by
some of President Roosevelt s violent
| speeches. 1t was sort of "placcbo .
speech, the plain purpose of which was
TO assure the corporation men that they
WOulu hOL DC uiStuAbSV ~
the present administration.
| And yet, there is n good deal Of rea
son for the corporation men to mistrust
this administration, quite as much as
they hated tne Roosevelt admlnlstra'
ton. Roosevelt was violent in speech
but rather impotent in action. He
rampantly pushed and ordered lot
of Ineffective litigation, which seemed
to be extremely searching and caustic,
but which in fact did not amount to
much in the outcome. like the Landis
decision, fning the Standard Oil Co.
twcnty-nine million dollars, with its in
eyitable reversal and practical nullih-
cation in the higher court.
President Taft's administration, on
the other hand, is mild in speech and ex-
tremely violent in action. Nothing has
ever been enacted by Congress, that is
likely to stir up the monopolies like the
corporation tax measure, which was
tackled on to the tariff law as n sort
of rider. The provisions of that cor
poration tax legislation arc extremely
searching and far reaching. They go
much beyond anything that has ever
been attempted in the United States
and if the Supreme Court aflirms the
validity Of that statute (Which q good
many eminent lawyers in the East are
uttering their confidence that 1t will
not do), then we shall have blister to
amply TO corporations that will make
them exceedingly anxious to obtain re"
lief. and he failing to obtain 1t Is
likely to put a great many of them out
of business. This legislation presents
the anomaly OF Federal statute step
ping in and undertaking to require from
State-creatcd corporations certain re
turns involving ell the secrets of their
business, that Federal authority having
nothing to say about either the crea-
tion of those corporations, their forms
or their dissolution. At any time, the
States can adopt some other form Of
corporation life TO which this Federal
statute might in no way apply. The
truth is that logically in our form of
government, the Federal authority has
no right at all to impose any tax upon
State created corporations unless in the
way of an income tax, applicable TO all
individuals, corporations, firms or as
sociations: and the returns from all
should be uniform. IT would be en-.
tirely different if these corporations so
taxed were creations OF the Federal
power AS they are not. and as States
at any time can change the form of
these corporations, so as to AVOID this
tax, il is an illogical piece of legisla-
sion altogether.
With respect to his defense Of the
new tariff law, President Taft at once
places himself in an inconsistent posi-
tion. 1t is logical enough for Aldrich
Cannon and 'the interests that
framed the tariff law on lines directly
opposed to the position of President
Taft, and contrary to the Republican
national platform. TO undertake the dc
fense of this tariff law, But, to put
President Taft up as its defender, is
to make a sorry spectacle of him. In
doing this, he is compelled to cat his
own words, and to profess love for a
measure which, had it been submitted
to him during the Presidential cam
paign, he would have spurned with
scorn, rs failing to comply with what
he deemed to be the pledge made by
the Republican party in its national
platform.
President Taft must have felt that
the need Of assuring the New York spec
ulators was very urgent, and that need
of defense of the tariff law was imme
diate and compelling Otherwise, we
can hardly imagine him making use Of q
Lincoln day celebration to thus 90 Ia
the defense of his own administration
on lines which clearly reverse the
Roosevelt policies" as well as the
| Taft campaign declarations. And the
worst of it is, his reassurances will not
| reassure.
MILLIONS IN IT,