The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-24
Says Taft Advocates Rule for the People by
 the Bosses
DOES NOT LIKE SOME
 OF TAFT'S ADHERENTS
Explains Why the Progressives Feel That President Taft, However Good His Intentions May Be,
 Cannot Represent Them

Portland Me March 23.-The most drastic criticism yet leVeled at President Taft by his predecessor in office was contained in a speech delivered here to- night by Colonel Roosevelt. The colonel spent 12 hours in Portland and received cordial welcome. He was a guest at | a luncheon and a dinner shook hands soldly for two hours in the afternoon. attended a conference of Maine politicians and tonight spoke for an hour before a crowd which filled the armory audito- rum.
 Colonel Roosevelt repeated the state- ment he made In his New York speech Wednesday night that President Taft had declared in favor of government "by a representative part of the people,
 In it's actual workings" he said, the Presidents scheme is government for the people by the bosses"
 The Colonel Gets Personal
 Roosevelt named Senator Penrose of Pennsylvania. Senator Gallagher of New Hampshire, William Barnes, Jr., of New York, Congressman Mckinley, the Pres- idents campaign manager. and former l Congressman Tawney of Minnesota as representing "the chief present adherents of the President" and said that they were precisely the men who, under the | Presidents theory. would be, as they to a certain degree already are, the rep resentative part of the people which gov- erns the rest of the people and do not really represent the people at all but mis- represent them
 | between the Presidents theory of gov ernment and Iincolns theory, explained ls"Why, in SD many matters the progress fa sves do not feel that the President how -aa ever good his intentions, can properlyg represent thebn or pay to progressive ideas the kind of loyalty which results in the translation of words into sctions.'
 A collapse of the speakers platgsrn. in the auditorium created some ex- 2 cltement. The platform, which was l elevated about three feet rom the f1oof.e was occupied by about 30 persons As Colonel Roosevelt ascended 1t on enter ing Ii gave way with a crash. The middle portion sank 10 the floor Col- onel Roosevelt stepped quickly to the front of the structure, which did not give way, and waved his hand at the crowd to show that he was uninjured. A chair was placed on the edge of tho platform and during the remainder of the evening Colonel Roosevelt remained placidly al the very front of the weak ened stage.
 Greeted With Applause
 When Walter IL Brown, president of the Roosevelt committee of Maine. in- troduced the colonel there was an out burst of handelapping.
 ! Frequently during his speech he was also applauded.
 The former Presidents opening re- marks, in which he referred to the col- lapse of the platform. brought laugh | from his hearers
 The platform broke down." he said, but il was not our platform. Our plat form won't break down. In the end the servants of the peolie will have to stand on that platform or the Amer ican democracy will be a confessed sailure."
 This was Colonel Roosevelts first visit to Maine since August of 1904 When he arrived here shortly after noon he was welcomed by a large crowd. While al the reception in his honor he stood in the parlor of ho- tel for two hours and shook hands with a stream of persons which moved by him as rapidly as IL could be urged for ward. Leaders of the Roosevelt move- ment in Maine brought to Colonel Roosevelt reports of the progress of the fight in all parts of the state.
 Colonel Roosevelts Speech
 ''rhe President of the United States has in a number of recent speeches ably and correctly stated the issue between him and us said Colonel Roosevelt. We stand for the right of the people to rule and we stand for this real and living fact and not as q juggling formula in- genuously devised as not to find ex- prosslon in fact. In a recent speech tho | President pharaphased Lincolns state ment that this Is a government of the | people, for the people and by the peo- ple,' and said that we should act in fu- ture as though 1t was a government for the people, Of the people by a faction or | class II is dangerous work for any man to try to improve on Lincoln's doctrines of popular sovereignty and popular right.
 Point of Difference
 "Of course. everybody, whether a be- lliever in despotlsm or in democracy, agrees that there must be government of the people. In the next place even the | ruling classes in despotism always pub Bcly state that their government Is for the people The point of difference be- | tween the believers in genuine democracy and genuine popular rule and those who openly or secretly disbelieve in such gem uine popular rule and believe in gov ernment by mnorities comes in connec- ton with Lincoln's third proposition that the government should be by the people. Those who believe in government or rule by 6 part of the people. by a minority of the people. by privileged class or caste over the rest of the people have always Insisted under every form of minority government, from aristocracy to putoc- racy, that they were really representing the people but that they knew how 10 represen. the people and how 10 gov ern them a great deal better than the peo- pie did themselves. It is on this point that we follow Abraham Lincoln and take direct issue with the President In every day practice the Presidents the ory of the government of the people not by the people, but by the minority. means but government by bosses. Thanks tj the very bosses In question, thanks 10 the representatives of political and finan- cial privileges and even, am sorry to say. a portion of the judicial offices, we havs had this kind of government which the | President upholds in many parts of our country. and 1t has not been a satisfac- tory experiment.
 In actual practice such so-called rep- resentative part of the people represents
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