Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1908-06-24
ABigMar Of Great
 Deeds

h William Howard Taft the Rcpub. irau National Convention will nomin- ate for tnc Presidency Q man cXccp. 'iunnlIV cVuippcd. uut only by natur" and training. bot by experience and achievement. to perform the delicate and arduoue duties of the greatest office Jn thr gift of any people. For nearly thirty years he has given hun self with .'nglc minded devotion to The public service. He ha, displayed throughout Q broad grasp of affairs. . literally dauuticsS courage. an unshak able integrity, quick aud all cmhrac- ing sympathy. % ucep and abiding .cusc of justice. % marvellous insight into human Bctdrc, sure and unwav cring judgment. executive ability of thr highest order. and lmitless capa city for hard work. In all the years of iis history the Republican party has never selected as it's leader in a nation. nl campaign man so tried beforehand, and ,o amply proved equal to the task.
 A Family of Jurists.
 Mr. Taft comes of family distin- guishcd in the law and the public ser vice The first American Tafts came pf thr English ycomanry. transplnntcd artus, thr Atlantic by the great up. heavnl for cpuscicncc'S x sake which pcp- pl.d New England with its sturdy stock In thi- country they turned to The study ami practice of the law. Peter Taft was both maker and an inter. prcicr nf laws. having served as a member nf thc Vermont legislature. and afterwards @, a judge. Alphon,o Taft. son of Peter. was graduated from Vale College. and then went ont to the Western Reserve Co practice law. He settled in Cincinnati, aud it was at Mt. Auburn. suburb of that city, on Sep tcmbcr l5. 1857. that his son, William Howard Taft, first became q Prcsiden- tial possibility.
 The boy grew up in an atmosphere of earnest regard for public duty too little known in these days of tne colos. sal and expressing material develop ment of the country. His father earn cd distinction in the service of city and state and nation, going from the Su' perior bench. to which he had been elected unanimously. to the place in Grants cabinet now held by the son. then. as Attorney General, to the De. partmcnt of Justice. and finally into The diplomatic service, as minister first first to Austria and then to Russia. His mother, who was Miss Louise M. Torrey. also came of tnat siaunch New Eng l stock with whom conscience K the afbitcr of action and duty per formed the goal of service.
 His Mothers Influence.
 li was her express command that sent him away from her last fall when both knew that she was entering upon The last stage of her life. He had promised the Filipinos that he would 20 to Manila a1d in person formally open tner Assembly II was to he their first coacrcte experience in self government, and he, more than any other man, had made II possible. If he should not keep his promise there was danger that the suspicious Fiji .pinos would imputc his failure to sini- ster motives. to indifference or altered purpose, with result vastly unfortunate 10 them and to us. Mir. Taft saw all that very clearly. yet in view of his mother E health nc would have remain. ed at home. Bu, she forbade. She said his duty lay to the people he had started on the path to liberty, and al though it involved what each thought to be the final parting sac commended him to go. IIc went and before he could return his mother had passed away
 Much was to he expected of n boy of such parentagc, and young Taft ful- filled the expectation. He began by growing big physically. He has n tre' mcndous frame. The cartoonists have made false presentment of him ia nliar to the country by drawing him always as a mountain of flesh. But If they had gone to tne same extreme Of leanncss, and still honestly portrayed his frame they would haze represented man above the average weight
 At College.
 Of course he went to Yale. His father had been the first alumnus elect ed to the corporation, and when young Taft had completed his preparatory course at AndOver he went to New Haven for his college training. He was big, rollicking, good natureo hoy, who liked play hut still got fun uut of work He did cnouga in ath lctics to keep his 225 pounds of muscle in good condition, but gave most of his time to his studies. When the class of '7s was graduated Taft was its salu tatorian, having finished second among I2O He was then not quite 2i.
 He went back to Cincinnati and be gan the study of law in his father office. at the same time doing court reporting for the newspaper owned by his half-b brother, Charles r. Taft. lli' salary at first was s6 week. He did his work so well, however, tnat Mural IIalstead, editor of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, employed him tC work for that paper. at the increased salary of s25 n week.
 While he was doing this he wal keeping up his studies, taking th' coursc at the Cincinnati Law School from which he was graduated in 1880 dividing first nonors with another stu dent, nnd being admitted to the bal soon afterward.
 Hia Resnects to s Blackmailer