The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-06
'ST|MSON IS OUTFOR l THE DENOMINATION
 ]! OF PRESIDENT TAFT
Dixon Challenges the Taft
 j Forces to Hold Primaries Everywhere
MORE LIGHT ON THE
 USE OF PATRONAGE
Situation in Republican Ranks Much Enliyened - Both Headquarters Give Out Statements-Stim-
 son Gives His Reasons


 |. Chicago, March 5,--Henry L. Stimson fl of New York, Secretary of War, and the \ Roosevelt candidate for governor of New York in 1910, tonight declared him. self for President Taft, and said that k while he remained the sincere friend of Mir Roosevelt, he could not sup H port him for the presidential nomina- tion.
 \ Mr. Stimson entered President Taft s k cabinet last year, after consultation | with Mir Roosevelt, and with the dis tinct understanding with the President that he would be bound in no way to take part In the political activities of j the administration. In speech before the Taft club of Illinois tonight he Il declared his belief that President Taft's II administration represented the highest expression of progressive republican Il policy.
 T am here tonight to speak for the l renomination of President Taft,' said MT. Stimson. "I am now and always l have been a progressive.
 Taft Progressive q am for MT. Taft because I believe N he has faithfully carried out the pro- ! gressive faith of the republican party; that his administration stands for or derly, permanent progress in our na tional government, and that to reIuse | him the nomination on the assertions + that have ben made against him would be a blow to that progress and would put a premium upon hasty, and unfounded criticism.
 T entered into public life under the inspiration of Theodore Roosevelt I am firm believer in the great na- tional policies for which he has fought and I now remain his sincere friend. But l believe that those who are fore ing him, contrary to his original in- tention, into the arena against MT. Taft are jeopardizing instead of helping the real cause of progress in the nation. a"The introduction of such contest at this time, dragging in, as 1t neces- sarily will, new and personal issues which are quite foreign to the great progressive policies for which the re- publican party stands; cannot fall to weaken whichever candidate is eventu-
 
 that candidate is defeated in November, the government may be thrown into the hands of truly reactionary party for years to come."
 Adhered to Platform MT. Stimson said that President Taft had devoted himself increasingly to the carrying out of constructive work along progressive lines. The administration was begun, he said upon a plan that had the thorough approval and delib crate indorsement of MT. Roosevelt;' ;'' and to that plan President Taft had ad- hered rigidly.
 "ls it fair now to crticise him." asked Mr. Stimson, because, in faithfully carrying out this pledge of four years ago, in performing this vitally useful, ! though inconspicuous, work he has not \ Nominated the public attention with
 eGramatic dsplay?"
 | President Taft pledged himself, said Mr. StimsoD, to progressive development of the work that President Roosevelt had inaugurated. and the completion and per lection of the machinery by which the moral standards set by President Roose- welt may be maintained
 Though this work of Mfr. Taft has 1e- voted himselgP said Mr. Stimson. "He thus deliberately renounced more striking methods of reform, and set himself to the andramatic and inconspicuous public service which leaves out all thought of a mans own aggrandizement
 "He has repeatedly for example, urged l upon Congress to place upon the classified civil service virtually all of the presiden- tIal offices; a measure which would at | one blow strike out most of the enor- nous political power of the President. "The results of this deliberate self abnegation are shown in the great legis- lot md cf,-tt.,t Of his term. Mir Taft's standards of ad- | minstraton, like those of Mir. Roosevelt. have been constantly toward purity and elevation in our public service and our public life.
 Should Recognize Merit With great patience, with unswervins courage, with absolute disinterestedness ess, in these excitable times when mems minds are full of readiness for criticism and desire for experiment, he has carried on the burden of administration and has car Tied it forward. It will be reflection upon our own power of fair minded an candid judgment if we do not recognize the merit as well as the difficulty of tha, achievement now"
 Certain reform methods of governmen, advocated by many of the progressiyes. and in part by Mir. Roosevelt were severe ly criticised by MT. Stimson He de- bounced the recall of judges as destined to bring the courts down into the welter | of politics:'' and said that fl was no test of | a republicans progressiveness to require his support to systems that had been suc- / cessful in certain states
 Ut is mere narrowpess and intolerance to insist upon remedy which has proved effective in one place, as the necessary test of sincere and intelligent reform in another" he said Tt Is even more err roneous to pake fidelity to one of these schemes of local government in one of the commonwealths a test for what is proper and appropriate in the government of the nation at large" Touches on Referendum Mir. Stimson said that the referendum had apparently worked well in Oregon, but that in 50 years trial in New York. as applied to constitutional questions, it had been failure. "should the national republican who lives in New York be read out of this party" he asked. because he declines to accept the referendum as the best reme- dy to cure the abuses of popular govern ment in his own state?
 N Tt only confuses and distracts to drag 1 into national campaign the prejndices and shibboleths which have arisen in the contests of the different states. Mir. Tsfts administration must be judged by the attitude with which he has approached @CoNglNUEp ON FACE 9
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