Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1912 — TAFT HITS BACK AT COL ROOSEVELT [ARTICLE]

TAFT HITS BACK AT COL ROOSEVELT

Says He Has Not Given Him “Square Deal.” HOT ATTACK IN BAY STATE ' •, ... i Charges Opponent With Shifting Campaign Plans to Attacks on Administration—Speech Bristles With Personalities. Springfield, Mass., April 26. —President Tuft made his answer here to the criticisms that CoL Theodore Roosevelt has made of him and his administration. In a speech that bristled with indignation, in which he named Colonel Roosevelt over and over again, Mr. Taft told a crowd that filled Springfield's public square he believed Mr. Roosevelt had not given him a "square deal" and said he had "misstated” and "distorted” the facts concerning Mr. Taft's conduct and actions in the White House. The president replied in some detail to many of the charges that Colonel Roosevelt has made against him since the present campaign began. He said Mr Roosevelt had knowledge of and was in complete agreement with many of the actions /and policies of the present administration which lately he has condemned and denounced. Says Colonel Shifts Tactics. The president declared that after the Columbus speech of Colonel Roosevelt he found the country unresponsive and he shifted his method of campaign from a declaration of "principles” and “proposals of reform" to a series of attacks on the administration, -Mr. Roosevelt’s doctrine of the recall'of Judges anci the recall of decisions, his willingness to disregard the “wise custom” that forbids a third term!, whether consecutive or not, his appeal to “class hatred and prejudice" and bis “absolute failure" to put forth any concrete propositions for true reform and true progress. Mr. Taft said, all combined to make him believe that the American people should not choose Mr. Roosevelt to sit again in the White House. Mr. Taft declared that he spoke plainly only because he believed it time for him to do so. He brought in Colonel Roosevelt’s name only because, events had forced him to use it. Admits Debt of Gratitude.

“In 1908 Theodore Roosevelt recommended to the people of the United States that I, then the secretary of war, be nominated by the Republican party and be elected. He,labored hard and long to bring this result about and he succeeded. I felt the deepest gratitude to him. “Neither in thought nor in word or action have I been disloyal to the friendship I owe Theodore Roosevelt. When the time came for this campaign to begin I let the people know that I would like to have my administration approved by their giving me another term. At that time Theodore Roosevelt said he was not a candidate and that it would be a calamity if he were nominated. Since then he has changed his mind.” Misstatements Are Charged. So far as he, personally, was concerned, the president said, he never would have attacked Colonel Roosevelt nor had a quarrel with him. “So far,” said he, “as personal ambition is concerned, so far as personal feeling is concerned, I would never answer his charge. But I cannot act for myself. I represent a cause. I represent an element of the Republican party that believes in constitutional government and its preservation; that believes in wise progress under the guarantees of the Constitution. “By mlsstatepents throughout the country Mr. Roosevelt has led many people to believe charges made against me and my administration.”