Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1920-10-08
political Advertising.)
REPUBLICAN COLUMN

Democrats have made much OF th
ability of former President Taft b,
cause Mr.. Taft's liberal attitude O
the league of nations seemed to hel
their campaign. They have said,
effect, to the Republicans: Here
one of your greatest men, a ma
whose opinions everybody respect
and he says that we should join
league of nations"
How disconcerting lit must be I
hem, having thus established in th
public eye a respect for Taftian infa
libility, to read the ex-president's r,
cent analysis of<the Harding and CO
in which he finds CO
TO be the political opportunist'' an
The trimmer" and Harding th
courageous candidate"
Mr.. Taft knows something aboU
presidential cndidates. He has bee
one. He has both lost and won |
campaigns. And M
Taft knows something, too, OF pres
Dental requirements. He had shor
comings man has not?-an
be is quick to see them In other pre-
Idential possibilities, and to poiI
them out.
So it is that he recently said:
We rarely have had a shrewd-
or political opportunist than the
Democratic candidate. He Is
now deliberately trying to win
the votes of labor men by charg-
ing without the slightest evil
dence, that Mr. Harding has been
bought by contributions Of great
capitalists to his campaign fund,
and will at their behest use the
army to terrorize labor and
force from 1t unjust concessions
to capital.
The president has no power to
use the army in industrial dis
turbances in a state in time OF
peace, unless he is called upon
by the legislature or governor of
a state for aid in suppressing
disorder too great for the state
to deal with, or unless the law
less violence Is obstructing a
federal function, like the mails,
or something peculiarly within
federal Jurisdiction, like inter-
state commerce. When has q
president ever used the troops
for such purpose unjustly?
We have had instances of the use
of federal troops in Colorado, in
Idaho at the Occur d'Alene, and
most conspicuously in the Debs
rebellion at Chicago, and re-
Gently at Gary, in Indiana. That
they were needed in these cases
properly to preserve law and or
; der, everyone admitted, but the
lawbreaking strikers. Does Mr..
Cox wish 1t to be understood
that laWless agitators can count
on him, IL elected president, to
refuse to do his constitutional
and statutory duty to send
troops in such cases7 Does he
propose to ignore the rights of
the public to protection from
riot and destruction of life and
property which Is never confined
to the parties to the original
controversy
Governor Cox's indisposition
to maintain law and order by
use of the militia is well known
to local labor leaders, and ex-
plains his popularity with them.
It is one OF the reasons why Mr..
Gompers and MIR. Morrison favor
him against Mr.. Harding His
attitude necessarily makes law
less violence a more effective
means OF winning Industrial dis
putes.
What, then, is the effect of
his words as conveyed to Iaborg
Il Is that labor ought to have
q certain Immunity from re-
straint in the use OF Iawless vfo-
ience to force employers into
yielding to its demands, and that
troops ought not to be sum
mOned, even though in the in
tsrest Of the public such VIC
lence can only be stopped or
avoided by their presence. This
ls dangerous doctrine, and many
present supporters OF Governor
Cox will not relish It.
In marked contrast to this we
have Senator Harding's Just at
titude toward labor and capital.
He favors trade unions and col
lectiye bargaining, but he in
sists that the equality OF power
and dealing which organization
AAEnAAy gives 10 AAUOE SHAH not
be enlarged into q tyrannical
domination OF the right OF the
employer to conduct his busi-
ness.
Who is the trimmer and who
the courageous candidate?
Governor Cox read these word
OF Mr.. Taft soon after they wer
published. Was his reply a matte
Of logic, matter OF argument? o
the contrary, il was typical of tn
man. "Mr. Taft should be ashame
Of himself" said the Democrat
nominee.
The retort was the sort one woul
expect of a candidate whose sole ide
Of campaigning appears to be 10 Civ
the other fellow HI and then as
the voters to put him In because b
wants in.
But how can II win votes?
49, ~@4-