Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 207, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1912 — Taft’s Chances are Good Says Representative Crumpacker. [ARTICLE]

Taft’s Chances are Good Says Representative Crumpacker.

The following interview with Representative Crumpacker, published in the Washington Post, has set to thinking the democrats and bull moosers, who already are rejoicing in the belief that President Taft is doomed to defeat; “As good a chance? —a better one, I should say than any of the presidential candidates,” said Representative Edgar D. Crumpacker, of Valparaiso, the only republican member of the house from Indiana, in the sixty-sec-ond congress, when asked at the Raleight if President Taft could carry Indiana. “The situation in Indiana, of course, is greatly complicated, but it is today, Taft has a much better Chance of getting the electoral vote of the state than has either Wilson or Roosevel. He carried Indiana in 1908 by a little more than 10,000 plurality, but had it not been for local issues—the prohibition question, particularly—he would have won the state by 50,000. Ordinarily, we know that Indiana is a close state, but Taft is and has been strong there. “The president is gaining ground, primarily because of the prosperous condition of business throughout the country, and the belief Among business men that to* change administrations now would perhaps endanger these prosperous conditions. Business men—more, perhaps, than men engaged in other industries—will hesitate long before voting for a change of administration when their affairs are in good shape. “Old-line republicans are not going to desert the standard under which they have served so long without great thought and deliberation, and it is apparent to any one that Roosevelt’s only purpose is the destruction of the republican pary. “There are many voters in Indiana who would'probably have voted for Roosevelt had he run as an independent republican, but when he stands as the candidate of a third party and denounces the principles and policies of the republican party, under which our country has attained an unparalleled prosperity, the vast majority of republicans will stick to the old party. ‘ “I do not know how the congressional elections will come out. We have strong hope that the republican representatives from Indiana will be increased. Former Senator Beveridge, who is running as the bull moose candidate for governor, stands less chance of carrying Indiana than does Roosevelt.”