HAS TAFT FAILED?

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVII, 24 May 1910, Page 7

HAS TAFT FAILED?

A DISAPPOINTING YEAR.

DIFFICULTIES WITH CONGRESS.

NEW YORK, March 18. At the end of Judge Taft's first year in the White House, it must be admitted that the record made under his direction is not wholly satisfactory to his friends. He was admirably equipped by education, temperament and experience (legislative service excepted) for the duties of the office. His imSulses have been most commendable; is policies have been those for which his eminent predecessor and good friend, Mr Roosevelt, obtained great popular support; he is a big, hearty, good-natured man, whom the people like when they see him ; but at the end of his first year he does not have the situation well in hand, and he permits his disappointment to be known. In recent addresses he has spoken with some bitterness of the attitude of the press towards himself, and has complained about the small but very able minority faction of his own party in Congress, which is composed of mem known as "insurgents." There are new lines in his face, and his good humor has yielded a little to the strain. The main cause of his troubles has been the unfortunate revision of our tariff at the beginning of his term, j The revision was controlled and shaped | by unworthy men. He sought to improve their work, but accomplished very little, partly because the legislative combination was too strong for him, and partly for the reason that he had no intimate knowledge of the subject. During the long contest the insurgent minority of his party fought hard for an honest revision, a real revision downward, such as the people had been led to expect. Their course excited his hostility and drove him eventually to an alliance with the controlling leaders — Aldrich in the Senate and Speaker Cannon and his lieutenants in the House. These men do not enjoy the public confidence; the insurgents, further, represent the progressive and most intelligent element of the President's party. Since the Tariff Bill was passed the President has lost no opportunity to commend it. He has also persistently commended Aldrich, and has exhibited in public his association with Aldrich and Cannon. All this, together with some discrimination in the way of official patronage, has stimulated the tariff insurgents to subject his measures to sharp criticism. While at times they have been unnecessarily bitter, their criticism has frequently been sound and effective, and the measures have been essentially modified or exposed to delay and possibly to defeat. These critics have profited by the quality of his Cabinet, and especially by the errors of those Cabinet officers who prepared, the Bills which embody his policies. There are good men in the* Cabinet, but the average of it is not high, and it has hot gained the affection of Congress. Mr Knox, the head of it, has blundered a little with respect to Central American and South American affairs, and there are indications that his work in Asia has not been that of a skilful diplomat. Secretary Ballinger, who deals with public lands, is, under a cloud, being virtually defendant in the Congressional investigation, now in progress, concerning coal claims in Alaska and water power' sites in our Western States. His days as a Cabinet officer are numbered. Not one of the' President's Bills has been enacted. The Bill which, establishes' postal savings banks has been passed in the Senate. Those which relate to the further regulation of our railroads, to the conservation of natural resources, to trusts, and to the use of court injunctions in labor disputes are dragging along in committee, and are so affected by the critical opposition of legislators who undoubtedly support the principles and aims of these measures that the fate of them cannot heforeseen. • ' It is now frequently predicted that at the elections m November next the Republican party will lose control of the House, in which it now has a large majority. The condition of the party is not improved by the investigation at Albany concerning the bribery charges against Mr AHds, leader of the Republican majority in the New York State Senate. This investigation has so discredited what is called "the organisation" of the party in this great State that an attempt was made last week to oust the present leaders, and choose in their places men of clean records, who would command public respect. The work was undertaken by Mr Root (one of the State senators at Washington, and formerly head of President Roosevelt's Cabinet), with the approval of the President. But the forces in control were so powerful that the movement against them came to nothing. On this account it is expected that the Republicans will lose, at wie next election, this State, which has about one-tentli of the country's population, and that Judge Gaynor, the new Mayor of the great city, will become prominent as a candidate for the Presidency in the Democratic party. Judge Gaynor has agreeably disappointed many who honestly and vigorously opposed his election. Although nominated and supported by the notorious Tammany organisation, he has turned his back to it, and has already done much for reform in our municipal affairs.