St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-10-23

been said about reciprocity with Can
ada, would like to make this point:
1t should always be cardinal point II
in our foreign policy to establish Il
the closest and most friendly rela-
tions of equal respect and advantage
with our great neighbor on the
north. And 1 hail the, reciprocity
arrangement because it represents
an effort to bring about a closer,
more intimate, more friendly re- !
lationship of mutual advantage on /
equal terms between Canada and /
the United States"
These speeches by Mr.. Roosevelt |
were made While the farmers were |
putting forth every possible effort IN
/ their peculiarly difficult struggle |
against the reciprocity agreement.
We needed Mr.. Roosevelt's support
then but we could not get it. We who
were in the fight know how much
it would have meant to our cause
TO have had even one vigorous blast
| from his trumpet. 1t would have
been the greatest possible help to us
in counteracting the clamor for
reciprocity. The fact is that Mr..
Roosevelt had two chances to stop
reciprocity in his advice to
President Taft and later in his dec
|
hour of our need, when the issue
was at stake and reciprocity seemed
popular with the city people, Mr..
Roosevelt was actively at work
against us. His present declaration
J on this subject is not only worse
than useless but also contemplate.
He knows that the issue is dead and
, thinks that it is now entirely safe
to trim his sails in this matter to
) catch the breeze of the farmers
favor. There is no doubt about his
consciousness that the issue is dead,
: for he himself has said it. Only a
few months ago he was refusing to
discuss with agriculturists his posi-
? ton on reciprocity. Under date of
8 February 20, 1912, he wrote a
/ letter to the publisher of the North
{ western Agriculturist, paper with
t a large circulation among. the farm
: ers of the Northwest, and in this
letter he said, and / quote his exact
s words: 1.-The reciprocity treaty is
E now dead. No useful purpose can
!. be served by discussing it.
r Mr.. Taft and Enforcement
S Nothing in American life seems
/ more threatening than the growing
disregard for law. The readiness
a to settle labor troubles by throw
4 ing rocks and assassination, the
j growing prevalence of theft, burg
d larry and embezzlement, the open
e defiance of courts and constituted
+ authorities-here is a veritable
e canker eating into the heart of our
national life.
The one great reason assigned for
q the prevalence of crime is that our
: courts have been so ready to let the
/ big sinners go. Law has been defin-
: ed as a net that holds the minnows,
e and permits the whales to break
q through.
= 1t has been the common gibe of
d the underworld, that a man is given
!, a year in prison for stealing a peck
!, etbook, but if he steals a railroad
from the stockholders, he is exoner-
e ated by the courts and worshipped
t in society.
= Against all this Mr.. Taft has set
= himself resolutely. The big sinners
e have been prosecuted with all the
: power of the government.
r The dissolution of the tobacco and
. oil trusts, whether effective or not in
Y lowering prices, was the only course
D left to Mr. Taft under his constitu-
e tional oath to enforce the laws made
: by congress. Most presidents would
have lodged the obligation. He did
} not view his responsibilities so light
2 ly.
t The prosecution of the sugar Gus
: toms fraud cases has been splendid
illustration of the spirit of the adj
ministration Penalties and back
, duties of over 100000 were col
: elcted from this source.
So relentless has been the war on
every form of official graft, that no
administration in American history
5 has SO white a record in the matter
: of common honesty. Moreover the
biggest undertaking of American
5 life, digging of the Panama canal,
) has been carried through without
the least stain of scandal.
t This is the kind of thing which all
} who favor law and order and honest
: government have been seeking for
, many years, and it should be reck-
oned at its full Value Rutland
/ News.
Sticking to His Job
: 1t must strike the casual observer,
: especially if he is a practical poll
tician, that President Taft is a hope
less case. While other presidential
candidates are storming over the
} country, promising a millennium
land prophesying all kinds of disaster
unless their particular brand of plat
. form is ratified by their election in
November, the President is attend
ing strictly, to his job and even when
. he takes a trip, as he did last week
, into New Hampshire and Vermont,
talks patriotism instead of politics.
In fact, instead of trying to get re-
elected, he is actually trying to save
the peoples money and wasting his
time in endeayoring to have the bus
tiness of the government done in a
more business like way. The Bos-
ton Herald says:
''His insistence upon a federal
budget system such as no other
great nation in the world is without
lis in keeping with his record for
government economy, record to
which the country has given small
attention and for which it apparently
igfves him small credit. A closer