New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-03-06
THE DAyINWASHINGTON
GFrom The Tribune Bureau. |


Washington, March g..
TAFT PUZZLES THEM.-The quiet de-
termination of the Taft administration ap-
pears to be as mystifying to many of the
men charged with the control of corporate
/ interests as did the outspoken denunciation
of the Roosevelt regime Because Mr.. Taft
has refrained from jenunciatory ges
to Congress ard from pillorying ''malefac-
tors of great wealth. many Of the men re-
sponsible for. combinations which they seem
to believe are Illegal have assumed that
/ there would be no more serious prosecu-
lions for violations of the Sherman law.
They have regarded President Taft and At
torney General Wickersham the friends
of business interests who would exhibit
large sympathy for those conducting their
affairs in violation of the Sherman act, and
now they are so angered and dismayed at
the iniexible attitude of the administration
that they are actually expressing the nope
that Mr.. Roosevelt may be returned to the
White House. OF course these men have
only themselves TO blame for their misCon-
ception OF the Observation-Disclosures ana
the '.muckrakers'' who have wantonly mis-
represented the President-but even If they
realize that fact it does not tend 10 as
suage their indignation. The fact that the
Attorney General has gone 10 New YORK
that in peace and quiet he may devote hili-
self to preparing an impregnable aSsImeh'
against the Standard Oil Company is pl'-
terIy resented and 1.-The Tooley street tai
lors. declare that Mr.. Taft has completely
forgotten those who elected him.
INSuRGENT METHODIST Congress
shall fail 10 enact constitutional postai
savings bank law at this session the hIaiiie
will he clearly chargeable TO those lnsprs-
ents who prefer an attitude which they
think will prove popular with ther COLI
s.;+,,ents ~ q course which will square
with their obligations TO Congress and 10
the party. President Taft has repeatedly
cont for members of the insurgent faction
and has with infinite patience pointed Out
10 them the baneful effect Of their course.
He has not asked them to apahdoh liie
principles on which they base their iisuls
arcy He has not asked them to support
Sneaker Cannon but he has urged them
No, 70 leonard the few mea Sures which ne
bas desianated as a part of his legislative
r,rosrarnr,e and has met their every argu-
r1lent only to find them atttudlnzns again
in the Senate as if he had not talhed Will
them at all and by their course menaclhe
the legislation to which he is conlHiiteeu
and against which they can present no
effective argument other than that tneiI
o,nosition is oopular with the people pach
home II is this uncompromising selHSl-
mess and demagogy which so irrltates the
President and leads him to regard the IN
sursents with anything but FAVOR
POSTAL, SAVINGS BANKS-The &C
ceDtance by Senator Carter ana tHe 0eha'o
Of the amendment of Senator Bofdh 10 'i'e
nos+al savings bank bill. whereby II Is pro-
vided that the funds of the proposed banks
shall not be invested in government Secui-
tiles which bear less than 2 a per cent IN
terest. will, of course, be seized upon DIS aii
"insureent victory" although an analysis
of to-day's votes clearly proves that IL was
NOT The CumminS amendment, when was
the insurgent proposition. was defeated by
a vote of 40 to IS. The Borah Amendment,
having been accepted by the organization
was adopted by a vote of 40 to l. 1he
Borah amendment has the effect CT pre-
venting the investment OF the postal savings
funds in the existing ? per cent bonds, but
assurance had already been given that they
would not be. 1t does not, however, pre-
vent their investment in the securities OF
the government in any grave emergency,
which is precisely what the orsan1zatlon'
headed by Senator Root, had been urging
II is a safe prediction that not for many
wears will there be another issue of govr
eminent bonds bearing less than "a per
cent. so that the adoption of the Borah
amendment was not a great concession on
the part of the organization, much less a
victory for the insurgents.