Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-04
His Work as Judge, Cabi-
net Adviser and
Diplomat.
Well Equipped by Mature,
Training and En-
virOnment.

wien the opportunity 10 fc-entef II came
! to him, each time with an offer of a place
on the Supreme Court which had been
his lifelong goal. But each time he re-
| fused. Not even President Roosevelt I'M
derstood the call to Mr. Tart from the
Filipinos, and when he offered him a Su-
| preme Court justiceship. he accompanied
| the tender with something almost in the
nature OF a command But Mr. Taft
| still declined. He saw that his duty lay
| to the people whom he had led to believe
| in him as the persOnification of American
i justice and good faith, and he made the
President see it, too
Big War Department Job
| Mr.. Taft was at the head of the War
Department duying the years of its great
est range of activity. He was not mere
| ly secretary of the army. as almost all
of his predecessors We're but he was sec
rotary of the colonies as well. He had
| to handle not only the affairs of the mill
| tary and of the Philippine and Cuban
business, but to direct the construction
! of the Panama canal. This was task
| this construction of the canal similar to
that met by Mr.. Taft in the Philippines
| 1t became his work to convince the Pana-
ma people and government that the
United States had gone to the isthmus t.
build canal and not as rival state. AS
head of the War Department and the
Supcli VI tIic CdIdl COInlllSSlOn, lie con-
Quoted all the affairs of this government
with the republic of Panama following
| the ratification of the original treaty, and
succeeded i'll keeping the relations of the
American states with the isthmus uni
fOrmly pleasant Always at least once a
| year. he made A trip TO the canal zone
! TO examine affairs there at first hand
Aside from the Philippines and the
canal the greatest call that was made
| upon Mr.. Taft after he became Secretary
! n Mar
| case also largely similar to the Philip
| pine problem. When the intervention OF
| the United States had freed that unhappy
| island from the Spanish yoke il was
deemed sufficient assurance of success
full government for the Cubans to require
] them TO adopt constitution before
turning the island back to them, ignor-
! ing the fact that Cuba had no experience
| of constitutions or understanding of their
! function. The result was inevitable The
! experiment was aimed toward chaos and
! its expectation was quickly realized. so
| that in September, 1906, the United States
! had to intervene once more and the task
! fell to Mr.. Taft. With his experience of
| the Filipnos as a guide and the mag
netism OF his eprsOnalty as lever, Mr..
I Taft placated the warning factions and
secured peaceful Intervention. Then he
! devised and set up the provisional gov
eminent which the Cubans accepted as
/ satisfactory.
! VIC " III Sdu Sulllc anu tight.
The character of Mr.. Taft is the re-
sultant OF strongly contrasting forces. He
is a man who laughs and fights. From
his boyhood good nature and good humor
| have been the traits which always re-
ceived notice first. But all the time he
has been capable of splendid wrath,
which now and then has blazed out under
| righteous provocation, to the utter con-
sternation and undoing of its object. Be-
cause he is always ready to laugh, men
| who have not observed him closely often
! have failed to understand that he is just
as ready to fight, with energy and de-
| termination, for any cause that has won
| his support. But it is almost always some
| other mans cause which enlists him. His
battles have been in other interests than
his own.
| The American people know Mr.. Taft as
a man of broad, keen, quick, all-embrac-
! ing sympathy, always ready to respond to
any call His sense of justice is wonder
| fully quick sprnging and alert, and he
has genuine fondness for work which
enables him to derive real pleasure from
| his task. These qualifications are the en-
| dowment OF unusually gifted man.
The people know because they have seSn
his ability to turn off an enormous
amount of work. They have seen him DEM
onstrate exceptional executive ability.
and they have proved that they believe
that in experience, training and ability
Mr.. Taft is exceptionally well equipped
for the chief magistry Of the nation.