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The Commoner.
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What Are the Wild Waves Saying?
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TJIE TAFT ADMINISTRATION
Watch tho rough and rudo insurgent
gush to press with views divergent
n tho Taft -administration .
From tho viows he onco expressed.
Seo him put away his hammer,
Chango tho tonor of his grammar : (
And declaro that what ho roasted '
Now has merit of tho best.
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Hear him chango his tuno completely,
Mr. Taft ho'll speak of sweetly,
Ahd ho'll scramble unto cover
As a chicken goes to roost;
Ho will discontinue sneering,
And will take up heaTty cheering
And fdr Tnft'S administration
Ho will promptly start to boost.
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Ho will put away his hammer,
And tho tenor of his grammar
Will be soft and full of honey,
Where in cpithetd ho waded. .
Yes, tho Taft administration
Ho'll indorse with great elation,
It's tho only thing he can do
Now that Teddy has O. K.'d it.
,. ' Detroit Free Press (Standpatter.)
"BRYANISM" IN NEW CLOTHES
Louisville Courier-Journal (Dem.) : "The new
nationalism,", says Theodore Roosevelt, "means
nothing but an application to now conditions
of certain old and fundamental moralities."
"The new nationalism" is nothing more than
"Bryanlsm" preached by Iioosevolt. Roosevelt
is a little more fcderalistic than Bryan; but ho
only needs to add "free silver at the ratio of
16 to 1" to make a perfect reproduction of "tho
Boy Orator of the Platte" and 1896. How do
tho straight republicans like it?
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BEWILDERED INSURGENTS
Detroit Free Press (Standpatter): Whatare
the insurgents going to do about it? The ques
tion has suddenly become ono of the most ex
citing of all developments of this remarkable
campaign.
The Roosevelt declaration of complete alle
giance to Taft republicanism at Saratoga came
as a surprise to those who had been cheering
for him as the supposed opponent of the presi
dent and who were looking for him to form a
new party. Thinking back a few months, how
over, it seems as if tho outcome ought not to
have been unexpected.
As long ago as last spring, when the colonel
was headed homeward, there were numerous
predictions as to what ho would do about in
surgency. Ono of the magazines that has capi
talized the restless spirit it helped to create in
the country and has made handsome profits out
of tlio operation cautioned its readers, we re
. member,, not to rely too much on Mr. Roose
velt's independence. If memory serves, tho
same advice was repeated a short while ago by
. ono Judson Welliver, muckraker in sugar and
.other specialties. Ho recalled that tho Roose
velt career had been ono of regularity, and was
certain that tho radicals could not hope that
he would break away from the party for their
.sake.
r It was freely said, too, after tho memorable
.conversation at Beverly,-that an understanding
.was then reached between, the president and
the ox-president whereby the ;one was to keep
tho. regulars in lino and the other would take
care of the insurgents. . No ono knows how
much truth there was in the supposition, of
course. But the result gives some foundation
for it.
. Mr. Roosevelt toured tho country after liis
two months of silence. . He was a radical of
tho radicals. Ho did not indorse the adminis
tration, and critics and admirerB alike drew the
'inference that ho would oppose it when the
time came. Was it part of the game planned
at Beverly?
At all events, ho went out into the enemy's
tents and he won tho hearts of the dwellers
therein. To suggest that he was seeking to
undermine the influence of the new leaders and
to recruit the followers under his own "banner,
only to lead them in to tho camp of the genera!
from which they had been enticed away, would
bo unwarranted by the known facts. But the
Cumminses and the Dollivers and the others
have seen their troons follow the ma.eo. nininn-
until the ranks of ' regularity Yere in sight at
Saratoga. When they were safely aligned and
headed toward their destination the - music
changed and instead of dancing-merrily along
to insurgent ragtime they found themselves
soberly-marching to the good "old party har
mony, as played by the New York band.
