Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-10-03
PREslDENT-TAFT.

From Fridays Daily.
y The people Of this city are to nave
Ms tteir guest today, the president OF
this great republic-a nation hardly
equalled certainly not excelled IN
power and influence by any other on
earth.
The citizen, who for time, &C.
cupies this, the highest official position
In our government, demands the atten-
ton and fair and decOrous treat
ment at the hands Of all. let his opin-
ions and policies be what they may.
He is the first officer Of the nation,
yet the people are always closer to
the president than even they realize.
That is evidenced by the fact, that IN
addition to feeling the courtesy due the
president as such, there has come to the
people at times in the past, an earnest
respect and even an affectionate re-
gard for the man. who at such times
was in the presidential chair.
President Taft will continue to gain
with the people as they get better &C
uuainted with him. He stands the test
Of honesty and sincerity. He is now
well into the third year of his admin
istration, and has made record that
Is to be judged by his fellow citizens.
1t is stated that he is not politician
that his earlier career led him from
the ways of the politician. For that the
nation should be thankful. But the
people are getting to feel closer TO him
as they know more of him. He mas,
through the civil service, gone far IN
Kidding the executive of being respon-
sible for appointments. He has stood
firm against building up about the
presidency a clannish officialdom, and
has been at all times, the calm. cour-
teous, easily approachable gentleman.
There Is one feature Of President
Taft's action that the people are now
firmly convinced of. That is, that his
own convictions on all questions, rule
him. After due deliberation, he deter
mines what he believes is right, and he
has shown unquestionable courage to
sustain his views of what is right, re-
gardless of ups or downs for himself
in public estimation for the moment.
# there is any one thing this coun-
try needs more than another among
public officials, it is standing firmly
BY convictions of right. rather than
Welding to the ephemeral misguided
enthusiasm Of the hour.
We are in the midst of an era of adj
yocating extremes, so to speak, in this
country. We need at the helm, a man
with q level head-and in President
Taft we have Just such a man. He is
very necessary to the nation at this
time.
There Is strain OF federalism as
well as clear stream of pure democ-
racy needed In the government OF the
United States.
TO make plain what we mean by the
above, letsus cite little home history
that We are all familiar with. We have
in Iowa a state constitution that for
bids our commonwealth to go in debt,
beyond q certain sum. That para
graph Is an anchor for the protection
Of the people of Iowa. Their democracy
a thus acknowledgements. So in
spnr city. we are limited In the debt we
ran incur, yet recently, by careless
ness. we overstepped that limit by
many thousands Of dollars, and have
been paying the penalty by going into
the pockets of our citizenship. If 1t
had not been for the anchor in the con-
stitution stopping us, how much fur
ther would we have drifted?
President Taft stood for one of these
anchors in the organic law Of state,
when he vetoed the bill for the admis-
s,on OF new state. because it's con-
stitution provided for the recall of
iudges-a clause inserted at the be-
hest Of some misguided temporarily
popular outburst.
We believe that there are more in
stead OF less OF these anchors needed