Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-03-09
RECALL IS CRUDE,
PRESIDENT SAYS
Termed Reactionary, Fitful and
Unstable in Speech at
Toledo, Ohio.
LAW CHECKS MAJORITY
Constitution Is Intended 20 Protect
the Minority Against Arbitrary
Action.

Toledo, Ohio, March 9.-After a
day spent for the most part on the
rear platform of his private car,
President Taft concluded his brief
Campaign" through eastern and
northern Ohio here last night with
sTeech in the Coliseum in which he
condemned the proposed recall OF
judges and the reversal Of judicial
decisions. The president made no d.
rect reference TO Theodore Roosevelt
or the colonel's recent speech at Co
lUmbus, but his address last night
could be taken as a reply to that
speech. The president said:
In the last year or two we have
heard much of radical methods OF
changing the judiciary system. 1t
We would properly consider these pro-
posals and stand on solid and safe
ground we must re-examine the fund
amental principles OF stable popular
government. The history OF the world
seems TO show that our form OF gov
eminent is more enduring and salts
factory than any other. We began as
small union OF thirteen states,
strung along the Atlantic coast, OF
1000 900 people and under the same
constitution we have enlarged TO be a
world power Of forty-eight sovereign
states bound into one Of more than
80 900 900 OF people aud with a human
guardianship OF 10000, 900 more, nine
in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic.
We have fought, beginning with the
revolution, four foreign wars, and
we have survived a civil war OF the
greatest proportions recorded in his
tory and have united the battling
sections by an indissoluble tie. From
our body polite we have excised the
cancer OF slavery, the only thing pro-
tected by the constitution which was
Inconsistent with that liberty, the
preservation OF which was the main
purpose OF establishing the union
We have increased our business and
productive activities in every direc.
ton, we have expanded the develop
ment OF our natural resources to b,
continent wide and all the time We
have maintained sacred those inalien
able rights Of man, the right of liber
~, the right OF private property anC
the right to the pursuit OF happiness.
Greatest Good to Greatest Number.
For these reasons, we believe II
popular government Government 4
a human tnstrumenity-to secure the
greatest good to the greatest humble
and the greatest happiness TO the in
dividual. Experience, and especial,
the growth OF popular government Il
our own history. has shown that 4
the long run every class Of people, an
by that ! mean those similarly sitt
Rted. are better able TO secure atten
ton 20 their welfare than any othe
class. however, altruistie the latte
class may be. OF course, this assume
that the members of the class hav
reasonable intelligence and capacit
for knowing their own rights and in
terest. Hence, IL follows that the bes
government, in the sense Of the gov
eminent most certain to provide 70
and protect the right and governmer
tai needs OF every class, is that on
in which every class has a voice.
In recognition OF this the tendenc
from earliest times in our history hs
been the enlargement OF the electoral
20 include in the ultimate source
governmental power as many as po
sible Of those governed Bnt eve