The Glenwood post., 1912-10-26
(By William Howard Taft


! When l took the oath of the highest
office in the gift of my fellow citizens
it was with no lack of appreciation of
| the great honor that had been done me.
but with an infinitely greater realiza-
tion of the heavy, the almost terrible,
responsibility that rests on the presi-
dent of the United States. To me
there came as u heritage the noble rec
ords of those who had gone before,
Washington and Lincoln, Grant ana
Garfield, Mckinley and Roosevelt,
great presidents and great republicans.
On me rested the responsibility of
maintaining the high standard they had
set, of doing credit to my party by
serving the country to the best of my
ability, and of carrying on to successful
fruition those wise policies devised b.
my predecessors, which had become
synonymous with republicanism as they
We're with good government. And J
have kept the faith.
Ours is party that does things, a.
distinguished from those who merely
oppose and those who only propose.
Under its skillful guidance man,
storms have been weathered. many vi
cissitudes have been survived. Falla-
cies have commanded public confidence
and lost hn,
poused such nostrums as greonbackism
and free silver. while we have preserv-
ed the even tenor of our way. unsnaken
by the storm, and ultimately it has been
given to us to prove that these pant
ceas were not progress and that ai-
vancement could be made only a.ong
sane lines, step by step-that it was
and is "' liberty under the law"
Protected Prosperity
The noblest achievement of the re
publican party has been the extension
and conservation of liberty, its proud
est boast that it freed the slaves. Per
| maps it is because it has always been
the sacred trust of this party to act as
the conservator of liberty that it is
| least willing to experiment with those
! innovations that would jeopardize the
integrity of our judiciary, which for
more than century has been the bull
wark of liberty, the protection of the
weak against the strong, and the safe
| guard of the rights OF the minority,
standing as adamant aga nsl temporary
majorities until time and wisdom have
served to show the right. And once
they perceive the right, no maioIity OF
Americans will stand Tor what is
wrong
The oath taken by the president of
the United States calls upon God to
witness that he will uphold the Consti-
tuition of the United States, and when
took that oath 1 took it with full an |
unqualified conviction that "the fab
ric our fathers builded will stand all
shocks of faith or fortune.' Bound by
that pledge and guided by that convic-
ton, L have spurned every attempt to
undermine that great bill of rights
which is Indispensable to the preserva-
tion of our liberties ;and no man can
say have ever faltered, even when, as
in more than one instance, the course
| to which ] was pledged forfeited a
certain popular approval or impelled tno
criticism Of the thoughtless or of that
far greater class, those too greatly oc.
cupied in the turmoil Of our industrial
progress to investigate and reflect.
1t is easy to handy charges and to
misrepresent motives. Any man can
bear false witness against his neighbor,
but charges are not proof and caium-
nies are not evidence, and I defy any
man. to prove that have ever been
false to my solemn responsibilities,
have ever betrayed the trust reposed
| in me. I face the future confident
that my acts will prove my motives