The Morris County chronicle., 1910-02-22
THE PRESIDENT SOUNDS THE KEY
NOTE

! President William Fl. Taft was the
chief speaker Saturday night at the
! twenty fourth annual Lincoln dinner
| of the Republican club of New York
in the Astor gallery at the Waldorf
Astoria and at one of the largest din.
ners ever held in the city the president
defended legislation already intro
duced in Congress as merely carrying
out the pledges of the last Republican
platform. He dwelt at length on the
subject of antitrust legislation, and
said that, while the federal corpora
tionS bill was not part of the plat.
form, he believed the bill to be con-
stitntional, and said that it ought to
be passed.
Governor Hughes, of New York, and
Governor Fort, Of New Jersey, who
were the other leading speakers, de-
clared that the Republican party must
live in the future and each advised the
party to follow the lead of President
Taft
elf the enforcement of the law lis
not consistent with the present meth
cd of carrying on business, then it
does not speak well for the present
methods of conducting business, and
they must be changed to conform to
the law"
This was President Taft's answer to
Wall street and it's cry of "panic. !"
1t was made to cheering audience of
hundreds of prominent Republicans.
Mr.. Taft adhered to his purpose of
discussing platform pledges and how
they should be kept. 1t was at the
conclusion of detailed argument as
to how the Republican party is re-
deeming its pledges that he came to a
discussion of the antitrust law and
Wall street, on which his utterances
had been awaited with the greatest
interest.
The president declared that the ad-
ministration would not foolishly run
amuck in business and destroy values
and confidence just for the pleasure of
doing so.
mo one," he continued, "has a
motive as strong as the administra-
tion in power to cultivate and
strengthen business confidence and
prosperity.
"But there was no promise on the
part of the Republican party to change
the antitrust law except to strength
en- it. OF course, the government at
Washington can be counted on to en-
force the law in the way best calcu-
lated to prevent destruction of pub
lie confidence in business but that it
must enforce the law goes without
saying.'
Mr.. Taft again came to the defense
of the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill. He
did not hesitate, he said, to repeat
that it substantially complied with
the party pledge for tariff revision,
and that, through this bill, the party
had set itself strongly in the right
direction toward lower tariffs"
The president brought statistics in
his address to demonstrate that dur
ing the first six months of the new
tariff law there has been shown
twelve per cent. reduction in the per-
centage ad valorem duties paid on i'm
ports and twelve per cent. increase
n the per cent. of imports admitted
free. Time and wider knowledge,
he thought, would serve to justify the
bill.
Reviewing the party platform, the
president spoke of the postal savings
bank, amendment of the Interstate
commerce law, the anti-injunction
plank, statehood for Arizona and New
Mexico and the conservation of natu-
raj resources bills to carry all of
which promises into effect we're pend
ing in Congress, and he believed would
be passed.