The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-12
SECRETARY NAGEL
 ROUGHLY HANDLES
 ROOSEVELT IDEAS
Proclaims His Loyalty to President Taft and the
 Administration
ASKED TO JUMP OVER
 POLITICAL HORIZON
Adoption of Ideas of Roosevelt Would Mean Abolishment of Constitu- tion, He Says-Inferentially
 Compares Col. Roosevelt

tiop. He Says-Inferentially Compares Col. Roosevelt
 Indianapolis, March 11.-In speech lauding President Tafts administration as
 a complete fulfllment of all the republican
 platform pledges of 1908 and strict con- tinua ton of the policies inaugurated by
 former President Roosevelt, Secretary NageI of the department of commerce
 and labor tonight made vigorous attack on the advocates of such governmental change as the initiative, referendum and recall. Secretary Nagel declared that puB- lie men were attempting to confuse the public mind, that they were busy making promises to which they cannot be success fully held,'' that the recall of judges would make trimmers of men" and ''deter men of independence and capacity from accepting positions of justice.' Question of Survival
 "It was conceivable 50 years ago that as result of our internal strife there might have been two republics" he said. Tt is conceivable today that if some of the sug- gestions impatiently put forward at this time are to prevail the question may arise whether sor not there shall be one re- public. Against such contingency it behooves every citizen to set his face in absolute disregard of every other 'consid- eration, personal or political"
 The efforts of President Taft to cary out the pledges of the party, he said, had brought no aid from his republican critics. "For the last three years," said Secrs- H tary Nagel, during a period of unfailing struggle to realize and bring into action H every pledge that was made in the name of the republican party, there has been uttered scarcely word of approval by them of those things accomplished. Scarcely hand was raised to help lift the burden which the party by their coll sent and approval had assumed.
 Ia.led Air With Nostrums .1aAeal il have filled the air with esruf@ shs acceptance of which they N3ps oe the sole test of the pro- instead of aiding to fulan IvsasleS e1ei solemnfy promised to the l ,ss 5ia it X timed that the initiative. the se., .dsss | ed the recall of officials, in- sseae iiide of judicial decisions, shall 1fan Hs8 be the rest of progressive Il Secretary Nagef denounced the charge II that President Taft had abandoned the Il principles of the last President. He de- Il clared that not one of those things for Il which critics of the administration were H now contending had been embraced In the Il last republican platform.
 Il If the recall of judges and doctrines | had been embodied in that platform" he II said, 'it is safe to say that there were N men then, as there are now, who could II not stand upon such plank and who | could not support their favorite candidate H upon such a platform because they would H regard these principles as sufversive Of II the fundamental principles of representa- III tive government.' H To President Roosevelt, said Secretary H Nagel, belonged the credit of arousing the H people to worth of the laws protecting H them from combinations and corporations. H President Roosevelt first brought the n- III terstate commerce law into It's full III strength, he said. and President Taft had II carried out the pledges and policies inau- H gurated by President Roosevelt and in-' dorsed in the national platform of 1908. H Platform Pledges Kept HI .The pledges of that platform have been | kept" declared Secretary Nagel Per H haps never in the history of the republican H party have so many distinct pledges of H platform been redeemed within one admin III istraton. It has been carried out with H respect 10 it's specific promises and accord ing to it's spirit. The President has by HI every act redeemed the pledges of the IT platform and his own promises III Further remedies were necessary, said + Secretary Nagel, to make corporation con- H trol effective, but President Taft's critics III were giving him no aid in giving such III remedies, he said. This task is still un- III finished' said MT. Nagel. "It is pressing l. for decision. It were better that we ap- III ply ourselves to the practical performance H of so important a pledge. than to fill the. | public ear with vague promises for the Il fulflment of a visionary desire. "The initiative. referendum and recall are advocated by men who are ambitious | for national office and generally avoided | by men who have to do with local af- fairs. Each is busy making promises to which he cannot be successfully held" | The adoption of those proposals, he said. II would mean that "the constitution, to all
 intents and purposes, when It's guarantees ara most needed, is abolished" + Means One Man Power + "It means that the determination of IF what is right, and therefore what is con III stitutional. must be left to the author of | the nostrum itself.' said Secretary II Nagel. Tt means one man power; as pure democracy always has meant and always |f will mean. It is not progressive: if is |H req ctionary: for by it's teaching every peo- |s pie that have ever experimented with |4 these doctrines have gone to their de- II struction.
 Tt Is one thing to make complaints: 1t is quite another to provide. the re- lief. It is one thing to entertain inc people with declamations 1t is another thing to formulate rule which is cal culated to promote the welfare of the fpeople. In the past we have never de- nied that there was much truth in Mr Bryan's complaints; but we have de- nounced his remedies. In the field of promises we have conceded him a mo- nopoly. Today we have to confess that critics in our own ranks have not ontv broadly accepted ana enlarged upon his complaints. but have pre-empted
 and expanded the doctrine of his rems,- dies" 45
 |I Secretary Nagel declared the repub- lican party had always been progre5- siye; but that now We are asked to lprove our allegiance to progressive Iprinciples by Jumping over the political
 horizon"
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