The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-02-19

| Tor better bill, and when he found it
could not be had, he forced in the COM
nilsson proviso. This is very impor-
tant. 1t holds the door open. The
president has not had the credit he
should have for this act
Three things about this tariff bill
| hurt Taft. First he allowed congress
to come together without advising 1t
fully what kind OF a bill the country
needed. Had he done that the country
would have rallied to him and he would
have faced Aldrich and Cannon down
on the cotton and wooden schedules. the
black blots on the bill.
| Second, the president was unwise
when he went out and defended the
bill. OF course, he did it judicially, and
| technically he was right. He admitted
its faults, but he was not prudent in his
phraseology. The best tariff ever
| passed" sticks in the American crop.
1t has not gone down.
In the third place, the president has
been rather too colloquial in his con-
slant references to regulars" and
insurgents" Let the politicians en-
ploy these phrases. To him there is
only one republican party, and that is
composed of the men who are pledged
| by republican conventions. He would
! do better political work to enlarge upon
republican causes of concord and not
| of discord.
From these things the president has
lost a great deal of popularity. This
| loss we believe to be entirely due to
unfortunate sayings. The presidents
messages are abreast of the times on
the trust and control questions. They
are strong, logical, virile and patriotic.
But his lesser speeches lack in fine
ness. They are careless and clumsy.
The president is not a humorist nor an
epigrammatist. He is at his best when
he is earnest and gives free play to
his enormous powers of sustained and
sane reasoning. This is his forte.
The political atmosphere is sur
charged with discomfort. The people
are angry at an apparent failure of
| results. They blame the president.
Some Of the more superficial fume at
his smile and his size. These are of
the same class with those who called
Lincoln gorilla. They made the gen.
tie Lincoln sad and they may make the
cheerful Taft sour, but they will not
construct anything for the country.
Justice demands that the people take
stock of the Taft administration and
periodically determine whether to
stand by or throw ii over. There is a
great patriotic issue at stake. The peo-
pie are making fight against special
privilege. The money power has grown
enormously strong and dangerously
centralized. One of it's weapons has
been an excessive tariff. The indigna
ton against the excessively protected
interests is justified. With a boldness
which is characteristic of a money-mad
industrialism, various trusts mark up
prices even 40 per cent with the pas
sage of theotarin measure.
What shall we do about it? Shall we
throw Taft over because his first battle
with monopoly was a draw? Shall we
sulk over some mistake of the presi-
dent2 Or shall we give him patriotic
support because we know he is honest
and wilp stick to the fight?
Patriotism is wanted. Patriotism of
the kind which stood by Lincoln when
battles were being lost as well as
when they were being won. Fair
weather favor and foul weather deser-
ton will not hurt the trusts. Taft is
courageous. He Is honest. He has re-
serves of power. He knows the integ-
rity of his own intentions and will not
be driven by harangue or hypocricy.
The fight against special interests is
hard. Cleveland could not beat the
tariff crowd. Mckinley dared not try.
Roosevelt never started a tariff war.
Taft did. Shall he fight alone or will
the people let their representatives In
congress know what they expect of
them? To our mind this is no time
to lie down." 1t is a time for patriotic
support of measures that. enacted in
to law, will help to break the power
of privilege.
| In fight against monopoly fun re-
suits cannot be realized in a day or
through a single measure. The west.
which today is leading the country i'm
careful thought on the great issues of
public control, should make that
thought consistent by coupling with it
a full support of President Taft in the
principal measures now before con-
gress.
We shall reach the tariff again in due
season, and. thanks to President Taft,
when the people come up to attack that
citadel of monopoly again they win
come fully armed with the facts.
President Taft is growing not a
receding quantity. How fast he will
grow will depend in part upon the quail
ity of American patriotism.
"a The price of Easter bonnets will
also be higher.
- Governor Burke can get a move
on--when prodded.
&C. When the special interests which
did not get all they wanted, quit abus-
ing the present tariff law--it will be.
found not to have been such bad
measure. after all.
e. Public Occurrences, one of the
first newspapers ever published in
America. never got beyond its initial
issue. II appeared in Boston Sept. Is,
1890. II contained promise to publish
in the next issue the names of all the
liars In Boston and the authorities,