The Dominion. FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 1912. "PRESIDENTIAL YEAR."

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1329, 5 January 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 1912. "PRESIDENTIAL YEAR."

Two American dispatches printed in our cable columns this morning "•ill remind the public that this u "Presidential year," and that the American ficoplo will for the next ten months be living in an unhealthy condition of political excitement. . Political excitement, even sustained excitement over a very long period, is not essentially unhealthy; but American politics are an unhealthy thing from beginning to end, from top to bottom—the unhcalthincss k> siding in tho electoral system, which is unlike that of any other country in the world. The wonder, to nonAmericans, has always been that America gets along with an electoral system that gives the individual voter no certain sense of having voted cither for the man he wants or the policy he wants. Tho conflict has for many years been between two great parties, whose very names are absurd. Why should "Kepublican" connote Conservatism and (as it does at present) Protection, when "Democrat" is the label of the lkdical and Free-trader 1 The first of today's two messages is of an unusual character: Mu. Taft declares that "nothing but death will keep him out of the Presidential campaign," ail extraordinarily strong expression to come from almost the most sober and judicial man who has occupied the Presidential chair. At the , present . time there arc —or, rather, in the early part of last •month there were—four admitted aspirants for the Presidency—Mr.. Taft and Mr. Lα Follktte on the Republican, and Messhs. Wilsox and Harmas on the Democratic, side. ■Mr. Lα Folujttb is a vigorous opponent of the penal tariff, and is an advanced Radical on many important issues, like many of the other "Insurgent" Republicans. Between Mr. Wilson, the Governor of New Jersey, and Mr. Hahaian, the Governor of Ohio, , there is only the difference that the Ohio man is "more cautious in his ideas than the exPresident of Princeton. Of course many other names are circulating, including that of Mr. Roosevelt, despite his positive declaration of a few weeks ago that he will neither accept nomination nor assist Mr. Taft.

The vise of Democratic sentiment in the Congressional elections of November, J 910, although not intensified in the State elections of last November, yet suffered no relapse, and there is a widespread fear amongst tho .Republicans that New York, the deciding State, will go Democrat in the Presidential election and break the long Republican monopoly of the Presidency. The Republican National Committee, at its meeting in Washington last month, unanimously adopted Mr. Taft as (ho Republican candidate, and the bulk of the Republican papers profess themselves certain of his re-election. The San rrancisco Chronicle thus declares the attitude of the Taft party:

•President Taft stands not merely for himself but lor tho Republican party. In the light of Republican traditions, as well as the special circumstances of this case, to refuse to renoininate Taft would bo a confession that the Republican partv has lailed to make good. We should bb placed on the defensive at once, and under conditions which would make a successful defence impossible. Especially would this be the case if such a candidate as La Follette were substituted for Taft. Tho same instincts of self-preserva-tion which would impel La Follette supporters to rally round Taft rather than seo a Free-trade party in power would drive hundreds of thousands of Republicans to vote the Democratic ticket. Freetrade is bad, but Socialism in all but naino is a great deal worse.

It is Mk. Lα Follette who is here described as a "Socialist in all but name." The principal plank of the Democratic programme is, of course, the breaking-up of the high tariff. Mr. Taft s views are set out in a long "authorised' interview in the Outlook of December 2. He defends the tariff, and he defends his acceptance of its most objectionable features by declaring that if he had decided to "stand or fall by the lowtariff issue," he would have wrecked his party. At the same time he pruposes certain reductions. Amongst his major policies are the improvement of the anti-Trust, the renewed pursuit of reciprocity with Canada, the reform of Court procedure, the development of Alaska, and the conclusion of treaties with France and Britain. As to the Democratic aspirants, it has been urged that the success of the Republicans in the New Jersey State elections has weakened Mil. Wilson's chances of nomination and correspondingly strengthened Mr. Habjian's. The issue, so far as it can be roughly stated iu a sentence, will bu between cautious progress on the one hand (the Republicans) and vigorous Radicalism on the other, [fc would be pleasant, and the outside world would be able to take a keen and sympathetic interest in # the conflict, if the fact did not exist that the Republican party has behind it the Trusts and Trust interests, while the Democrats cannot do without the aid of Tammany Halt