Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1908 — MANY THOUSANDS SAW W. H. TAFT [ARTICLE]

MANY THOUSANDS SAW W. H. TAFT

Speech of Republican Candidate for President at Lafayette Printed in “ Full for Benefit of Our Readers. I'-i-... , -•

Before the special train took 127 people from Rehsselaer Friday morning reached Lafayette it was crowded to its utmost capacity, and it was only a few minutes after the train reached the hub of Tippecanoe county that William Howard Taft reached that city and was hastened to the Lincoln. Club from the Big Four railroad in an automobile. The. machine that carried him stopped right by the side of S; R. Nichols, who clapped the great man on his broad shbuldbrd and grasped his hand In a friendly way. Will Barger was Rensselaer citizen that had an opportunity to shake his . hand. WM; stjch a great. brow< 7 <¥r people surrounding the speaker's stand and the jain was so severe that there was constant danger of some one being hurt and there was a never

not celebrate any more Fourths of July. (Applause and laughter.) Well, we bave continued celebrating Fourths of July and a good many of us have failed to realize that there is any less liberty in- our hearts than before, because we believed our duty to perform them was a God-given one, that the burden put upon us was such as a great prosperous nation like ours ought to assume, that those poor people were put under our guidance until they became a self-govern-ing people, by gradual education And jfir giQSltially extending over them. We had no right to give up a duty that is tiiu.s placed lie. (At this juncture the crowd standing to the west of the club house, on Columbia street, yelled: ‘Turn your face this way.’ Mr. Taft had besa facing to the east.) After the interruption Mr. Taft continued as foliows\ . “I wish I had four mouths. (Laughter.) “Then in 1904, in spite of all the discouragements, Mr. Bryan was still in favor of the free coinage of silver —but even the democrats could not stomach it then, so it didn’t go into the platform. Now, where he stands no man knows except that if Mr. Bryan were elected to the presidency, and there were a financial stringency, and he began to pay out gold for silver, he could issue an order that would prevent the parity qf the metajs being maintained, and then we would go on to a free silver basis.

ceasing hum of noise, so that it was impossible except for those near ’at hand to hear his short speech. So ; the Republican prints it entire. After he had completed his speech he was hastened away and the large crowd was addressed by Mayor Bookwaiter, of Indianapolis, who also held the wrapt attention of a large crowd. In the afternoon occurred an auto.mobile parade and other speaking, and in the evening Hon. W. C. Owen addressed a large audience at the coliseum. His address wag a fine argument, both eloquent and logical, and was masterful in its manner of disposing of the fallacious Bryan theories. The entire meeting was a great success, marred only a little by a drizzling rain that descended ft cm 5:30 o’clock until the special returning train left Lafayette at 10:30. The train did not reach the station at Rensselaer until 1:30 o’clock, having been delayed all along the way. But it was a jolly crowd and the late arrival was little noticed. All s emed to have enjoyed the occasion hugely. Mr. Taft’s speech follows: Ladies and Gentlemen: In the first place I want to thank the stu-' dents of Purdue university for their chorus. I wish I could have them with me on this trip to make up for my lack of voice. (Laughter.) The e is a sort of unanimity and a force th?t I think we need in this campaign and I am glad to know that we have io from the college boys. “Now, my fellow citizens of Lafayette, I am being personally conducted (laughter) and I have not time at any olace to make a political speech that has a beginning and an ending. | only have the opportunity to leave one thought. The one here that comes to me is-to ask what la in the republican administration of the last eleven years and what there is in Mr. Bryan and the democra’ic party that makes you think a change Will be beneficial? (Voices: 'Nothing! Nothing’) Well, I agree with you there. (Laughter and applau e.) You may think I am a prejudiced witness," but I assure you I have given that question great consideration and I can not find a thing that jus ifies putting. Mr. Bryan in, with the hope that anything will be made, better—any thing! (Laughter.) “The republican administration stamped out the financial heresy of free coinage of silver. Now, who is there in this great audience today—who is there I ask—that is in favor Of the free coinage of silver. (Applause, and a voice: ‘None.’) Not one. You can not even make a democrat admit it. (Applause and a voice Good.’) And yet Mr. Bryan advocated it in 1896, and Said if we did nqt embrace it we would all go to t.he definition bow-wows; that the price of wheat would go lower; that the country would be overcomee by dteMtqr. However, we only had to five two years to find out that that prophecy was wrong. Then he came forward in 1900 with the free coinage of silver again—but he had a paramount tssue at that time—and that was antl-Imperialism. “Now, in this audienoe I am addressing, there • are many boys who were in the Philippines at that time, fighting the battles of the country, and they realized that they had a fire in their rear from Mr. Bryan and the democratic party and they felt that the war out there had been continued a year longer than nec-essary-just liecause of his attitude. And what did he say? He said that unless he was elected on the paramount issue of antf-imperial<sm, patriotism and love of liberty would disappear from the hearts of the people of this country and we would

