The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1912. THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1410, 10 April 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1912. THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Since the beginning of the Presidential campaign in the United btafces events have moved swiftly and Presidential candidates have been successively made and unmade. The IjA lollette booni collapsed in a single night; Mr. Roosevelt's dramatic invasion upon the contest tailed for the first time to arouse great popular enthusiasm, and instead appears to have brought upon him a whirlwind of censure and re-

puaiation. The prospects of Governor Woodeow Wilson, who is still regarded in many influential quarters as the sanest and most capable man in the Democratic party, seem to have dwindled, as do those of Judge Harmon; while Mb. Champ Clark, who on questions of grave importdeals occasionally in bombast, has improved his chances to such a degree that his nomination would not come as a surprise. The Democratic party, now under experienced and resourceful leadership, is thoroughly united, while the Republicans are threatened by a very serious breach, which not even the approach of a Presidential campaign with urgent appeals for harmony can cover up or lessen. There is little reason to doubt that Mr. Roosevelt is rushing toward certain humiliation, and that his strenuous fight for nomination is foredoomed to failure, in spite of an apparently overflowing campaign fund. The worst he can do is to divide the Republican vote, and possibly divert a large section of it to the Democratic candidate, either by the creation of a third party or the alienation o'f sympathy from President Taft. In any case his participation is a most disquieting feature, and the Democratic leaders arc perhaps justified in shrewdly regarding him as their best asset.

President Taft is thus the undisputed leader of his party, a position he holds solely on the strength of his administrative record, which, under the searching scrutiny directed toward it, has been proved remarkably rich in achievement. "I say ho will make one of our greatest Presidents," wrote Mr. Roosevelt in 1908. "No man in our public life since the Civil War has surpassed Mr. Taft in all the qualities requisite for distinguished public service." Mr. Roosevelt now probably regrets the statement, which is being hurled at him from all quarters, but he wrote better than he knew. President Taft's failures have in most cases had the character of being almost'as meritorious as his successes. The most staggering blow to his Administration was the emphatic rejection by the Canadians of the Reciprocity Treaty, a treaty held by thoughtful and discerning Americans as urgently needful for the purpose of obtaining new supplies abroad and.an enlarged foreign demand for American manufactures. After commenting upon Mr. Taft's courageous attempt to "take in hand our barbarous tariff laws and strip them of legalised extortion and needless barriers to the flow of commerce," the Evening Post, of New York, proceeded to say:

"The most traeio aspect of the matter is the terrible blow which the Canadian election lias dealt President Tafr. To him, both personally and politically, the effect for the moment must seem absolutely crushing. Here is the one independent ami capital measure of his .Administration struck down to the dust. For it he risked everything; rent his party in twain; was compelled to accent the aid of the Democrats; had to submit to the most bitter attacks. In* other words, he attempted a bold 6troke, which, as a matter of political tactics, nothing but success could justify; wreaked himself in. labour to assure its success; and just as he had apparently won it, sees it dashed to the ground. It is a misfortune so overwhelming to its chief victim that one. can think of little to-day but the pathetic situation in which he is left."

The rejection by the Senate of President Taft's Arbitration Treaties with England and France was not prompted by hostility to the spirit of the treaties, but because the Senate believed that by their ratification it would surrender a constitutional power, and therefore opposed them on constitutional grounds. The Senate reserves the right to be the sole arbiter on questions touching what it regards as American honour, as, for instance, the preservation inviolate of the Monroe Doctrine, or on that peculiarly intangible, but very real, element in American national life, the "Unwritten Law"— any conviction or belief so sacredly held that its crystallisation into written law is regarded as quite unnecessary, and in defence of which the nation would fight to the death. The failure of the treaties cannot be said to have prejudiced Mr. Taft, for the entire country appeared to support them, both in the spirit and in the letter, and they were hailed by peace advocates the world over as "the most daring step yet proposed."

Pleas for the simplification of legal procedure and Civil Service reform, both Herculean tasks, have been argued with great earnestness by PnESiDENT Taft. He recognises the costly, "unsatisfactory, and cumbrous nature of much of the former , , which so frequently results in injustices so glaring as to amount to a national scandal. As a Civil Service reformer, the President has been extremely •radical, and his proposals arc not only far-reaching, but have shown immense courage and determination. He urges that all Federal positions —those under the United Stales Government as against individual State control—should by law be placed in the classified service, nnd appointments made by examination and pro-, motions by merit. This involves the ttanbrurrttati of thti whole tatter of p<it« ronaga, and removes ixoa politicians

the power of making bribes and offering rewards in the form of appointing favourites to positions, in recognition of party services, for which they are in many eases entirely unfitted and undeserving. This object Mr. Taft has pursued with a clearheaded singleness of purpose, without regard to the malice of disappointed politicians, or to the hatred of self-seeking place-hunters. The Taft Administration has, moreover, demonstrated that the anti-Trust law is not a dead letter, and Trust magnates are said to cherish towards him a sullen and persistent grudge because of the unyielding and impartial application of the law to their concerns. The Republican Convention in June is more than likely to nominate President Taft for a second term, and as the campaign progresses the people of America will probably increasingly reoognise the splendid nature of his services to the country, and again elect him for another four years as their Chief Executive.