The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-28
TAFT ATTACKS THE RECALL IN FIRST
 SPEECHOF HIS TRIP
Delivers Impassioned Ad- dress Before Ohio Society
 of New York
CONSERVATIVES TO
 PROTECT COURTS
Addresses the West Virginia Society and Later the Aero Club of Amer ica-To Arrive at Cleveland
 Early Tomorrow Morning

Early Tomorrow Morning New York, January 27.--On the eve of
 his three days visit to Ohio, his home
 state, President Taft spoke tonight at the Waldorf Astoria to the Ohio Society of New York, delivering probably the most | impassioned speech he has made in many
 months. directed against the "nostrums of reform and particularly aimed at the
 recall of Judges.
 | Of the efforts that have been made to
 reform legislation in this country, he saw much that was good. He saw the faults of government in the United States, and
 admitted in trying to eradicate them much
 might be accomplished by the reformer
 But in the effort to make the judiciary
 responsive to every "whim" of the people,
 he saw destruction. He declared the con-
 servatiye element of the nation must
 eventually "get together to prevent a
 movement that would make the courts | the creatures of popular will and might make the decision in every case, not ae- | cord with the law. but accord with what q l | should be.
 Conservatives to Act
 "They are having q constitutional con-
 vention in Ohio." said the President, and
 1 am told that one of the propositions Is
 to propose the judicial recall. Orators and statesmen are going up and down the country denouncing courts. pointing | out their corrupt natures. The time Is
 coming, in my judgment, when the con l servatiVe people of this country who are | in favor Of the eternal principles of jus | tiee and their administration so as to make them prevail, should rise to meet | these misguided supporters of an utterly indefensible theory and end the agitation against the courts
 l The President s speeh to the Ohio Society was only one of his miny engagements here tonight From "Ohio' he stepped
 over into west Virginia" in the same
 hotel and addressed the New York society
 of that name. and then motored to sherrys to speak to the Aero club of America Before retiring at the home of his brother, Henry W. Taft, the Pres
 Ident dropped in at the hall of the | Daughters of Jacob at the Seventy-iirst | Regiment armory, to which 10000 invita- | lions had been issued. He is due to leave l New York tomorrow for Cleveland. President Taft made his principal speech
 at the banquet of the ohio Society at the
 Waldorf-Astorla.
 Tribute to Ohio
 He paid a warm tribute to Ohio, her in- stltutions and people in opening his ad-
 dress, and continued:
 "With a population keen, active, alert. | intelligent and reading 1t Is not to be expected that any movement can escape Ohio or be without It's supporters in that state. Hence sgreenbackery, populism, free silver at 16 to l. all have held their sway and found a considerable part of the people who were willing to try the ex- pertinent of each new doctrine which was to take away from men the necessity for wealth and labor and make the deserving rich.
 I've have now reached another period when another new political nostrum or
 series of them, is being preached through out the country and has found some
 lodgment in our dear old state. We are told that there is period of unrest throughout the country and in Ohio es- pecially; that the movement is against the things that are, and in favor of new ideas which are to feyolutionlze our in- stltutlons and bring about condition
 where only the Just shall have luxury
 and only the undeserving be poor. Recall NOstrum
 Like all nostrums of this kind, the reform is not to proceed from the people themselves in the change of the indivl- dual, but it's to be found in the machin- cry of government under which the in- dIvldual lives and has his being It Is
 to impose on the government a responsi- bility for the happiness of the individual that it never had before We.are today enjoying a greater per capita holding or pi operty by the individual than ever in the history of the country. Never before has the equality of opportunity mani fested itself as it does today in all states. But in the course of this progress which has been made, there are corrupt men who have been able to accumulate i'll gotten fortunes: corporations have at times enjoyed unjust political poweri political bosses have flourished and de- feated the will of the people, and wealthy litigants have enjoyed tho advantage In courts of justice because of the burdens incident to the delays in the rendering of judgment It is true that in many instances the public has been aroused and has thrown off the reins of the bosses, legislation has been introduced to regulate and supervise tho business of ! corporations, especially those having pub | li.. relations, and movements to unseat
 political despotism in free communities have been notably successful.
 Further Reforms
 | Not content with this progress there are reformers who now propose remedies to make retrograde steps in politics impossible by the establishment
 of new constitutions, easily amendable. providing for constant appeals to the franchise and votes of the people. for
 the recall by the vote of the people of judges, and for the reversal of judicial decisions by plebescites.
 Tt may be questioned whether in the whole history of proposed political re- forms we have ever had such radical suggestions as have proceeded from sen ators and congressman. governors and members of state legislatures within the last decade when attempt has been made to formulate what this new pro- gressive system Is and involves. It Is radical not so much because 1t affects | the executive and the legislature and
 makes them and their temporary opin-
 ions respond quickly in their changes to popular waves of passion. but if Is
 chiefly so because those who are It's ad-
 yocates lay their hands upon our court | ! (CONTINUED ON FACE s).