If it was political strategy it 'was done in
masterly fashion. The insurgent captains -are
"left alone out" in the barren fields, so short a
while since covered with shouting crowds. What
are they going to 'do? Stay'out'in the dreary
loneliness, or go back to camp with the rest?
President Taft is the acknowledged leader
of his party ' today, and the untimely chortles
Of joy from the' mischief makers over. the Roose
velt victory at Saratoga have been abruptly
stilled by the highly" disturbing platform adopts .
ed there. Even the Chicago Tribune has en
tered upon a month of silence since it was
published.
Disappointed
Webster City, la., Freeman-Trlbune insurgent.
Tho Freeman-Tribune confesses to a great dis
appointment in the conduct of Theodore Roose
velt. This paper has been an admirer of Mr.
Roosevelt' for many years, and had full confi
dence in his wisdom, integrity and loyalty to
the interests of the peqple. This opinion was
strengthened by Mr. Roosevelt's tour of the
west, when he took occasion to indorse the
progressive program as exemplified by such
leaders as Dolliver, Bristow, Plnchot and La
Follette. His Osawatomie address placed him
unqualifiedly in the progressive ranks, and
his general talk Upon that western trip was in
line with his record in the White House. Now,
however, Mr. Roosevelt seems to oe hedging.
He is. evidently trying to make peace with tho
reactionary element of the east. After a stren
uous fight he controlled the recent state con
vention in New York. He dictated tho plat
form and" dominated the nominations. The plat
form gives unqualified indorsement to the na
tional administration, and gives the president
credit for" all the good legislation -of th'e past
eighteen months. A man df the prominence of
Roosevelt can not hope to retain the confidence
of the people by indorsing the leading insur
gents of the country one day and approving the
administration of President Taft without reserve
the next. Possibly there is. some excuse or
reason for Mr. Roosevelt's apparent double deal
ing that will satisfactorily explain his conduct.
"GOODBYE, COLdNEL"
The Des Moines (Iowa) News, -one of Senator
Cummins' papers prints an editorial entitled
"Goodbye, Colonel." The editorial- follows:
"It won't work.
"The progressive sentiment that has stirred
men of all parties in all parts of the country
can not be chained to any -party chariot. Not
by Theodore Roosevelt nor anybody else.
"Roosevelt is not tho prophet nor the leader
of progress. Ho has no monopoly on it.
"Roosevelt has had New York state put an
O. K. on tho tariff bill.
- "He has commended Taft, the political. aBsas
sin of Pinchot and all that Pinchot stands for.
"He indorses Taft's conduct in using the pa
tronage club against.' LaFollette and Cummins
and Poindexter and Bristow and the other real
insurgents.. r
"He indorses the lawyer cabinet, Ballinger
and all.
"He tries to obscure all this treachery with
glittering, generalities about 'graft hunting,' but
tho people will feel safer in graft hunting when
they have fewer Lurtons on the supreme bench,
and fewer Oscar Lawlers in tho department of
justice.
"Taft, too, just, now, declared that he is for
insurgency but Murray Crane and Wickersham
and Hitchcock sit at his table.
"Roosevelt selects as his permanent chairman
Elihu Root, who is the incarnation of the doc
trine of dollars in politics.
"Roosevelt, bringing" with him Taft, Ballinger,
Wickersham, Root, J. P. Morgan, Tawney, bur
ton, Hitchcock, and all the motley crew of plu
tocrats and Hessians of privilege, can not enlist
in the army of insurgency.
"It would have been as sensible if James
Buchanan with Jeff Davis and his outfit had
tried to get into the councils of "Abraham
Lincoln.
"Insurgency got along pretty well: while
Roosevelt was in Africa. . . .
"He can not swallow up tho. insurgent rmove-
, VOLUME .10 NUMBER 4Q
menty &nd; ttiurgency will riotfewalfo'w him with
his indorsement of the tariff bill, of the presi
dent, an" d-' with hiu Roots and Griscoms.
