The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1912-05-15
President Taft's Columbus Speech

lumbus, Ohio, said that Col. Theodore
Roosevelt, his campaign manager, Sen
ator Dixon of Montana, and democrats
! in the senate were responsible for
the "emasculation" of the arbitration
treaties with Great Britain and
France and that in consequence of
their action the pacts were so chang
ed as to be of doubtful utility. These
treaties, the president declared, would
have made wide steps toward uni
versal peace; would have signalized
movement for universal arbitral
court and were as progressive meas
ures as ever were suggested to the
American people,
"For some reason unknown to my
puzzle-witted BRAIN" said the presi-
dent, "Mr Roosevelt opposed these
treaties and by these men who sup
ported that opposition, his manager,
Mr.. Dixon, and the democratic vote
| in the senate, those treaties were so
emasculated that it is difficult to see
whether they contain anything OF
value which ought to be ratified into
treaty. My idea of progress and
of the highest progress possible was
in those arbitration treaties because |
saw in them a step toward univers-
al arbitral court to which any nation
in the world might resort in order to
solve a controversy that it might have
with any other nation, and until we
get such a court, war will not disap-
pear, and this was decided step to-
ward that end, as progressive meas
ure as has ever been suggested to
the American people"
Mr.. Taft openly accused Mr.. Roose-
welt of Misrepresentation and mis-
statement; said that in many actions
for which his predecessor now criti-
cised him he had been Influenced by
Mr.. Roosevelts advice and asked the
people of Ohio to give him square
DEAL
The president dwelt al length on
the Roosevelt charges that he was
the friend of the boss and the tool of
the trusts and special interests. He
pointed out the failure of the Roose-
welt administration to prosecute the
steel trust and the harvester trust and
contrasted that with the attitude of
his own administration, which Las
filed suits against both. Although he
carefully explained that he did not
wish to charge Mr.. Roosevelt with
anything improper, the president re-
viewed in some detail the circum-
stances under which the Roosevelt adj
ministration decided not to institute
proceedings against these trusts or
against any of the Morgan interests. y
The president said that George W.
Perkins, "a director of the harvester
trust and the steel trust" was in
strumental in preventing the prose-
cutions in the Roosevelt days. and
then went on to say:
"Mr. Perkins is one OF the chief
contributors to Mr.. Roosevelt's pres
ent financial fund Now, | want to
ask what would have Mr.. Roosevelt
have said of me if had not prosecut-
ed the steel trust and the harvester
trust, and it appeared subsequently
that Mr.. Perkins was a large contrib.
utor to a special fund expended for
my use? Well what does he do on
the face of that? He charges me
with being in control of the special
interests, with these facts staring him
in the face. l don't infer from these
facts anything improper. On the con-
trary, l don't believe there is any.
thing improper but l do say to him,
who is so prolific in his suggestion of
suspicion and so easy in his charges
of improper motives, that for him now
with the evidence before the public
to charge me with being an agent OF
the special interests, takes that au
dacious courage l still believe him to
have"
Prosecution of Trusts.
Replying to the statement that the
DEGREES of the supreme court in the
Standard Oil and American Tobacco
company cases were really of benefit
to those trusts and that the Taft ad.
ministration's prosecution of them
had been Intellectual because oil has
gone up and the stock of both com.
panies has gone up, President Taft
told why he believed these resulted
from natural economic causes.
"They say oil has gone up and they
say the stock of these constituent
companies has gone up" said Mr..
Taft. at is true that they have gone
up, and why? Because in the disso
luton the facts had to come out, and
| = 11,h al y1,hn no