The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1912-05-17
TAFT'S TRADE NOT NEW
TO MEN WHO KNOW HIM

When Seeking the Presidency In 1908
He Strove to Appear as a Stanch
Proeressive-WoHe a Mask For Two
Years-Has Now Openly Stamped
Himself as Reactionary.
Washington, April. - Stung to the
quick by his belated recognition of the
long patent fact that the voters of the
Republican party had repudiated his
candidacy for denomination and are
overwhelmingly in favor of the nomi-
nation of Colonel Roosevelt as their
candidate for the presidency this year,
Mr.. Taft has at last thrown aside all
restraint and carried out the threat
which he has been muttering to his in
Inmates for some weeks to speak out
In public his real thoughts about the
man who made him president.
In Mr. Taft's TRADE against Mr..
Roosevelt at Springfield. Mass, there
is nothing essentially new to those who
have been on anything more than re-
lations of casual intimacy with the
president for some time. 1t Is a fact
known to not a few Of those closely
connected with the campaign OF 1908
that even at that time the Taft family
was displaying that peculiarly malig-
nant temper toward Mr. Roosevelt
which so often takes the place of graf
itude in the hearts of those who have
benefited by great service rendered by
a friend. 1t Is fact known to not few
persons that at times during the cam
paign of 1908 the talk about Mr.. Roose-
welt among members of the Tart lam
lily was such as to cause the greatest
uneasiness to the managers OF Mr..
Taft's campaign for the presidency.
lest 1t should become public and work
serious damage to the campaign. Those
familiar with the true feeling toward
Mr. Roosevelt in the Taft family have
been surprised that Mr.. Taft has con-
cealed for so long his real attitude to-
ward his benefactor.
From the time last fall when the
strong sentiment of the country in ia
vor of Colonel Roosevelt began to man.
ifest itself Enthusiastically. there has
been much talk from Taft sources
about Colonel Roosevelt's ingratitude
to Mr. Taft. 1t has been assumed by
Mr. Taft's partisans that, because Colo
mel Roosevelt was instrumental In
bringing about Mr. Taft's nomination
and election to the presidency. he was
therefore bound at all times. under all
circumstances and at all costs, to sup
port Mr. Taft's administration and Mr..
Taft's denomination and election. That
assumption is entirely unwarranted and
has no logical justification. The fact is
that Taft. the president Is not and
never for one moment has been the
Taft Mr. Roosevelt md his intimate as.
sociates knew as secretary OF war and
whom they supported as a candidate
for the presidency.
While Mr.. Taft was seeking the pres
idency he constantly sought to appear
as a stanch and true progressive. But
on that November night in 1908 when
the count of the votes showed that he
had been elected to the presidency he
ceased to make any effort actually to
be a progressive. For some time he
continued to wear mask as a pro-
gressive. but In the last two years of
his presidency he has not kept up even
that feeble effort to deceive the people
of the country. By his constant asso-
citation with the Aldriches. the Can
mons and the Lorimers; by his ready
submission to their influence and ad-
vice; by his active support of the meas
ures they devised and favored; by his
cooperation with them in matters of
patronage and by his unblushing at
tempt to coerce the real progressives
through the brazen use of federal pat
ronage, he has stamped himself openly
as the reactionary which he has al
ways been at heart.
A single Illustration will suffice for
the demonstration Of this proposition
In his speech nj Cincinnati, In July.