The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-10-26
President Taft InVades the Ter
ritOry of His Rival.
will Make a Speech in Wisconsin
Metropolis Tonight.
EACH DREW A BLANK.
Members of President Taft's
Party Registered at Gregory.
All Hoped to Win a Farm and
Retire From Politics.

Green Bay, Wis. Oct. 26.-On this.
his forty-second day out of Washing
ton, President Taft in fact entered
the enemy's country the
home of Senator LaFollette, who is to
be his opponent for the Republican
presidential nomination in 1912. Mr..
Taft had been looking forward to his
experiences in Wisconsin with a great
deal of interest partly from the fact
that he was to spend the day in the
state where Senator LaFollette holds
sway. The president left st. Paul last
night at 1870 o'clock and arrived here
early this morning. His principal stops
on the way to Milwaukee, where he is
due to arrive tonight include, in addi-
ton to Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh
and Fond Du Lac.
The last named city viii be reached
about p. m, according to the revised
schedule. There will be a large num-
Der of intermediate stops and speeches
during the day. The president will
speak in the auditorium at Milwaukee
tonight and will spend the greater part
of tomorrow there.
There were a lot of disappointed
would-b be farmers on board President
Taft's special train when it passed
through here today. Among them were
White House stenographers, presiden-
tial secretaries, military aides, official
physician, secret service men, messen-
gers, newspaper correspondents and
Pullman porters. Visions of ranch life,
Of tilling the soil, of independence.
wealth, automobiles and all that go TO
make up the happy estate of the mod
ern farmer had been rudely brushed
away and the disconsolate party was en-
its way back to Washington where its
members will resume the vacations they
have followed there many years. Many
Of the men in the presidents party ha1
never been in the real west before.
Back to the Soil.
Whether as a result of their own
investigations or what they beheld from
the car windows or the wonderful tales
poured into their credulous ears by the
boosters" of the great western coun-
try all the way to California and back
again, nearly all Of them had become
impressed with the fact that a ranch
somewhere west of the MISSISSIPPI or
Missouri river would be just about
ideal. Secretary Hilles had prepared to
leave politics forever and TO settle down
to the calm, care-free life of the alfalfa
fields.
So it was all along the line. Every
body on board the presidential train had
determined that the thing to do was
to give up real work and go back TO
the soil"
This was the state Of mind of the
Taft encourage when his train slowly
puffed IT'S way into Rapid City, S d,
last Saturday night. President Taft
made a good impression on the people
of Rapid City but nothing like the inn
preston JnaL WAS AlduS ')iA the
bers of his party by a sign right across
the street from the speaking stand
''JF. s. Registration Office" ii read Then
the word was passed around that the
government was giving away hundreds
on hundreds of acres of valuable lands
in the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reser-
vations of South Dakota.
All you had to do was to register your
name, pay % cents to a notary pubic,
and swear that you did not own lC0
acres Of land anywhere else.
Every body on the train register ID
with the exception of the president --e
was being entertained at dinner arr
could not slip away with all the rest
The land lottery began at Gregory
Tuesday. Yesterday and today the
presidential party scanned the newsna-
pers to see which Of them would get
the more desirable locations. There
were only $50 drawings published and
not a presidential follower was in the
list.
Anybody who mentioned agriculture
on the Presidents train today was IN
danger of his life.