“Then Mr. Bryan went around the world after Ije had prophesied we were going to get into troub'f because we had such a warlike young president —a ‘man filled with militarism,’ with, imperialistic ideas—that he always had a chip on his shpulder’— and yet we did not have to wait two years to see it proved that Theodore Roosevelt had done more for the peace of the world than any monarch or president that ever lived. (Applause.) Then he went around t- e world, and he came back, and it was then said he was safe and sane, and he grew sensitive about that charge, and he proceeded to demonstrate it was unjust, because he recommend d government ownership of railroads; and he said it was the only soluti n by which the railroads could be properly run, because the railroads would run the country, unless the coun ry owned the railroads. But that did not work with the party and so he relented that to the lumber room of unused but not abandoned issues (Great laughter and loud applause.). • “Now, we have a new remedy, something that is going to prevent us from losing a dollar in our bank deposits —and I want to refer to that just a minute. It is a perfectly Bryanesque remedy. As he states it, It seems plausible, but when you examine it you find it is the same old ■Bryan method of a crots-cut to yefoim that will never work. Let me tell you what it is and how it works in Oklahoma. There every bank is liable for the deposits of every other bank. Any bank can organize for SIO,OOO and it can get as many deposits as it chooses, with interest at 3 or 4 per cent and the law requires an assessment on 1 per cent On the deposits to make a fuqd to pay all the depositors of every bank and if that is not enough then they go on assessing. So every bank is responsible for every other bank. This is the way it works there. I have direct InformJtcion with respect to it. “There are constantly increasing banks with SIO,OOO capital. Thei'e is one man there who has already gat SIOO,OOO of depdsits. He failed three times In the territory, fie went away and when he heard Of this law he came back and he got a cashier who had the record of having been indicted for embezzlement; and yet that man with a SIO,OOO capital has SIOO - 000 of deposits. He got those deposits in this way: He Is a gentleman, no doubt, with a glad hand; he has a social and political pull;, be Is ■ a good fellow; so is the cttehler; both are a little uncertain, but both are good fellows. They go to a man with ' money and say to him: ‘Come and deposit with us.' The man says: 'We have our deposits with old Skinflint Robinson, who has a capital of $500,000 and $200,000 surplus.* Then they say to this depositor: ‘You are not on to the game; you don’t understand finance; don’t you know that old Skinflint Robinson and his bank are actually responsible for all de* < posits in our baftkr

“Now, what is the effect of such a law? Old Skinflint Robinson goes out Of the banking business and distributes fiis $250,000 surplus among his stockholders instead of to the depositor of other banks, doing business on a capital stock of SIO,OOO, with deposits Of SIOO,OOO. As a consequences this law is going to drive out of the banking business the men of character and capital, and after a while in that state they will have nobody in the banking business except a lot of exploiters. That will always be the result where the honest man is compelled to pay the debts of the dishonest man. The principle is unsound, pernicious and socialistic. It is like other remedies of Mr. Bryan, whi h he can exploit from the platform and for the operation of which he is not responsible afterwards. What I say to you it this: You need a restoration of confidence, and you are not going to get it, or invite capital into your business, if you put into power the party and gentleman who have befn living on economic theories as unsound as all those I have explained. Now, I have got to go. I Would like to talk to you longer. I am grateful for your attention. Goodbye. ’’ The Home Grocery is handling only home grown potatoes. They are ripe and fine.

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