TAFT 



measures lowering the duties in several special 

 schedules, and passed other laws of a "radical" 

 nature, all of which were vetoed by the Presi- 

 dent. 



The factional disputes among the Republic- 

 ans continued until they became centered on 

 the Presidential nomination for 1912. At first 

 there were two leading candidates, Taft, as the 

 candidate of the conservatives, and Senator 

 La Follette, as the representative of the pro- 

 gressives. La Follette, however, was compelled 

 by illness to cease active campaigning for a 

 time. At this juncture, ex-President Roosevelt, 

 at the invitation of the governors of seven 

 states in which the "insurgents" were particu- 

 larly strong, announced himself as a candidate 

 for the nomination. At first dignified, the con- 

 test later became a warfare of personalities, 

 with charges and countercharges hurled in every 

 direction. 



The Republican national convention, meet- 

 ing in June at Chicago, was controlled by the 

 Taft delegates. It was a scene of turmoil from 

 the first day, the Roosevelt spokesmen contest- 

 ing the admission of many of the Taft dele- 

 gates. Most of the protests were ignored, and 

 the Taft delegates were seated. The Roosevelt 

 leaders resisted, and declared that the nomina- 

 tion rightfully belonged to their leader. De- 

 feated on every point by the rulings of the 

 national committee and the chairman of the 

 convention, Elihu Root, the Roosevelt dele- 

 gates refused to take part in the proceedings of 

 the convention. On its last day they held a 

 mass meeting and nominated Theodore Roose- 

 velt by acclamation as the candidate of a new 

 Progressive party. In August a formal con- 

 vention ratified the nomination and completed 

 the organization of the party (see PROGRESSIVE 

 PARTY). 



The campaign thus became three-cornered, 

 for the Democrats in the meantime had nomi- 

 nated Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jer- 

 sey. The defection of the Progressives split 

 the Republican party in two, and practically 

 insured the election of Wilson. The chief 

 features of the campaign were the attacks of 

 the Republicans and Democrats against Roose- 

 velt, and the latter's emphatic replies. In 

 October, while the campaign was at its height, 

 Roosevelt was shot by an irresponsible man in 

 Milwaukee, and was compelled to stop active 

 campaigning. The election gave Taft only 

 eight electoral votes, those of Vermont and 

 Utah, aprainst eighty-eight for Roosevelt and 

 435 for Wilson. The popular vote was 6,286,214 



TAFT 



for Wilson, 4,126,020 for Roosevelt, and 3,483,- 

 922 for Taft. 



Other Events. Two states, Arizona and New 

 Mexico, were admitted during this term, both 

 in 1912. The admission of these was delayed 

 for months because the President vetoed the 

 joint resolution for their admission. He dis- 

 approved a provision in the Arizona constitu- 

 tion for the recall of judges, and it was not 

 until that provision was eliminated that he 

 signed the proclamation of admission. The 

 completion and dedication of the Roosevelt 

 Dam in Arizona was an event of national inter- 

 est. In New York in 1909 was held the Hud- 

 son-Fulton Celebration to commemorate the 

 three hundredth anniversary of the discovery 

 of the Hudson River and the centennial of 

 Fulton's Clermont, the first steamboat. An- 

 other great public playground, Glacier National 

 Park (which see), was opened in 1910. 



An Honored Ex-President. In the last months 

 of President Taft's administration, public con- 

 fidence in him seemed to be more or less 

 restored. He took his defeat for reelection 

 with a calm which was characteristic of him. On 

 his retirement from office he accepted the Kent 

 professorship of law at Yale University, and 

 in the same year was elected president of the 

 American Bar Association. He continued to 

 speak in public on questions of the day, and 

 was on several occasions a severe critic of 

 President Wilson's foreign policy. In 1916 he 

 became chairman of the central committee of 

 the American Red Cross. He was chosen presi- 

 dent of the American branch of the League to 

 Enforce Peace (which see), an organization 

 whose object was to prevent, or at least reduce, 

 the possibility of war by threatening to use the 

 combined economic and military strength of 

 the nations of the league against any nation 

 which should make war without first trying ne- 

 gotiation and conciliation. In 1917 he did 

 much to uphold the Wilson administration in 

 its war preparations. 



Though not as facile with his pen as Roose- 

 velt, President Taft is a writer of distinction 

 on political and economic subjects. He has 

 written Four Aspects of Civic Duty; The 

 United States and Peace; Popular Govern- 

 ment; Ethics in Service; The Presidency: Its 

 Duties, Opportunities and Limitations, and 

 other volumes. W.F.Z. 



Consult Dunn's William Howard Taft, Ameri- 

 can; Davis' William Howard Taft, the Man of 

 the Hour; Wilson's The Presidents of the United 

 States; and Mrs. William H. Taft's Recollections 

 of Full Years. 



