The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-03-05
An rnts END or Ills l,Insr YEAR.

An THE END OF HIS First YEAR.
Ever so many reviows linyc been
inndc Of the first year Of MIR. TAFT in
tho White House. The worst that cn,i
br said abu,it 1t probably is that IT.
has not suffered by comparison With
any year Of tho long and jdrcary time
spent in that place by Him. Tile best
that need he said about 1t Is that the
President las succeeded In Keeping Ills
feet on the ground is true that he
did not lot Dr. S. d. N. Nortlt run
Nagcl out of the Cabinet, that he has
not dismissed Farmer Wilson, aud that
he has refused in Il very polite almost
apologize. way to turn our old Bal
lingcr upon the recommendation OF
CLAWS, backed by tho strong right
conservation arm OF one Clifford Pin
chot, who probably misread in one of
his Spiritualistic moments some mes
sage from the upper or neither world
which old Ann Dis Dcbar could have
interpreted for him more accurately.
Walter Page, of the Wprlds Work
Magazine, has been looking into things.
on his own account and has found that
Mr.. Taft has not done many of the
things that he ought to have done ard
has done many things that he
ought not to have done; but Brother
Page has q purely speculative mind
and has never been president OF any
thing, except possibly a debating So
cicty when lie went to the University
at Chapel Hill. He has never been
able to recover from the shock since
1t was discovered that Nicholas Worth
was really not the hero Of THE South
erner,'' but that 1t was his brother
attended to his business instead vi
running off to Harvard who accom-
plished something that was wortl,
while in the upbuildlng of North Caro-
lima. OF coursc,.all that Brother Page
has said has certain value he never
fails to say things that arc wise or
otherwise; but there Is no reason why
lie should get cloudy simply because
| Hitchcock thinks that the postage on
magazines should be increased SO as
to decrease the deficit i'll Hltchcocks
department
Then there is the New York World
/, which has been looking into Mr.. Taits
record, and In little while along
will come Henry Watterson who Will
show that 1t would be almost worth
while going back to Roosevelt Yes
4 tcrday, the esteemed Washington Her
aid blazcd away with a broadsidc o!
two columns of double loaded conclu
sions. 1t must be said that they were
generally fair and sympathetic: bu
& we protest against the reference mad
by our contemporary to lob.
1t is true that lob was never Prcsi
I .dcnt of the United states for even on,
term, but. as we happen to know, Mr.
{ Taft is on the pleasantest terms wit
job. We have actually seen them to
sethcr, ana it is not true, as tn
Herald asserts, that there is a rub 70
any Job that followed Roosevelt to tn
! iWhite House,
9 All this is interesting enough, in
{ way. IL not conclusive as TO anythin
: in particular. While Mr.. Taft has fall
IF Ien down, as we think, on q numbe
y of things, notably on tho "downwar
Sc revision. Of the tariff, it must be sal
: to his credit that he has kept With
II the lines laid down by the law. tina
d he has exalted the law and Just TO tina
: extent has he been wiser and better
in our opinion. than if he had follow
: ed the Roosevelt trail and set u
himself to do things that coul
not be done by authority lIe /
having rather hard time with som
of tho leaders OF his own party: bu
Z we have always thought that he wa
better than his party. and that Is no
4 saving very much for him. We hav
no information that would lead an
thoughtful person to prefer CLAWS an
4 MISUNDERSTANDING of them in the cor
4 rect ordcreof precedencc-or Cummin
I ana Lafollette, to Taft and Aldrich an
Cannon. There is nothing of substan
4 tial benefit to the country in this sor
i of warfare; for. bad as they arc un
uuestionably, Cannon and Aldrich ar
I no worse than the Insurgents.
AS long as Mr.. Taft tries to admins
liter his Office strictly within the Law
4 he will command the sympathy 9
!. thoughtful people throughout the coun
Z try. This does not mean. OF courst
/. that the law is right. and every pos
sible effort should be made to chang
the complexion of the Government
as to change the character of IN
Legislation. but Taft is the most dc
g cent Republican who could be Presi
dent, and the most and tho best shoul
y he made Of that fact.
RsE