Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1910-04-14

srAFT, A HEwER or woOD.v
The Topeka State Journal makes
this very pertinent point on the In
sincerity Of the insurgents fight
against President Taft: AS has been
remarked before consistency is not
one OF the Jewels In the collection Of
gems Of which the Republican "in-
surgents Of the country are possess
ed, and especially that portion Of
them who have their habitat in Kan
sas. They have made up their minds
that Mr. Taft has failed miserably In
the discharge Of the duties Of his
high office. They like 70 believe
that when Mr.. Roosevelt gets back
home he will take the lead in the
movement against the president. On
this particular point they are likely
to get grieyously fooled.
But they did not always hold to
these ideas. No, indeed. At one
time It was their opinion that Mr..
Taft was the only man who could
bring order out Of chaos in the ad-
ministration Of the affairs Of the
nation. And they did not expect
him to do 1t in one or two years.
They thought 1t would take six or
eight years. They thought ne would
be doing mighty well II he did 1t In
that length of time. But now they
call him failure because he has
not done in fifteen months what they
were willing to give him two presi-
Dental terms to do. That these
things are SO was called to mind the
other day by perusal Of the files
Of American magazine. In one Of
them published q couple OF years
ago was found an article by the arch
deacon of the Kansas insurgency,
Brother White. 1t was entitled Taft,
Hewer Of Wood" A couple OF
brief excerpts from II follow:
crimes demand not a man bearing
promises Of new things, but man
who can finish the things begun.
Such a man is Taft, newer of wood,
who has no ambition to link his name
with new measures, but who, with
steady hand, and a heart always
kind and mind always generously
lust. can clean off the desk.
He knows the desk is cluttered up.
He knows that 1t may take six or
eight years merely to get down to
the mahogany under things now
pending. But the American people
know that some way this must be
done before this nation can 80 fur
Their. And hence. in the Mississippi
valley at least, there is a belief that
the man who can make the Hepburn
railroad law as much part Of our
common life as the postal regula-
tions, who can grind the rough edges
off the Sherman law through the
courts, who can finish the canal,
and deal with Cuba kindly, honestly
and firmly, who can lead the brown
men Of the Islands further into the
light, is the big, Woodworking. soft
hearted, fair-minded, unselfish man,
Taft. He can clean off the desk"
Now would 1t not be showing an
inclination to be generously Just"
IL Mr. william Allen White and his
brethren in the Kansas anti-Taft
movement today gave Mr.. Taft q rea-
sonable length of time, six or eight
years." for instance, to accomplish
the matters he has in hand? Is It
generously just for the Kansas
insurgents" to charge him with be-
ing a failure because he has not done
in fifteen months what they were
willing at one time to give him
several years to accomplish? It
would seem 50. And II would not
take President Taft anything like
six or eight years to do these things
II he had the undivided support Of
the Republicans elected to congress.
But he hasn't. The 'lnsurgents" in
congress are being patted on the.
back as being the soIomons Of their
generation by the "Insurgentsp at
home In Kansas and other states be-
cause they have used such wisdom
as they have in voting with the rep
resentatlves Of the Democratic party
to put the Taft administration in the
hole.
Atchison Globe: Close observers
49, na.a l. U.....