Mr. Taft's Borrowed Plumes
Performed by William Jennings Bryan
Recorded September 14, 1908
What good things does Mr. Taft
stand for that is not borrowed from the Democrats?
He favors an income tax when we need it, but thinks
we do not need it now. Is the income tax a good thing?
Where did Mr. Taft get the idea? From the income tax
law enacted by the Democrats in 1894 and opposed by
the Republicans. The last Democratic national platform
endorses the income tax; the last Republican national
platform is silent on the subject. Mr. Taft favors
railroad regulation, where did he get the idea? From
the Presidents recommendations? But the Presidents
recommendations were suggested by three Democratic
national platforms, platforms which endorsed regulations
when Republicans were silent on the subject. Mr. Taft
is personally inclined towards the election of senators
by the people---where did he get the idea? The proposition
was endorsed in the House of Representatives by the
52nd and 53rd Congresses and both of these Congresses
were Democratic. The Proposition was afterwards endorsed
by Republican Congresses, but it was rejected by the
last Republican national convention by a vote of 7
to 1. In declaring for it, therefore, Mr. Taft is
in line with the Democratic platforms of 1900, 1904
and 1908, and out of harmony with his own platform.
Mr. Taft advocates a certain kind of publicity, of
campaign contributions, but in doing so he is endorsing
a proposition which the Democrats urged in the House
but which was rejected in his own convention. He does
not go as far as the Democratic platform goes, but
in so far as he goes at all, he goes towards the Democratic
platform and away from his own. Mr. Taft is advocating
tariff revision; this is not equivalent to tariff
reduction and yet in admitting that some of the tariff
schedules ought to be lowered, he is recognizing the
righteousness of the Democratic protests against the
present high tariff law which the Republicans have
heretofore refused to touch. Mr. Taft even recognizes
that the Filipinos must ultimately have independence.
He put this off, it is true, for a least two generations,
but heretofore we have not been able to get the Republicans
to discuss the subject at all. The Democrats have
said from the first, that ultimate independence was
the only policy consistent with American ideals. These
are some of the things which Mr. Taft has borrowed
from the Democrats. He has not gone as far as he ought
to have gone on these questions. But the Democrats
can claim credit for having compelled such a stance
as he makes. The Democrats, however, are not responsible
for his position on trial by jury in cases of indirect
contempt, or for his failure to take the peoples
side of the trust question. On the labor question
and the trust question, we will not claim that he
had borrowed anything from the Democrats, but we do
claim that his position on these subjects would be
better if he had borrowed, and that on other questions
he could have strengthened his position by borrowing
more than he had. And to conclude, Mr. Taft has imitated
the Democrats in using the talking machine as a means
of reaching the public.