St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-04-03
LAST WEEKS RALLIES
Gov. Bass and Cong. HawIey Made
Good Arguments for Roosevelt
and Taft

For the first time in many years
st. Johnsbury had the opportunity
to hear the virtues of two opposing
candidates for the republican nom
ination for president argued from
the platform. Two strong convinc
ing speakers stirred up an unusua
amount of enthusiasm and interest
which was shown in the caucus
Saturday evening.
The Taft Rally.
The rally under the auspices oi
the supporters of President Taft was
held in the town hall Friday even
ing aid the hall was well filed, the
audience being largely composed OF
voters. The%speaker was Cong. w
G.. Hawley from Oregon, who was a
large and forceful man and discuss
bed the claims of Mr.. Taft in a calm
and impressive manner. Seated on
the stage with the speaker was Lieu-
tenant Governor Slack who intro
( duced him and said that the ques-
tion of the hour is whether Taft
shall be thrust aside to crafty the
personal ambition and candidacy of
one supported by the great trusts.
In opening his address Cong.
Hawley paid a great tribute to the
late David j. Foster, congressman
from the first congressional district
of vermont and said not one of his
colleagues had held so large a place
in the affairs of the country and
that his loss is a loss to everyone in
the United States as well as a loss
to the people of Vermont. He said
that he was on the board of agricuI-
ture with Congressman Plumley and
that they referred to his opinion on
all the great subjects relating to
this branch of legislation and that
they esteemed him in Washington
as a great and coming man. He
also announced that he was chair
man of the committee on forestry
and that he had been connected with
the purchase of the forest tract of
the Appalachian Mountains and said
that the next purchase would un-
doubtedly be a large tract in the
White Mountains. He said, "T am
here to speak in behalf of man
who has done well. I came 10 en-
dorse a man engaged in real pro-
gress and as a soldier of the com
mon cause Mr.. Taft is wonderful
figure in the national life and his
opinion was formed after three
years of personal contact with him
in the conduct of the governments s
business.
The two questions he wished to
discuss were: Is Mr. Taft the kind
of man who ought to be president
and is his work effective2 He said
that we want president whose pur-
poses are for the whole country and
not for a selfish interest and he had
as yet to hear of a man expressing
himself as more in sympathy and
having more confidence and belief in
the people of his country than Pres
ident Taft. He made. these state
ments from an inside knowledge of
the situation while the Roosevelt
people were giving their opinion for
the outside.
He then spoke of President Taft's
position in regard to tariff revision
and said that he came into office
when these issues had been cast
aside and evaded for years but he
had the courage to attend to it by
Immediately calling an extra session
of congress. He admitted that he
did not agree with all the provisions
of the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill and
he considered the tariff law of 1908
better law under present condi-
tions than that of the year 1897.
President Taft has never given his
whole hearted endorsement of the
bill but accepted it as the best that he
could get.
He has never intended to stop
with the enactment of this tariff bill
but had laid the plans for a more
complete revision upon a scientific
basis by the appointment of a tariff
board which would give congress de-
finite Information upon which to act
and had declared for a revision of
the tariff, schedule by schedule, in
stead of the wholesale revision and
unsettlement of the business condi-
tions we have experienced in the
past. President Taft is planning to
compel a more complete revision of
the tariff as shown by the passage
of the corporation tax bill which
provided from $20,OOO,OOO to $780,
900, 900 of revenue to pay the ex-
penses of the government. He has
also advocated an income tax, and
the house has adopted it, which will
provide more revenues and when
these revenues yield money enough
to run the government and the in
formation is furnished US by the
board of tariff experts he will de-
mand further revision and the low
ering of the duties now in force.
He spoke very strongly of Presi-
dent Taft's services to the laborfng
man, in his decision in the Adding
ton Pipe case. Previous to this
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