Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-05-03
The MEANING
OF GRATITUDE
Taft's TRADE Not New to
Men Who Know Him.

Washington, April. stung TO the
| quick by his belated recognition Of the
long patent fact that the voters OF the
Republican party had repudiated his
Candidacy for denomination and are
Overwhelmingly in favor Of the nomi-
nation Of Colonel Roosevelt as their
candidate for the presidency this year,
Mr.. Taft has at last thrown aside all
restraint and carried out the threat
which he has been muttering to bis in
Inmates for some weeks to speak out
in public his real thoughts about the
man who made him president.
In Mr.. Taft's TRADE against Mr..
Roosevelt at Springfield, Mass, there
is nothing essentially new to those who
have been on anything more than re
lations Of casual intimacy with the
president for some time. It is a fact
known to not a few Of those closely
connected with the campaign OF 1908
that even at that time the Taft fam
lily was displaying that peculiarly ma
lignant temper toward Mr.. Roosevelt
which SO often takes the place Of graft
tude in the hearts Of those who have
benefited by a great service rendered
by q friend. 1t Is q fact known to not
a few persons that at times during the
campaign of 1908 the talk about Mr..
Roosevelt among members OF the Tart
family was such as to cause the great
est uneasiness to the managers of Mr.
Taft's campaign for the presidency.
lest 1t should become public and work
serious damage to the campaign. Those
familiar with the true feeling toward
Mr.. Roosevelt In the Taft family have
been surprised that Mr.. Taft has con-
cealed for 30 long his real attitude to-
ward his benefactor.
From the time last fall when the
strong sentiment of the country In ia.
for of Colonel Roosevelt began to man
ifest itself Enthusiastically, there has
been much talk from Taft sources
about Colonel Rooseyelt's ingratitude
to Mr.. Taft. 1t has been assumed by
Mr.. Taft's partisans that. because Colo
mel Roosevelt was instrumental in
bringing about Mr.. Taft's nomination
and election to the presidency, he was
therefore bound at all times. under all
circumstances and at all costs, to sup
port Mr.. Taft's administration and Mr..
Teft's denomination and election. That
assumption Is entirely unwarranted and
has no logical justification. The fact is
that Taft, the president, Is not and
never for one moment has beer the
.taft Mr.. Roosevelt and his intimate as
sociates knew as secretary or war AMI
whom they supported as a candidate
for the presidency.
While MI. Taft was seeking the pres
idency he constantly sought to appear
as a stanch and true progressive. But
on that November night In 1903 when
the count of the votes showed that he
had been elected to the presidency. he
ceased to make any effort actually to
be d progressive. For some time he
continued to wear a mask as a pro-
gressive, but in the last two years of
his presidency he has not kept up even
that feeble effort to deceive the people
of the country. BY his constant asso-
citation with the Aldriches, the Can
IONS and the Lorimers, by his ready
submission to their influence and ad-
vice, by his active support of the meas-
ures they devised and favored; by his
cooperation with them in matters of
patronage, and by his unblushing at
tempt to coerce the real progressives
through the bralHn use of federal pat
ronage, he has stamped himself openly
as the reactionary which he has al
ways been at heart.
A single Illustration will suffice for
the demonstration Of this proposition.
In his speech at Cincinnati, In July,
1908, accepting the nomination for the