The Sentinel=record., 1913-01-05

Auttu lAt oNCtt lullCHs dSSuiluE DCl~ ter conditions and complete social reform, all by the means of elections and of governmental action
 Then, too, in the material improve ment in the large amount of wealth devoted now to education and philan- thropy there has been aroused a most commendable interest in the poor and the suffering. So intensely enthusiastic have social workers be- come that they lose their sense of proportion and forget the interest of those who are not dependents and yet who make up the great majority of the common people.
 ITO these enthusiasts however. the necessity for turning all the activi- ties of the government into plans for the amelioration of the particular de- Eendents whom they have under their
 observation becomes eXigent and they look to the government as an instrument for immediate relief
 Now I am sorry to say that I have had so much to do with actual gov srnment in the Philippines and in
 Washington that l cannot join in the glowing promise that government action can remedy all of the evils If poverty, disease and ignorance as
 et forth in the pfospectuses of an ambitious political party. l cannot help asking by what means these re- forms are to be aecomplishS except by mere uniform enforcement of the law and by making the government more economical and more efficient.
 fbara nnu I,aftar NraN of 1haiD- ing the people than 10 have the tax money spent economically to accom- plish the purposes directed by law? Is this not greatly more in their in rerest than the eloquent exploitation of impracticable theories of reform that can never be carried out by gov ernmental machinery but must de pend for their realization upon the improvement and strengthening of Individual character?
 And thus find myself out of tune because l cannot resist the desire to ask for plans and specifications, for actual statutes to do the things which are promised Yet the mere query the mere attitude of inquiry
 puts one at once in the ranks of the
 doubters, dubs one at once as a re- actionary, places him at once among the aristocrats and prevents his be-
 ing treated or regarded as a friend of the people.
 Another feature of this period has been the reckless misuse of the press and the magazines for the misrepre- sentation of motives of men engaged in public life The issues arising as
 10 the tariff upon print paper and also upon the increasing of postage
 fer second class, mail matter nut those who owned and controlled such agencies in the attitudAof partisans aud many of them improved their op- portunities to assault those who op- pesed their particular interests.
 'The public have not been content 10 estimate and weigh the things done at their face value, but they have accepted hostile statements that good things were done either with an improper motive or because could not help it or were really done " somebody else, and that on the
 whole I was unfriendly to the peo- pie
 q am not complaining of this sit ldiiOu. dli nONtiuf lDdh dr tiult rolls by the facts may disclose them selves and may lead people to believe hat more reform has been accom- plished in my administration than will ever flow from an attempt to put into practical operation the prom ises which have been made in recent
 )arty platforms to make the rich moderately poor and the poor mod
 erately rich and to eliminate by sta
 ute all sin, injustice, poverty and
 suffering.
 Tt gratifes me to feel that my
 going out of office will remove this
 eause will end the "Taft ?Phobia' that
 has governed the action of some in influential positions and will tend to end those divisions that have been 7aused by personal reasons rather than on principle There is much of
 the personal about what is called 'in- surgency If one man advocates a proposition it has been all right be- cause he has shown himself an in- surgent On the other hand, if an other advocated practically the same thing. it had to be condemned be- cause of the source, from which 1t came. Now, of course, this is unrea- .sonable, but it is real feature of he situation
 "I go out of office with deep ap-
 ureciation of the honors l have en- ioyed. with profound gratitude to the
 American people and without any
 feeling of bitterness against any one. shall retain a very earnest desire
 as private citizen to help my coun-
 try and my fellow men in the strug- gle for free government.
 We were beaten in the last cleo
 ton, we ran third in the race. Why is 1t that we gather here with so
 much spirit and with so little dis
 appo6tment and humiliation? Is it
 not sthat. in spite of the defeat re- corded at the election in November.
 we were still victorious in saving our country from an administration
 whose policy involved the sapping
 of the found ton of democratic, con- stitutional representative govern
 ment, whose appeals were calculated
 to arouse class hatred that has here tofore been the ruin of popular gov