The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1912-02-08
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Special Washington Correspond
ent of The Times.

Special Washington Correspon,
ent of The Times.
rs By CLYDE II. Tavenner.
- Washington, Feb. 5. William How
- ard Taft is the one best bet in tn
Republican nomination handicap.
;. AT least this is the way it looks I
y me today, and have tried to vie,
the situation, if possible without pre-
judice.
l base my theory on that Specis
;, Privilege, as represented by Aldrich
Penrose, Smoot, Lodge, Crane, Gug
genheim, j. Pierpont Morgan, Johl
D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegi
> and the tariff trusts, still dominat
the Republican machine. And it mus
never be forgotten that the Republi
can machine, and not the Republican
voters, rules national Republican con
ventions and names presidential can
didates.
The Republican machine, it is true,
is badly damaged, but l think, how.
ever, it is still powerful enough,
backed as it is by the millions of
Special Privilege, to control one more
national convention. After that it
will go on the scrap heap, and men
freer of corporate influences will be-
in control of the party.
The only deduction that the reader
may draw from the foregoing is that
Mr.. Taft is to be nominated, not be-
cause the people desire his renomina-
ton, but because the Big Interests
desire his denomination; not because
Mr.. Taft has earned denomination
by representing the interests of the
common people of the country, but
because he has earned a renomina-
ton by representing the interests of
Special Privilege.
There seems to be an increasing
talk about Roosevelt, but | do not
think the machine politicians will per-
nit his nomination. If Roosevelt
should be nominated, however, be-
lieve he would be defeated. 1t was
during his administration that the
present abnormally high cost of liv-
ing was piled up, largely because of
the system of excessive protection in
which Mr.. Roosevelt believes. Roose-
welt is an Aldrich-Smoot-P enrose Re-
publican on the Tariff question, so
far as anyone knows, but if he should
come out on the Progressive side of
the tariff issue, it would only make
him less desirable to the Republican
machine, and his nomination would
be even less probable than it is now.
Robert M. LaFollette, the one man
in connection with the Re-
publican nomination on whom the
people can put their finger on every
public question of the day, cannot be
in my opinion, the reason, {
being, only, that the people cannot a
1ote on presidential nominees. 7
Any day, of course, may bring de-
'elopments to change the positions of a
ne men on the political checker
BOARD, but the above is the situation
IS it appears to your correspondent
t this writing.
Mr.. Cannon Gets Information. y
Uncle Joe Cannon, High Protec- !.
ion Joe, wanted to know, when the
he Democratic metal bill was before p
he House, why such articles as sew p
1g machines had been placed on the u
rec list. Chairman Underwood of d
ne Democratic Ways and Means COM n
lite, courteously supplied the ex- n n
peaker with the desired information. D
I'VE have placed these articles on -
lie free list for the benefit of the = =
people," said Mr.. Under -:
God. "The uncontested testimony ~
1ows that sewing machines are be. :"
lg sold to the rich and poor alike in o
lis country for from $23 to $45 p'
and yet are being laid down, a.
eight paid, in the Orient, for s.. rs. j." :"
1--WE are not ashamed to 90 to the
merican people and say that when
1 article is manufactured in this
'untry so cheaply that it can COM
etc in all the markets of the world, ~
e are willing to place it on the free ~
st for the benefit of our own people. y. d,
The metal bill passed by the DEM \.
srotc rnokoc v,oIuo<;ov,c ~. Ill 1921 80