Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-04-01
Hughes and Taft at College

1
Not two of the many candidates for
presidential honors are popularity sup
posed to be more unlike In every way
than William Howard Taft AMI
Charles Evans Hughes. Yet. judged
in the light OF their college days and
through the eyes of their college
friends they are not so different after
all
As matter of fact, according to
the pictures drawn of them by their
intimate friends. the essential differ
encc between Taft and Hughes Is ply
steal rather than intellectual or lem
pcramental Their intellectual and
temperamental differences are differ
ences of degree. merely ami each IS
the ADLER man in the eyes of his adj
mircrs.
Taf; Is known The world over as Il
good fellow In fact. for campaign
purposes, he is supposed TO have 4
copyright on all the conyivality and
good hnmor that the country can
spare mt the present time Every
hsdy who knows him at all feels that
he knows him Intimately. He's big
Bin Taft" that's what he is. No Tugs
about him.
But Hughes? Somehow or other n
notion has got abroad that Hughes H.
not Il good fellow in the popular
sense. lie has n wide circle OF ac-
Qiaintances. but few presume to know
him intimately. He 10 believed TO be
cold ana distant and difficult Of ap-
proach-the Kind OF man that has
never been slapped on the back"
Both these pictures are mislead
ing" said man who spent three
years with Hughes al Brown univer-
sity and who knows Taft. Hughes
probably has just Us many intimate
friends AZ Taft. The difference Is
that Taft has Il way of making PEG
Pile think they are intimate with him
when as 4 matter of fact they don't
know him At all.
Now that's not Ilughess way. Yet
he is just the kind OF man they say.
he iS hottie kind you feel perfectly
free To slap on the back when you
come To know them intimately. In
college we used TO call him 'Huggis.' a
word derived from the verb to hug
lie is rich In friends today who have
been devoted to him since those early
days.
II suppose II we had been asked
when We We're boys together at Brown
which member of his class was most
likely 10 he President, we might have
named any one of dozen before we
named Hughes Yet he was generally
regarded, believe, AS the superior in
intellectual equipment Of any one Of
them. He was natural leader Of
men, and his advice was sought and
followed.
There are many ways In which the
careers OF Hughes and Taf, in college
ran along parallel lines. They were
both great students and quick 10
learn. Taft entered Yale At the ace
OF 1G and graduated second in his
class nj the end of the four year
course. Hughes entered Brown AT &c,
but took The four-year course In three
years, graduating third in his elias.
No one would dispute with Zig Pill
Taft the title of the most popular man
in his class. This was due in pat TO
his nnfaiing good nature. and IN part
10 his athletic prowess. Hughes WAS
lot an athlete. and he d. Int wear n
perpetual smile. Yet he was warm
Hearted. manly. enthusiasts Young
follow. with a keen interest in evcly-
thing tina, was going on. And man
like that is bound to be popular
Hughes took to books. like n duck
to water. He entered the public school
at the age of G. and few months
later surprised his father by declnr-
ing that he considered large pa.
of his time wasted. And then he pro
duced what he called II plan of study.