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Show MO ND DEFENDS TIFTJDJDLICIES Believes President One of the Best Executives Nation Ever Had. By Associated Press. CLEVELAND. O., Aug. 20 With tho statemout that President Taft was ono of tho ablest and most sagacious df tho executives of tho United States, John Hays Hammond made a , vigorous de-feuso de-feuso of tho administration today at the annual outing of tho Cuyaiioga County League of Republican Clubs. Mr. "Hammond Justified Mr. Taft's support sup-port for the Aldrich-Cannon section of the party on tho ground that If ho had plunged Into a Republican civil war his four years' term of office would have been barren of results and not one of his campaign pledges could have been carried out. JIr. Hammond said in part: "The people have come to regard President Taft as a man of Indomitable courago and inflexible determination. In tho 'early part of his administration it used to be frequently asserted that President Presi-dent Tart did not understand the political politi-cal game. It Is quite true that ho docs not play 'good politics,' according to the concept of hothouse politicians. In that he does not subordinate questions of national na-tional importance to those of party expediency ex-pediency or even to those of self aggrandizement, aggran-dizement, but recent events must have impressed im-pressed It on the minds of all critics that tho president has a masterful grasp of political affairs and of political methods. "It also has been asserted by critics of the administration that the president was being unduly Influenced and Imposed upon by what was alleged to be the unholy Cannon-Aldrlch alliance. "He has been criticised severely for having any lntercourso with that faction of the party; but fortunately the president presi-dent has wisely preferred not to assume aslf righteous attitude and not to decline de-cline tho co-operation of Republicans of whatevor faction when such assistance would avail to Insure the enactment of needed legislation. 'It ' required admirable moral courage and far sighted statesmanship for President Presi-dent Taft to pursue the courso he did pursue. Any other course would have resulted re-sulted In four years of futile Republican administration." , , Mr. Hammond assorted that all talk of a new party was absurd,' as such a movement move-ment would die at Its birth for lack of popular support. He declared that there was no possibility of any man save Mr. Taft receiving the next Republican nomination nomi-nation for president, and scouted the idea of the Democrats obtaining control of congress on account of what he termed their absolute failure to offer the people any definite program. |