"There'cati bo-no stop to insurgency in either
the republican or democratic parties, ahd no
harm-eati come to the movement unless unde
sirable and eleventh hour recruits are permitted
to fog its councils and pervert its' aims.
"Taft isn't welcome as a recruit and Roose
velt's room is far preferable to his dompany.
"Let's cut out the red fire and the leather
lungs and. go back to the patient, dogged fight
ing of real insurgents.
"Listen to that T. R.-built New York plat
form! It says: . 'We enthusiastically indorse
Taft, - Each month since his inaugu
ration has confirmed the nation in its high esti
mate of his greatness, of character etc.
"Rot! It may have confirmed; Roosevelt's
high estimate of Taft, but it hasn't confirmed
the nation's. Look at the record of those eigh
teen months!
"Taft ran a fake republican convention in
Wisconsin to beat LaFollette. - "
"Taft tried the patronage club on Bristow.
"Taft excommunicated Cummins.
"Taft fired Pinchot.
"Taft put Lurtpn on the supreme bench.
"Taft stood for Morgan's Wickersham rail
road bill, and tried to club Cummins into voting
for it. -
"Taft fought Poindexter at home. .
"Taft bargained with Cannon and. Aldrich;
helped their freinds and hamstrung their foes,
though the foes were good party men.
"If that record 'confirms' any 'estimate' of
Taft that-wr,s held in 1908 then Roosevelt knew
he gold-bricked the nation when he handed it
the 'judicial temperament' package.
"After that New York platform there is no
room in any group or party for both Roosevelt
and LaFollette or Roosevelt and, Cummins or
Bristow or Poindexter.
"And insurgency can't get along without the
LaFollettes, Cumminses, Bristows and Poin
dexters. "So goodby, colonel; take keer o yourself."
"A. NEW .GUESSING GAME"
The Sioux City (Iowa) Journali.rstandpa.tter,
of the standpatters, is disconsolate. In "an edi
torial entitled '-'A New Guessing Game," tho
Sioux City Journal says:
"Nowadays it is hard to guess the platform
utterance after seeing the party label. Con
versely it is not easy to guess the party label
after hearing the platform utterance,
"For instanco, here is a plank that was adopt
ted at a political convention in Wisconsin tho
other day: 'We denounce the Payne-Aldrich
tariff act as an indefensible masterpiece of in
justice, legally authorizing remorseless extor
tions of the many to enrich the few, through tho
operation of trusts and monopolies, which it
fosters. We favor an honest, non-partisan in
vestigation of the tariff by authorized, axperts
to the end that the electors may be enlightened
as to the iniquity of the present system of spolia
tion. We regard the creation of a' board of tariff
experts by the last congress as a mere subter
fuge satisfactory to the special interests.'
"To what political platform would you at
tribute it? It sounds just like what Senator
LaFollette has been saying in the senate, on the
platform and in print. Knowing that Senator
LaFollette runs the republican party of Wis
, cousin you cheerfully guess that the above
plank comes from the republican. platform. Poor
guess! It is good LaFollette doctrine, but as it
happened the Wisconsin democrats grabbed it
and put it In their platform.
"But here is another chance: 'The operation
of the federal and state anti-trust and conspir
acy laws has been productive of flagrant and
unjust inequalities. The laws have.been cir
cumvented "by the most dangerous and powerful
of the monopolies and trusts, which, through
their control of the banks, the money and. tho
credit of the country centered in Wall Street,
control the natural resources, the food and cloth
ing and the highways of the nation. This mon
ey power, in defiance of laws, has crushed com
petitors and has built up financial monopolies
in the interest of speculators and against the
interest of producers, wage earners and con
sumers. The laws designed to prevent indus
trial monopoly have been used to suppress the
unions and co-operative efforts of wage earners
and farmers in their struggle to protect the
value of their labor and products of their labor
against thoso moneyed monopolies. We favor
such separate classification of unions, associa
tions, monopolies and trusts air Bkall abolish tliia
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