Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1912-05-07
THE REAL SITUATION.

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life saving service on their boats.
THE REAL SITUATION.
In the May American magazine
William Allen White, writing a
statement of the relations between
Taft and Roosevelt, which he calls
Should Old Acquaintance Be For
got?" makes the following COM
ments:
President Taft acknowledged that
he was nominated by a party pledg-
ed to continue the so-called Roose-
Welt policies. Moreover, it was gen
orally understood, and President
Roosevelt shared the understanding,
that in continuing the Roosevelt
policies the new president would re-
tain such members of the RoOse-
welt cabinet as desired to stay. And
further still it is certain that in in
viting General Luke Wright into the
cabinet, President Roosevelt invit-
ed him on behalf of the incoming
president, after formally consulting
with Mr.. Taft. Otherwise, except
| with the understanding that the po-
sition was to be permanent, Gener-
al Wright would not have accepted
the offer. The assurances that
President Roosevelt gave to Mr..
Garfield and other members of his
cabinet that the new president
wished them to remain in the cabi-
net could have come only from a
definitely expressed request from
Mr.. Taft that these men be asked to
stay.
But change came in his atti-
tude. The men who had opposed
Mr.. Taft's nomination began to sur
round him. They made it easy to
forget former animosities. His easy
going temperament responded. The
enemies of Roosevelt found that
they had the ear of the new lead
er. The friends of Roosevelt found
that they had small standing with
Mr.. Taft Thus before he came to
the White House in the short ses-
sion of congress after his election
in November, we find him hand in
glove with the members of congress
who were doing all in their power
to insult and discredit President
Roosevelt. One word of protest
from the president-elect could have
shamed them into silence.
Taft gave no sign of displeasure.
BY his influence he might have aid
ed President Roosevelt in pushing
to complete realization few of the
measures dear to his heart But it did
not seem wise to the president-elect
to antagonize the powers that We're.
So the president-elect had left
Washington and organized his ad-
ministration in Georgia as far away
from Roosevelt as possible, and con-
spicuously smiled while congress
baited and humiliated President
Roosevelt to its hearts content.
This aloofness from Roosevelt on
Taft's part was the temperament ex-
preston of the man who is not offic-
tally called upon to act, and there
fore feels no duty in the matter. 1t
is the reflection of a temperament
that acts according to presidents
and rules. and not upon Judgment
arising from consideration Of
things in their moral aspects. For
If ever man had plain duty, it
was the obvious duty of Mr.. Taft to
go to Washington to consult with
Colonel Roosevelt, and above all to
stand by his friend, when that
friend was being maligned and held
up to scorn by his enemies.
But Mr.. Taft did not see his duty
in that light So when the new adj
ministration came in Theodore
Roosevelt's friends went out. Mr..
Taft's idea of men of earnest en-
thusiastic interest in the public
veal was a cabinet of corporation
lawyers whose whole professional
careers had been employed fighting |