The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-04-26


This wrenches my SOUL" he saiu
once.
AS the day wore on, however, and he
made speech after speech in which he
denounced Mr.. Roosevelt again and
again, Mr.. Taft grew more aggressive
in manner, emphasizing his words with
gestures and apparently laid aside any
feeling of regret he may have felt at
this evidence that the long friendship
with his former chief was broken.
His Boston Speech.
His principal Boston address was de-
Hvered in the arena to a large crowd,
but before retiring to his private car
he spoke briefly to an overflow"
meeting in Symphony hall. His speech
in the arena was delivered from MAN.
uscript, prepared during the last few
days in Washington, carefully gone
over by members of his cabinet, and
containing a detailed answer to many
of Mr.. RoOsevelt's charges.
Mr.. Taft's speech bristled with coun-
ter charges against his predecessor in
the White House. He declared that
Mr. Roosevelt had wilfully misrepre-
scented him, had falsely distorted some
of his public utterances, had failed to
live up to his policy of a square deal
and had violated a solemn promise tc
the American people not to be a can
didate for a third term.
That promise and his treatment of
it." said mir. Taft 'only throws an in
now to be attached to any promise of
this kind he may make for the fu-
fure."
Declaring that Mr.. Roosevelt Ought
not to be selected as a candidate of
any party" Mr.. Taft said that the for
zner president might now be paving
the way, if successful in the present
campaign, to remain the chief executive
of the nation for as many terms as his
natural life would permit.
a -ofa rod n OF TT
Roosevelt's charges against him as the
lose and vague indictment of one who
does not know and who depends only
upon second hand information for his
statement"
Answers Charges One by One.
One by one, the president took up
eleven charges made against him by
Colonel Roosevelt and sought to refute
them. In two instances he quoted
from correspondence between himself
and Colonel Roosevelt, and said he was
prepared to make other letters public
If Mr.. Roosevelt should desire.
"Mr. Roosevelt prides himself on
being q true sportsman and he likes
to take from the rules and language
of sport maxims to be applied to life
in general. The maxim which he has
exalted above others, to which he has
given currency the country over, and
which he himself in his conduct of
life wishes to have it thought he ex-
emplifies, is that every man is entitled
TO a square deal I propose to exam
inc the charges he makes against me, |
and to ask you whether in making
them he is giving me square deal.
In detail Mr.. Taft dealt first with |
the statement by Colonel Roosevelt in /
his Carnegie hall address in which |
the colonel said: t'AIr. Taft fairly de-
fines the issue when he says that our
government is and should be a gov
eminent of all the people by repre- !
sentative part of the people. That is |
an excellent and moderate description |
of an oligarchy. It defines our govern |
ment as government of all of the |
people by a few of the people. In |
reply Mr.. Taft said:
1.-THE excerpt which Mr.. Roosevelt |
uses is taken from my speech at To-
ledo. It is garbled. I did not say
this should be- a governm ent of all
the people by a representative part of
the people. I said st is thus apparent |
that ours is a government of all the |
people by a representative part of the |
clearly what I meant.
WAS It honest. was it fair of Theo- |
dore Roosevelt to seize one sentence
from a speech, to garble it and then
to give II a meaning which ne knew |
from the context it could not bear?
Do the just people of Massachusetts
approve such method OF warfare? DO
they think that in carrying it on Mr..
Roosevelt is giving to his successor a
square deal? %
Says 1t Is Not True.
Mr.. Taft next took up what he
termed the unfair" charge that he
was in favor of an oligarchy of bosses.
HE Colonel Roosevelt) says that
all the bosses are in my favor and all
of them against him That is not true.
BY his association with William Finn,
of Pittsburg, there is Being restored
to power in that city and in Pennsyl-
vania one of the worst municipal
bosses that the history of the state
knows. Mr.. Roosevelt's chief support
aT n Brown.
only boss in full commission in that
state, who is looking forward to state
control under Mr.. Roosevelt's admins
tration. He charges me with asSocia-
ton with Mr.. Barnes of New York
while he is silent as to the support
and advice he is receiving from Mr..
William Ward of the same state. Mr..
Roosevelt knows that in 1910, but for
the support he received from my
friends as against Mr.. Barnes and Mr..
Ward, he would not have been nomi-
mated as temporary chairman of the
New York convention.
THE truth with respect to me is
the same as it is with respect to Mr..
Roosevelt. When I am running for
the presidency gratefully accept such
support as comes to me. Mr.. RoOse
Welt has done so in the past; he is do
ing so now. I am making ne bargain.
I am agreeing to no conditions that
would enbarrass or hamper me in the
administration of the government.
should I be reelected. I do not say
that Mr.. Roosevelt has done so, or is
doing so, but when consider the Gag
erness with which Mr.. Roosevelt has
accepted in his various campaigns the
assistance of Mr.. Aldrich Mr. Cannon.
Mr.. Penrose. Mr.. Quay, Mr.. Platt, Mr.
Foraker and many other men promi-
nent and influential in congress and
politics. whatever their designation,
whether leaders or bosses, I do not |
hesitate to say that it involves the
most audacious .effrontery on his part
to attack me because men he char