The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1910-08-02
KNOWN TO BE WEAK
WHY PRESIDENT HAS LOST MA
TIoNAL CONFIDENCE.
Review Of Incidents That Have Led
Voters TO Believe That Stronger
Man Is Needed In the Presl-
dental Chair.

President Taft is one OF the most
genial, sociable and kind-hearted of
men. He is honorable, patriotic and
liberal intellectually able, with fac
ulty for making friends. and yet he
has no firm hold upon the affections
Of the American people. There is
nothing in his personality or in his
public life that has impressed itself
on the public attention. He became
president of the United States be-
cause he was Theodore Roosevelt's
candidate. and he was elected by The
odore Roosevelt's vote 1t was
through the Roosevelt influence that
Judge Taft was nominated in the Chi
cago convention of 1908. and 1t was
the Roosevelt influence that induced
1637,676 American voters to cast
their ballots for him.
1t was generally understood that
President Roosevelt was determined
to dictate his successor in order to
have his particular public policy car
RED out, and he believed that the
person chosen through his great pub
lie popularity and influence would be
bound by the most serious obligations
to work the Roosevelt will and per-
petuate his policies.
After being elevated to the highest
political position in this republic
through the all-powerful influence Of
President Roosevelt, the impression
has become general that President
Taft has grown exceedingly luke
warm, II he has not entirely fallen
away, so far as his loyalty to the
Roosevelt authority goes. This idea
is expressed by n writer in the North
American Review, to the effect that
there exists an honest doubt In the
minds OF thousands of worthy and
reputable persons of President Taft's
courage, OF his devotion to the gem
eral welfare, of his desire to enlist
on the side of the weak against the
strong. AS 1t is commonly phrased,
Mr.. Taft is not a sincere believer and
upholder Of the Roosevelt policies"
He has (they say aligned himself
with the ''reactionaries" with whom
his natural sympathies lie
Says the writer mentioned: THE
fact under scrutiny Is that President
Taft does not command unreserved
popular confidence. He has, 1t Is
widely reported, lost ground since
his election. My purpose is to en-
deavor to set forth what 1 conceive
to be the causes of the present luke
warmness in various sections of the
country toward Mr.. Taft's administra-
ton and the suppressed hostility
which it is encountering in other
quarters.
The main causes, as I see them,
that render Mr. Taft suspect in the
minds of those who doubt his devo-
ton to the public interests lie % in
the circumstances of his nomination
and election. (2) disappointment over
the tariff bill and 90 Mr.. Taft's
speeches at Boston, Mass, and WI
mona, MINI, delivered in September
last, at the beginning of his swing
around the circle Minor contributing
causes have been the nimble squirm-
ing around the provision of the Con-
stitution which would have prevented
Mr.. Knox from becoming secretary of
state, the not so fragrant evasion Of
the constitutional prohibition which
prevented A. r. Stewart During
Grants administration, but allowed
Franklin MacVeagh to become secre.
tary of the treasury, what has come
to be known as the Crane incident
and the Ballinger-Pinchot feud."
But 1t is President Tafts position
on the tariff revision that has hurt
him worst and created a wide and
growing chasm in the Republican
party.