The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1910-01-13
WASHINGTON

and sometimes join with the Demo-
Gratis to take a successful swat at
Cannon. All party legislation hangs
in the balance. Also Taft has been
inveigled by the Cannon crowd into
threatening to use the power of the
patronage against the insurgents and
is widening the split that way-for
not a single insurgent is scared at
all by these threats. They are simp-
ly getting madden and madden all the
time, and the danger is that they
will be turned against Taft instead
of just against Aldrich and Cannon,
as they have been 50 far.
But all this tells very little. To
get down to solemn recital OF the
facts, the row began in the middle
of last week, when It was learned
that Taft and the Cannon crowd
we're to join in trying to force the
insurgents into line. Some one has
been lying TO Taft, and he has not
caught on yet. He Is after just one
thing-the passage of certain legis-
lation. He has never had any other
thing in mind, but TO get thru the
legislation he wants, and il is good
legislation. too. SO he has been try
ing TO keep in with Cannon ct al, for
the sake of that And when they
told him that the insurgents were
going to fight this legislation it
made him mad. and he promised to
use what power he had TO compel
them TO get into line-not for the
tariff, as Cannon claimed, but for
the measures he is now advocating.
The funny thing about It Is that
the insurgents are already in line
for all these measures, and 1t is the
Regulars" who will oppose them, II
any one does. But Taft was fooled
into making the threats against these
men who want to help him, and It
will make ii all the harder for him
to do what they want. Still. they will
probably do it.
On top of this 1t was learned that
the Cannon crowd was using its
control Of the Congressional Camp
align Committee to fight the insurgent
Republicans, in their home districts.
and was using the money given by
loyal Republicans, not to elect Repub-
lican congressman, but to defeat
them. SO the insurgents announced
that they would come back too, and
they will fight the regulars as hard
as possible. Reports from the ooun-
try where the fight will be hot. that
is the Middle West, show that 1t is
safe TO say that unless something
very unusual happens there will be
more insurgent Republicans in the
next Congress than in this one, In
spite of all that the Cannon crowd
can do to the contrary.
Following this came the Presi-
dents message. A full review of 1t
will be found on another page. We
will only stop to point out two things
First, that it is almost exactly as
we prophecied 1t would be, except
that II has not the recommendation
for a valuation of the railroads. The
second thing. is that in the message
the President evidently is asking for
all that he thinks he can get and not
for what he wants. Still, the recon-
are very good. and IL en-
acted will form a great advance all
along the line of the regulation and
control of corporations and trusts.
The plan is to leave them with pow
err to do all the good they can in the
way of cheaper production, and to
take away their powers of doing
harm. How successful the plan will
be cannot be told until 1t Is tried,
but Tart does not ask to abandon
any ground already gained, he pro-
misses to enforce the law we now
have better thar II has ever been
and he asks us to take
certain steps which we all approve
and certain others which some do
not approve, but which he feels are
to complete the plan. The
is a good one, and If moth
ing else had happened would have
gone long way toward restoring
that confidence of the people which
Taft has gradually been losing.
But the message was followed the
next day by the most serious blunder
which has been made by an American
president in the memory of liv-
Ing mantle dismissal from office