The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-08-18
Holds Record of Cab
met Members for
Extensive Off
ciaL Visits.
SAILS FOR MANILA
ON SEPTEMBER 10
Has Already Travelled
10000 Miles, and
Leaves To-day on
Longest Journey
Yet Under
taken.
BY ROBERT LEE DUNN.

n man win - 9-idA4NA1 ksNAA sEStg a
marvellous blue eye. and a capacity for
hard work. A man who smiles in the
face of disaster. and displaces with his
bulk considerable part of the national
worry. A man who looks at you and
makes you feel glad and sociable and
sincere A man who makes you forget
the petty things of life.
That is William Howard Taft, Secre-
tary Of War and Presidential possibility.
He laughs. 1t is Jove. patting you on
the shoulder He walks across the room;
it is Hercules, swift and powerful. Where
is Mars in our Secretary Of War?
If Taft gets the Presidency. he will be
far different sort of ruler from Roose-
welt. There VIII be a decided calm In the
Executive Mansion; a large. three hun
dred pound calm; not obese, but amply
proportional, and enough 10 go around.
For Taft has no love Of display; he re-
views troops, not for what the troops
signify, but to see whether anything is
the matter with the soldiery.
He is business clear through. with an
innate respect for the legality OF things.
Spell his name with &C" instead Of an
''r' and you viii find him another John
Hay. in another department. The calm
of the White House under such man
will be the calm Of a business well at
tended TO. without either blood or thunder
or good red fire.
Has Been Well Tried Out.
Mr.. Taft is a fortunate cross between
the executive and the judicial; in the
L 81 a..
the one. in the lesser courts he has had
ample opportunity TO show his excellence
as the other. The law is his inspired
book; the Supreme Bench Is his sacred
fame.
He says himself. in a Yale speech. that
THE Supreme Court OF the United States
is the whole background of the govern
ment. II is the body to determine
whether Congress is acting within its con
stitutionaI limitations; to determine
whether the Executive has exceeded his
legal authority"
Whether or not Roosevelt was in his
mind when he spoke those words is i'm
material; the point is that they show
what sort of a President Mr.. Taft would
be in ROOsevelts place.
LAc - III S-tl I VI man Wiz - NolAoA4AA
tionaliy generous; he is large and ami
able and lovable and from Maine to
Texas he is the sort of man who. with
out losing his native dignity. is well
coined by Americans as their free-and-
easy, levei-headed friend Though he has
not had the acquaintance of the West
that Roosevelt has, he IS nevertheless
making rapid personal progress west of
the Alleghenies. 1t is only fair to him
10 say that all his newly-made friend
ship has occurred while he was on bust
ness solely. while he was inspecting the
fortresses Of the lands about the Mis-.
sissippi this summer
Above All He Is Pleasant.
six-fOot man of ample proportions,
with a kindly blue eye and a massive,
though pleasant face. sat at that time
in a hack in front Of the Leavenworth
Times. at Leavenworth. Kans., bowling TO
the people around him. About all he did
was to smile genially and bow. It was
hot weather. and he was perspiring.
He'll do" said a Kansas farmer, as
he walked away from the impromptu re-
ception. He is all right. I like that
smile"
And that is the verdict Of not only
one, but a half dozen Western States,
made upon this very tour. It was not a
campaign tour IN any sense, nor a scheme
for political speech-making (any one
who knows Mr. Taft would know in an
instant that he would not credit such a
performance). but il gave the inhabl-
rtants Of the rich farm lands Of the Mid
die West a chance 10 observe one of the
candidates who may possibly be a posi-
bility' in the coming Presidential cleo
ton.
In person, Mr.. Taft is a surprise. He
has always been known as a huge man.
as a mammoth; gently sarcastic friends
have Hkened him to a barn on wheels
trundling amiably on its way. Yet with
all his bulk. he has kept It well dlstrib-
uted," as the athletes say, and every
muscle of the one time champion Yale
wrestler has assumed its share of the
engrossing corpulence.
Appearance Is Deceptive.
In appearance. therefore. he is rather
''stocky;" he seems TO be thick-set man;
he impresses you as being about FIVE feet
six inches tall. The habit of statesmen
Of INDUCING In large stomachs is sedu-
lousy pursued by the smiling Mr. Taft
yet this one item Of physical magnitude
in our most affable warrior Is completely
lost in the colossal proportions of his
Mars-like front. Once for all, he himself
refuted the base calumny. He said. fl
talking TO a South Dakota audience:
i believe it is good thing Tor me u
advertise at least one thing about myself
! come forward to you this afternoon
merely 10 prove to you the fact that
am not really as large as some peopls
would have you belieye-nOt nearly the
human NOTTINGHAM. for instance. which
my friend, the newspaper eartoonist
would have you believe.
You bet you're mott" yelled man II
the crowd.
anyway, whether am or not" replied
Mr.. Taft, with a twinkle in his eye, g