Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-04-27
PRESIDENT TAFT OPENS GUNS ON
COL. ROOSEVELT; SEES BROKEN PLEDGES
Continued From Page ~

or the imagination, or the clear headed
purpose essential to the makeup OF
such a person. He says that l am q
friend of the interests and an upholder
of special privilege, and that a vote
for me is a vote for the interests, and
against the people. He minimizes and
flouts the importance of the laws en-.
acted and the executive action taken
during my administration.
go Why Attacks Were Made.
"If in this contest there were at stake
only my own reputation or the salts.
faction Of my own ambition, Il would
without the slightest qualm and with
out care as to result, continue my sill
ence under these unjust attacks. l
would do so because of the personal
relations that have existed between
Mr.. Roosevelt and me, my debt Of
gratitude to him, and my inclination
because of the office I hold, not to
indulge in personal controversy. I
would hope that in the future, near or
distant, facts would disclose them
selves showing the injustice of the
course he is pursuing toward me, and
the merciless truth concerning his
motives and his sincerity Of state
ment and purpose.
"But am presented with this diff
Guilty. l represent cause. l stand
| for wise progress in governmental az
fairs and in the Improvement of the
| condition of all the people that the
republican party stands for. I am the
| titular leader of that movement, and
the substantial and sane legislation
of my administration vindicates its
existence and continuance. The sup
porters of this cause look TO me to see
to it that it Is not seriously injured
by the unjust, unfounded charges
against me, and by the adroit appeals
to discomfort and class hatred that
Mr.. Roosevelt is now making to the
public They feel that by such
charges and appeals Mr.. Roosevelt has
clouded the real and critical issues
of the campaign and has misled a
great many good and patriotic people
Of the country to his support because
no one has answered them as they
ought to be answered. They think am
the only one whose position is such as
to. make an answer effective; that as
the president whose administration Is
attacked, as the titular head of the
republican party whose integrity Is
threatened, and as the man whose
character Is aspersed, I must meet
Mr.. Roosevelt's attacks, however I'M
pleasant may be personal contro-
versy with one whom in the past l
have greatly admired and loved, and
whose present change of attitude Is
the source of the saddest disappoint-
ment.
Roosevelt Repudiated Square Deal.
"Mr. Roosevelt prides himself on
being true sportsman, and he likes
to take from the rules and language OF
sport, maxims to be applied to life In
general. The maxim which he has ex-
allied above all others, to whom he has
given currency the country over, anu
which he himself in his conduct OF
life wishes to have it thought he ex-
emplies, is that every man is entitled
to a square DEAL propose to ex-
anime the charges he makes against
ME, and to ask you whether In making |
them he is giving me square DEAL"
The Popular Government Issue.
In detail Mr.. Taft deal first with the |
statement by Col. Roosevelt in his
Carnegie hall address in which the
colonel said: "Mr Taft fairly de-
fines the issue when he says that our
government is and should be govern
ment Of all the people by represen.
tative part of the people. That is an
excellent and moderate description OF
an oligarchy. It defines our govern.
ment as government of all of the peo
pie by few Of the people" In reply
Mr.. Taft said:
"The excerpt which Mr.. Roosevelt
uses is taken from my speech at To-
ledo. II. is garbled. did not say this
should be- a government Of all the
people by a representative part Of the
people. I said it is thus apparent that
ours is a government of all the people
by a representative part of the peo-
pie. and it is. The context shows
clearly what l meant. I had pointed
out that the government was by popu-
lar vote, that the voters did not In
clude the women and children, that
in number the voters were less than
one-fourth Of all the people; and that
their action was the action Of their
majority; so that the government was
controlled not by all the people, but
by a representative part of the people, \
to-wit, a majority of the adult males.
Does Mr.. Roosevelt deny this fact? |
pointed out the fact that this popular
government Of ours is government
by the adult voting males in order to
show the necessity for constitutional
restrictions to protect the non-voters
among the people against the posi-
BILE injustice and aggression of a ma
jority Of the voters.
was it honest, was 1t lair Of Theo-
dore Roosevelt to seize one sentence
from speech, to garble 1t and then
to give it meaning which he knew
from the context it could not bear?
Do the just people Of Massachusetts
approve such method of warfare? Do
they think that in carrying it on Mr..
Roosevelt is giving to his successor
square deal?"
The Question of Bosses.
Mr. Taft next took up what he
termed the unfair" charge that he
was in favor Of an oligarchy of
bosses.
HE (Col Roosevelt) says that all
bosses are in my favor and all of
them against him. That is not true. By
his association with William Finn Of
Pittsburgh. there is being restored to