New-York tribune., 1912-03-03
7. RS PRAISE Of TAFT
Lavish EuIogy of President by
Predecessor in 1908.
"FITTEST SINCE. THE WAR"
So Colonel Wrote to Dixon Con-
stituent of the Man He Now
Seeks to Overthrow.
frrom The Tribune Bureau. ]

Washington March I'm view of the APP
pointment of Senator Dixon, Of Montana,
as campaign manager for Colonel Roose-
Welt. a letter written by Mr. Roosevelt to
Conrad Kohrs, of Helena, Mont, on Sep
tember g. 1908, is peculiarly interesting. The
letter, which is 100 TO 1000 words long. Is
an exposition of Colonel Roosevelts views
as to Mr. Taft's fitness for tho Presidency.
The following are excerpts from this inter
esting letter:
To permit the direction Of our public al.
fairs to fall alternately into the hands or
revOlutionaries and reactlonarleS, OF w
extreme radicals of unrest ana OF lhe
bigoted conservatives who recognize no
wrongs to remedy, would merely mean that
the nation had embarked on feVerlSn
course of violent oscillation which would
be ,fraught with great temporary ir9uV,e, }o ,h,
and would produce no adequate good In the
end. The true friend of reform, the true
foe to abuse, is the man who steadily per
severes in righting wrongs, In WarrlnS
against abuses, but whose character anu
training are such that he never promises
what he canEot perform that he always
a little more than makes good what ne Goes
promise. and that, while steadlly duEaHClHs'
he never permits himself to be led into
foolish eXcesses which would damagc the
very cause he champions. In Mr.. tart we
have man who combines all OF thesc
qualities to a degree which no otner man
i'm our public life since tho Civil War has
surpassed To a flaming hatred OF inJus,
tice, to a sCorn or all that is DaSe anu
mean. TO a hearty sympathy with the op-
pressed, he unites entire disintereStedheSs,
courage both moral and physical or tne
very highest type and kindly generosity
OF nature which makes him feel that al OF
his fellow countrymen are in very truth MS
friends and brothers, that their interests
are his and that all his great qualltles arc
TO be spent with lavish freedom IN ther
service. M
The man to trust is the man who. like
Judge Taft, does not promise TOO much,
but who could not be swayed from the pdth
OF duty by any argument, by any cohslu-
Grafton. who will wage relentless war on
successful wrongdoers among railroad men
as among all other men; who VIII 90 all
that can be done to secure legitimately low
rates to shippers and absolute eNehheSS
among the rates thus secured. but VINO VIII
neither promise nor attempt 10 secure rates
so low that the wage Garner would lose
his earnings and the shareholder whose
money built the road his profits. lie VIII
not favor a ruinous experiment nke gov
ernment ownership OF railways: he VIII
stand against any kind OF connscaton oi
honestly acquired property; but ne VIII
work effectively for the most efficient type
of government supervision and control OF
railways so as TO secure Just ana talr
treatment Of the peonle a. whole
II there Is one body OF men more than
another whose suprort feel | have right
To challenge on behalf of Secretary ' a I
II IS the body Of wage WORKERS or the coun-
try. A stancher friend fsirer anH trurr
representative. thcv cannot find within the
hordc~s ~ the United States. He VII do
everything in his power tcr them cXcert
10 do that which Is wrong: he VIII 90
,cronp for no man. and therefore can b,
trusted by all men. During the ten years
Of nv intimate a"quain'anc" WITH I'm
since have mvself as Governor ard Presi-
dent. been obliged TO deal practically with
iabor probIcms he has been one of the
men unon whom I could always rely IN
doing everything possible FOR the. cause OF
the wage worker OF the man VINO WorSS
head