The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-09-01
ROOSEVELT COLD ON TAFT.

Mr.. Roosevelt is doing "A vast amount
of speaking these days. Both in voln
bility of utterance and in range Of sub
iects he is almost excelling himself. Bul
there is one subject on which he is sin
gularly silent. 1t is a subject, too. on
which the American public would like
to hear his opinions and which one
would naturally have supposed would
occupy the first place in his speech.
making.
He has said not one word in eulogy
of President Taft or in favor of the
Taft administration. He has not in any
way intimated that he thinks the ad-
mnistration should be supported by the
American people. much less should have
a word of praise from anyone.
And yet President Taft is Mr.. Roose-
welt S special gift to the American Ma
tion as President. But for Roosevelt,
Taft could have easily been defeated
and probably would have been defeated,
Roosevelt was the strength OF the Taft
candidacy. and to Roosevelt s unwaver-
ing, staunch and insistcnt, not to say
clamorous, support, Taft's nomination
was due. II would naturally have been
supposed, therefore, that on Roosevelt s
return from his African hunting trip
and his triumphant tour of Europe,
he would have landed in New York
with words Of praise for Taft and OF
admiration for his administration. One
might fairly have expected Mr. Roose
velt to "point with pride 10 Presi-
dent Taft and TO say: "Ahal There
he is. What did | tell you? One of
the great Presidents of the United
States. He is our man. ! gave him to
you. We must all give him our en-
thusiastic, hearty support. Didn't | do
well when | insisted that he was the
right man to carry out my policies and
the one man that ought to be elected to
succeed me to the Presideucy!'
But nothing of that kind came from
Roosevelt Instead. there has been on
his part a significant, perhaps one might
say sullen, silence with respect TO
Taft and to the carrying out of "my
policies by the President.
We really think that Mr.. Roosevelt
has carried his contemptuous silence
with respect to President Taft as far as
is decent. He should come out with
some sort of an endorsement of Taft
and congratulations of himself for Civ
ing Taft to the country as It's great
and sound President.
1t is not becoming, really, for Mr..
Roosevelt to come home and put up
Job on the Standpatters Of the Republi
them without so much as saying, "by
your leave or asking Taft s pardon
for jostling him off the standpat pedes-
tai. The Roosevelt play was all the
time to join the progressives of the Re-
publican party; but he was determined
not to do so without first catching Taft
and carrying him along into the pro.
gressive ranks, He has done that, and
even yet there is not one word Of ac-
from Roosevelt for Taft
nothing to indicate that Roosevelt is
even yet content, unless we might imap. |
me his chuckle of satisfaction at the
easy game that he made of Taft when
ne captured him from "the old guard"
IF New York.
Come, come, Mr.. Roosevelt! Don t be
so contemptuously silent about Presi-
dent Taft. The silence that YOU have
kept up Is worse than censure. We
submit to you candidlv, as man TO mar,
hat 1t is about time you came to the |
front and told the American people
what You think about the man that you
gave TO them for President