Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-08-04
NO CONSPIRACY
Of INSURGENTS
AGAINST TAT 7
Presidents Record Shows That
He Is Responsible for
Mistakes.
ADMINISTRATION RECORDS
SHOW MANY ERRORS
Tariff Bill, PinchOt Controversy
and Other Issues Are
Involved.
Ispeclal to lhe Newark s,ar.l


the extra session of the Sixty-second
Congress drawing rapidly to close,
and with the passage by both Houses
Of legislation which seems to be in ac-
cord with the verdict returned at the
polls in the congressional election last
November, numerous of the stand-pat
leaders In the House and Senate are
making the extraordinary charge that
there is a conspiracy on the part of In
surgent Republicans and Democrats "tJ
put President Taft in a hole"
That the legislative record of the
present session of Congress is full Of
political material for future use no one
will deny, but that The legislative pro-
gram thus far worked out constituted
the basis of a conspiracy against Presi-
dent Taft Is regarded as ludicrous hy
impartial observers of affairs in Wasa
ington.
Democrats Anxious For Record.
The Democrats are naturally anxious
to make a record during this and the
following session of Congress which
will enable them to go to the country
in the presidential campaign of 1912
with a reasonable hope of success.
Practically every insurgent In the
House and Senate is opposed to another
nomination for President Taft. They
sincerely believe that he cannot be re-
elected, and from their point of view
the only hope for the Republican party
rests in the nomination of a progress
sive Republican.
lnsurgent Republicans resent the
charge of conspiracy, and they are
prepared to produce the record of
President Tafts administration to prove
that the President is alone responsible
1or the embarrassment which sur
rounds him on every hand. 1t is GU
this record, as compared with the rec
ord of the insurgent Republicans. from,
March 4, 1908, down to date that viii!
form the basis for the fight for dele
gates TO the next Republican national
convention.
Binders at Opening Of Session.
The insurgent argument will begin
with the extra session of Congress
called by President Taft Immediately
after his inauguration. In the preced.
ing election the tariff was the great is
sue, and as a candidate Mr.. Taft re-
peatedly declared himself to be In
favor OF a substantial downward re-
vision. The President would have been
st1ie to comply with the epirit and let
ter Of his campaign promises had he
cast his lot with the progressive MEM
bers OF his party instead of accepting
tfre advice of Senator Aldrich and other
high protectionists who framed the
existing tariff law.
The Payne-Aldrich law, the direct
cause of Democratic success at the
polls last November. could have been
defeated In the House had not the
President at the last moment sum-
moned to the White House member af-
ter member who was ready to vote
against the bill, and urged them to
vote for 1t. The Presidents pleadings
won over enough members to insure
the passage Of the bill.
Another unfavorable incident in the
early history of the administration,
and one which was only second in i'm
portance to the tariff in the last Con-
gressional compaign. was Cannon
ISM" The members of the House who
had been fighting to free that body
from the small clique headed by Cam
non. had definite assurances from Mr..
Taft, then sojourning at fIot Springs,
Va, that he would lend his influence
to their cause. At the last moment,
however, the President went over to
the Cannon forces. and he remained
with item throughout the Sixty-first
Congress.
The only way to judge whether the
President was right is to observe the
- ~
day. Nelson w. Aldrich and Eugene
Hale, the arch-high priests of protec-
tion, are no longer members of the
United States Senate. Joseph G. Can
non not only lost the speakership but
his party lost control of the House.
The question of whether the President
was right on the tariff is best indicated
by the fact that the Democratic House
is now writing, and Republican Sem
ate is now passing. bills to revise a
tariff law which has been On the stat
ute books considerably less than two
years.
Bal1inger-PinchOt Scandal.
Next in Importance to the tariff and
Cannonism was the Ballinger- Pinchot
controversy and the resulting scandal.
The Presidents friends now recognize
that his course in that matter hurt
him in every part of the country. Un-
doubtedly the President now realizes
his mistake, for Ballinger Is no longer
a member of the cabinet, notwithstand-
ing the fact that he declared his in
tention to remain throughout the ad-
ministrati n of President Taft almost
up to the day his resignation was ten
dered and accepted
The insurgents did not dig the hole
which contains the Controller Bay
scandal, now under investigation by
the House committee on expenditures
in the interior department. If Ballinger
had not been secretary of the interior
there would not have been a scandal
about Controller Bay. there would be
no mystery about a Dick to Dick"
letter, and there would be no mystery
about maps missing from the war de-
partment which have a very important
Searing on this case.
The President had a row with the