The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-26
GOVERNOR TAFT.
Life at Yale of the Chief Executive in
 the Philippines.

Life at Yale of the Chief Executive in the Philippines.
 Raymond Patterson in the "Review of Reviews" gives very appreciative sketch of Governor Taft and Our Phil 1 ippine Policy" his information being gleaned from the inside. It is fine tribute to McKinleys statesmanship. Following is his description of Cover nor Taft's days at Yale, which several New Haven men who were in college at the time, will declare is true to life:
 It will assist us to get the Philippine problem into the proper focus if we can take into consideration the causes which led to the selection of this one man for position of such grave re- sponsibility, and at the same time study the personal characteristics of the new governor, so far as they re- late to the proper discharge of the du- | ties of his office. First of all, 1t should l be noted, as a curious instance of the way in which the foundation of charac- ter and success is laid early in life, that the career of Governor Taft at Yale un- | iversity, and the good opinion of him expressed with extraordinary unanim- ity by his college associates, had more to do than any other one thing in de- termining his selection for the position of first civil governor of the Philippine Islands. It is not violating the confi- dence of the president or the secretary of war to say that when every other element has been taken into considera- ton they were led to their decision by the declaration of scores of Yale men that, from the days of his matricula- ton onward, William H. Taft, or Bill" as they invariably called him in familiar conversation, possessed the very qualities upon which the president insisted, and in such proportion as to form what chemists call a stable com pound. Confronted, as he may be, with the necessity of stamping out sedition, and in a land where secret societies and poisoned daggers are frequently made use of, mere physical courage is an element not to be neglected. In this important regard, at least, Cover nor Taft is most happily endowed. From his school days at Andover un- til he graduated at Yale in 1S7SN he was an ideal young man, as youthful ideals go. When he came a freshman to Yale, in the fall of 1874, his reputation as an athlete had preceded him. He was probably the most powerful man in the Yale class of 1878. He was tall and broad, with the neck of bull and the forearm of a gorilla. Before he had been in the college forty-eight hours he was the champion wrestler of his class
 and was selected without hesitation to lead the annual defiance of the fresh men forces to their traditionary sopho- moric enemies Taft was none of your lat ter day college athletes, with splen
 did records in the gymnasium and du- bious ones in the classroom. On the contrary, he came to the university with well-grounded, studious habits
 and from the day of his entrance he was far more anxious to become vale dictorian of his class than stroke oar of the crew, although, as it happened, he came near being both. The records of the university do not show many men who were so uniformly successful, both on the athletic field and in the classroom Coupled with this remark able pre- eminence of mind and body was a lovable disposition and charac- ter. This combination of mental, physical and moral superiority is not common. Many a boy succeeds in one, but is at best only mediocre as regards the other characteristics of successful manhood. It was no wonder, then, that "Bill" Taft was the idol of his as- sociates, and that his leadership was voted to him by exclamation and was never seriously disputed.
 There is more to be learned of men from the frank companionship of col lege than can possibly be derived from close intimacies of later years, when one learns reticence as a wise rule of conduct. Young Taft was so constructed physically that fear of an opponent was personally impossible. He knew that if he could not succeed in a wrestling bout he could at least give a good account of himself, and if in the end he was knocked out, it would be at best but an honorable de-
 feat. He probably studied the better because of his acknowledged physical superiority He was, himself, the ex- republication of the familiar Yale mot to, "Mens sana in corpore sano." Struggling to reach the top both in athletics and in his classics, Taft early learned the great lesson of never shirk- ing a battle, but never scorning an an- tagonist. The Filipinos who appeal to Governor Taft will soon discover those very qualities which made him a uni versity hero a quarter of a century ago. Personal bravery, great intellectual capacity, high character and bulldog tenacity of purpose seem to form a compound as rare as it is admirable. With such a man, 1t may be easily as
 sumed that if failure comes it must be either because his training has pervert- ed his natural tendencies or else be- cause the plans he was expected to execute were badly conceived.
 There Is heredity in politics, and there are certain families which seem to turn naturally toward the governmental function, just as others become law yers or doctors Governor Taft has in- herited, not only his intellectual capac- ity, but his tendency toward govern mental activity, from his father. AL phonso Taft was secretary of war and attorney-general under President +o ri for