The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-11-12
TAFT is FOR ROOT
lone Man Who Answers Requirements
of the Tines.

OF the lines.
Chicago. Nov. 10--Ex President
Taft is for Elihu Root as the republi-
can nominee for president in 1916.
Mr.. Taft in frank and unrestrained
interview on the national political
situation at Chicago Wednesday ex-
pressed his opinion as private citi-
zen out of politics that Mr.. Root is
the one man who answers the re-
quirements of the times
Mr.. Taft does not deny the political
strength of President Wilson, but he
affirms the belief that the Republi-
cans have an excellent chance to
win the 1916 election if conditions re-
main as they are
He believes that next years ballots
will be cast with the European war in
full blast He doesn't see peace with
in eighteen months at the earliest.
The Presidential campaign, in Mr..
Taft's Judgment, will be fought out
mainly on the issue of the tariff. The
Wilson Mexican policy may be a
prime factor, but not if the United
| States happens to have bet on the
right horse
Mr.. Taft remarked that the foreign
policy OF this government regarding
| China and the Orient is certain to
loom largely in the national cam
| paign. What Mr.. Taft expresses as
"the wreck Thirteen years of earn
est, honest and constructive labor in
the Philippines" by the Democratic
regime under Governor-General Fran
els Burton Harrison figures as a con
spicuous possibility in the impending
Republican attack upon the Wilson
Administration
The republican victory in Massa-
chusetts last week Mr.. Taft sets
down as THE most significant of
year election result on record" He
thought that the Massachusetts cleo.
ton results, correctly interpreted,
spell the reunion of the republican
and the progressive parties upon an
honest basis" and an excellent indi-
cation of what may be expected in
nationwide campaign next year.
Mr.. Taft does not have as much
optimism as some other republicans
who predict wholesale defeat for dem
ocrats next year, but he bases his OPP
inion that his party has good
chance to win upon first hand reports
gained from travelling over the entire
country.
II look for republican victory but
the verdict will not be as decisive as
it would have been had not the
European war intervened.' Mr. Taft
said. 1--WE had a year of the Under
wood tariff and business suffered.
Then came the war.
There has been a measure of pros
perity. Some lines of business have
developed unconscionable profit 1t
! appears to be a get in quick get out
quick policy with many of them. The
| conservative business men are eager
to return as rapidly as may be pos
sible to a sound basis, and for this
reason ! feel that the republican prn-
ciples will be re-established by next
years election
Speaking of the presidency, Mr.
Taft said:
Il am not a candidate. | am not a
| politician. AS a citizen l may say
without qualification that Elihu Root
of New York is the one man who
| answers the requirements of the
| times for the Presidency"
Did you catch any sentiment on
your travels that would indicate that
| Col. Roosevelt might be put forward
as a candidate for the republican
| nomination. Mr. Taft was asked.
81 did not come out here to answer
the riddles of the sphinx the ex-
president retored as he hurried away
to his Orchestra Hall meeting.