New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-18
A POOR OBSERVER.

A POOR OBSERVER.
Governor Wilson again exhibited his
aloofness from the realities of politics
when he framed this remarkable In
dictment yesterday against the Taft
administration:
What has MIR. Taft done? / must
frankly say TO you that | do not DIS
! cover that we have had any pilot dur
| ing the last four years ! know from
the feeling l have had that the snip
Of state has been wallowing in the
trough Of the sea: because she has not
been steered in any particular dlrec-
tiOn by anybody She has simply
furled her sails and fallen off into the
trough, and there she rolls. / do not
know whether the helm is strapped or
not / have not been aboard But L
would like to go on and see what con-
ditiOn the steering apparatus Is IN,
because we need somebody at the helm
| to determine a particular course ana
steer il, steer II without fear or favor
| in order that we may make some DELL
mite port.
That is the Judgment Of man clear
~ out of touch with actual life. Mr..
Tafts administration has been char
acterized by definite and noteworthy
progress, both economic and political.
On the administrative side more has
been accomplished in the way of mod
ernizing the public service and reduc-
| ing waste in expenditure than was
! accomplished under any Of Mr.. Tafts
predecessors for more than a genera
! ton. Mr.. Roosevelt, Mr.. Mckinley,
! Mr.. Cleveland and Mr.. Harrison all
| failed to check the abnormal growth
of appropriations. In General Harri-
| sons time we had "billion dollar
| Congresses. Now we have "billion
! dollar" sessions Of Congress. Mr..
| Taft was the first President in
our day to put in force a pro-
gramme Of rational economy, and al
| though the Democratic majority in the
House of Representatives has done
what it could to block his efforts, the
net result of his lahors has been to
cut down the total Of the annual APP
preparations by nearly S3O,OO0,OO0, in
spite Of the bookkeeping increases
due to the annual expansion in the
| expenditures of the POStoffice De
| partment. which are now met in full
! from postal revenues.
Mr.. Taft is the first President in
! generation TO succeed in making the
POstOf1lce Department pay its way. In
two years he got rid OF a deficit of
more than S17OOO,OOO and created a
postal surplus All along the line he
has pushed the unsensational work OF
retrenchment through the improvement
| of operating methods. Yet Mr.. Wilson
saws that he has done Nottingham
the ship of state has been left to wal
| low in the trough instead Of being
kept steadily driven ahead,
On the tariff issue Mr.. Taft has also
developed a progressive policy and
stuck TO Il. He believes that the tariff
can be taken out Of the petty SQUAD
bles of politics by intrustlng the prob
lem Of revising the schedules to n
non-partisan board of experts In that
way the regulation Of railroads has
been successfully taken out Of politics,
and putting tariff revision on a rational
and scientific basis is in itself far more
important than writing any particular
SET Of schedules IN the manner in
which they have been written In past
Congresses and in which the Demo
cratic party expects TO continue TO
write them.
Whether the average voter does or
does not agree with Mr.. Taft's tariff
views as to particular rates Of duty he
will probably COncede that the Taft
method OF dealing with the tariff ques-
ton Is the sound one. Governor Will
son has not the courage to say whether
he believes in the tariff commission
idea or not. His party doesn't believe
in It because his party is naturally
retrogressive. 1t would prefer to go
on wallowing in the trough Of Under
wood, dark lantern revision. But to
charge Mr.. Taft with having no chart
Of action and initiating no forward
movement at washington Is the height
Of amateurish absurdity. 1t argues the
grOssest inattention 10 the solid
achievements Of an administration
which more than any other recent one
has lifted the federal service to a new
level Of economy and efficiency. Gov
ernor Wilson has been asleep at the
observation station while President
Taft has kept the ship Of state steadily
moving forward.