The Sentinel=record., 1912-04-26

of Taft and the Taft administration.
 One by one the president took ur
 II charges made against him by Col onel Roosevelt and sought to reflite them. In two instances he quoted from correspondence between himself and Colonel Roosevelt and said he
 was prepared to make other letters | public if MT. Roosevelt desired.
 By excerpts from my speeches, MT Roosevelt has charged that 1 am one who has publiely~announced that l am i in favor of an aristoeracy of political 1 bosses and that 1 am linked with po- litical bosses in seeking my renomi- nation. He charges that the patron. age of the government is being shame lessly used to secure my renomina- ton and that in the conventions ana I primaries, which have been held. fraud and violence have been syste. matically used to defeat the will of the people He says 1 am reaction ary; that l was nominated by pro gresslves and after election joined. the ranks of those who opposed me for nomination; and he intimates | have not the spirit of the progress i've. or the imagination of the clear headed purpose essential to the make up of such a person. He says l am a friend of the interests and an up- holder of special privileges and flouts the importance of the laws enacted and the executive action taken during my administration.
 If in this contest there were at stake only my reputation or the sat isfaction Of my own ambition, would continue my silence under these unjust attacks. l would do so because of the personal relations that have existed between Mir. Roosevelt and me: my debt of gratitude to him and my inclination, because of the Of flee l hold not to indulge in personal controversy.
 But l am presented with this diff ficulty. l represent a cause. l am the titular leader of that movement and the substantial and sane legisla- tion of my administration vindieates it's existence aiid continuance. The supporters of this cause feel that by such charges and appeals MT Roose- welt has clouded the real issues anu his misled a great many patriotic peo- pie to his support because no one has answered them as they ought to DC answered. As the titular head of the republican party, whose integrity is threatened, 1 must meet MT. Roosea yelt's attacks, however may be a per sonal controversy with one whom in the past I have greatly admired and loved and whose present change oi attitude is the source of the saddest disappointment,
 MT Roosevelt brides himself on being a true sportsman. and he likes to take maxims from the language Of sport The maxim which he has ex alted above all others is that every man is entitled to a square deal propose to examine the charges he makes against me and to ask you whether in making them he is giving me a square deal.'
 In detail, Mir Taft dealt first with the statement by Colonel Roosevelt In his Carnegie hall address in which the colonel said:
 My Taft fairly defines the issues when he says that our government is and should be a government of all the people, by representative part of the people; that is an excellent and moderate description of an oli- garchy. 1t defines our government as a government of all the people by few of the people"
 In reply, Mir. Taft said in part.
 The excerpt which Mir. Roosevelt uses is garbled. | didn't say this should be a government of all the people by a representative part of the people said it is thus apparent that ours is a government of all the people by a representative part of the people, and it is. had pointed out tLat the government was by pop ular 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. Does MT. Roosevelt deny this fact?
 Was it honest, was it fair of Theo- dore Roosevelt to seize one sentence from a speech, to garble it and then to give it a meaning which he knew from the context it could not bear?,
 Mir. Taft then took up what he termed the unfair charge that he was in favor of an oligarchy of bosses.
 lie Colonel Rooseveie) says that all the bosses are in my favor and all of them against him. That's not true By his association with Will liam Finn of Pittsburg, there is be. ing restored to power in that city and in Pennsylvania one of the worst mu- nicipal bosses the history of that state knows. He charges me with as sociation with Mir Barnes of New York, while he is silent as to the sup port and advice he is receiving from. MT. William Ward of the same state. Mir. Roosevelt knows that in 1910 but for the support he received from my | friends as against Nr. Barnes and MT Ward, he would not have been nominated as temporary chairman oi the New York convention.
 The truth with respect to me is the | same as it is with respect to MT. l Roosevelt When 1 am running for the presidency gratefully accept such support as comes to me. Mir
 Roosevelt is doing so now. l am mak | ing no bargain. I am agreeing to nc | aonditione thaf would hammer me m