The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-11-23
THE PEOPLE VS.. THE PRESl-
DENT

tno past week, " Hedl SApi Soo Ah
given to the opinion that, right OF
wrong, President Taft should be ac-
corded a second term, just as a mere
matter of course and Of precedent
We find one agricultural editor 60
ing so far as to assert:
"The president should have the
support of the people, even If it
does bring duller times and lower
prices"
On what ground is such broad
declaration justified? On what
principle of economics should the
great mass of people be made to
suffer financial loss simply because
the ambition of one man and the
selfish interests of a few men (al-
ready rich beyond the dreams OF
avarice) are at stake?
Let us examine the record of Pres
ident Taft briefly and see If there is
any matter of justification for this
advice to give him support even If it
does bring duller times and lower
prices" A bill of particulars in the
case of the People VS.. The President
might be made out in this manner:
First: The president helped to
betray the people and imperil the fu-
ture of Alaska by giving the Gug-
genheim- Morgan interests exclusive
control of immense valuable coal
fields and as the only harbor
through which Alaska coal could be
gotten to market.
Second: The president counter
acted the Roosevelt policies of con-
servation of natural resources by
appointing an anti-conservationist
to the important post of secretary
of the interior Orchard A. Balm
ger) and maintained him there, even
when it was shown that he was
working virtually in partnership
with the interests which were loot
ing Alaska and was utterly incompe-
tent for the position.
Third: The president appointed
to the important position of attor-
ney-general Con whom devolves the
duty of prosecuting all trusts and
combinations in restraint of trade,
thus protecting the peoples inter-
ests) the leading trust and corpora
ton lawyer of the country George
w. Wickersham) who had spent the
last five years prior to entering the
cabinet in devising ways and means
for corporations to continue their
policy of enlargement and destruc-
ton of competition and who received
one fee of 100000 for his very
valuable services in one instance.
Fourth: The president was elect
ed ON a platform promising tariff
revision, but Immediately after
election enlisted in the ranks of
oysiff icia
ing himself alongside Uncle Joe"
Cannon, Nelson P. Aldrich and
James Tawney) and lat Winona,
MIMI openly defended and praised
the Payne-Aldrich tariff law, passed
in utter defiance of the campaign
promises of the president to the peo-
pie.
Fifth: The president sought to
betray the American farmer into
the hands of Wall street by means of
a lop-sided, so-called reciprocity
trade agreement" with Canada,
which admitted free of duty every
thing which the farmer of this coun-
try grows and maintained the duty
upon practically everything which the
farmer buys; the only persons de-
irving financial benefit from the
agreement being the protected
American manufacturer and brewer.
Sixth: The president permitted
his secretary of state (Knox) to give
official recognition to the national
convention of brewers and saloon
men by ordering American consular
officials all over the world to request
the participation of the countries in
which they were stationed.
Seventh: The president dealt de-
cency and sobriety a deliberate blow
by permitting his secretary of ag-
riculture (Wilson) to become presi-
dent of the Brewers National Con-
vention and deliver the official ad-
dress of welcome, Notwithstanding
the fact that the sole purpose of the
meeting was to advance the saloon
interests, while in the convention
hall more than half million glasses
of beer were dispensed to the beer
guzzlers in attendance.
But why continue? What is there
in the record of President Taft
which justifes this blind, unreason-
ing, party-bound and absolutely un-
patriotic advice: 1.-The president
should have the support of the peo-
pie, even if it does bring duller
times and lower prices?' Why
should the American farmer be
asked to maintain in office the man
who sought to sell him out, bag and
baggage, carcass and hide, in order
to add to the already immense for
tunes of a few men who too long
have throttled the people and 10y
raising the price of living necessl-
ties) deprived them of their last
cent? Why should the selection OF
president be only and merely
matter of blind party fealty, without
the exercise either of sound business
Judgment or national patriotism?
Why should a man be continued in
the highest office in the gift OF the
people when every official act has
shown him utterly incompetent?
t The Iowa Homestead believes that
the day has passed when the Amer
lean farmer can be hoodwinked and
browbeaten into subservience to the
will of any offce-seeking editor or
time-serving politician by the worn
out. unpatrlotic and unreasonlng
orders which had their effect in the
Yesterday of politics, but are OF no