The Alaska citizen., 1912-07-22
St. Vitus vs. St Nicholas
By George Creel
ally selected Taft.

 permitted to be seen as Taft, but compelled to masquerade as Roose- welt That master press agent dressed him. managed him. spoke of him and trotted him about. Horses. i reinforced with concrete. were com | mandeered in the absurd attempt | 10 make it appear that Taft was even an outdoor result as we'll as an | indoor copy, and from first to last, | the secretary of war concealed his own personality, and adopted that of his friend and guide.
 | But it was still there. and no sooner did Roosevelt depart. leav- | ing Taft at last to his own devises, then the real Taft appeared. l MT. Roosevelt openly charges be- trayal against President Taft. and in this bitter accusation he is support l ed by the Progressives and the great bulk of the Republican party | Insofar as they meant that MT. Taft | refused 10 carry out the policies to which he was committed the charge cannot be denied, but if they meant that MT, Taft has been guilty of deceit and treachery, the charge is untrue.
 1 All he did was to become William | H. Taft again. As has been stated | here was man who had never worked for living, and every day Of his life had been passed in inti mate associate with people of wealth and power. One of his brothers to whom he owed much was a great | corporation attorney of New York and another brother, to whom he owed even more, had married the 1 Sinton millions in Cincinnati. and vas hand in hand with Cox in every | public utility steal. His political career had been commenced under | the tutelage of such men as For | aker and Hanna. and his Republi- | carism was q bitter Ohio kind that refuses to admit the passing of the | civil war. As a judge on the fed eral bench he had originated the blanket injunction." and by reason of this same judicial career he had | strengthened his class ideas, and confirmed his belief that democracy Was well enough in theory, but not | 10 be compared with a sort of bene- | ,olent oliarchy of business in prac- tice
 1 he people at large, and the Pro | ressiyes in Washington, believing 1 hat Taft was indeed Roosevelt | took no particular pains to guard the new executive against stealthy approaches and sly Receptions, but Ndrieh, Crane and Cannon were keener. They appreciated the in ense spirit of Tafts partisanship, his intense admiration of energetic wealth, his friendship for Business, and with instant assiduity surround ed him.
 The whole thing is quite under atandable if one takes the trouble 10 look at ii closely. The easy | going president intensely Republ- an, knew that these men had fought him and Roosevelt but figured that these were merely political antag- onisms," and that since they were party leaders and men of wealth, it was his duty to heed them and conciliate them.
 Neither then, nor now, has MT. Taft seemed to have the slightest comprehension of the real nature of the present political struggle, ab- solutely failing to perceive that it is life and death grapple between the People and Special Privilege. The only aspects that it presented to him were purely partisan, and being a party man." he lent himself to what he thought was party har- mony," but which, in reality, was the betrayal of the people into the hands of Organized Greed.
 The work of the arch plotters was easy indeed. Utterly unfitted for an executive position by a life of leaning he turned appreciatiyely to Crane and Aldrich and Cannon, and turned his affairs over to them with asigh of relief. They tricked him into standing for the infamous Payne-Aldrich bill, tricked him into a dishonorable defense of Ballinger, tricked him into interruptions use of the federal patronage, and trick ed him into open antagonism with the insurgent senators and repre- sentatives.
 AS true as scathing was Senator fDolliver's comment upon him as "A large body entirely surrounded by men who knew exactly what they Wanted"
 It is not for these things that Mir Taft is deserving of blame He was only acting as everyone might have known that he would act-only exhibiting the executive incompe- tence that everyone might have known that he would exhibit. He | knew hjmSalf that he was mt