Omaha daily bee., 1908-05-22

Measure Of the war Secretary Taken
By q nritlsh writer.

Sydney Brooks IN Fortnightly Review. |
He is In every sense a big man. When |
ever some peculiarly difficult or complex |
problem arises no is at once deputed 70
solve Il. Work on the Panama canal for
instance. Is disorganized and threatens to
stop through the friction of multiplicity
Of boards and the resignation Of one engi- |
neer-in-chief after another. Mr.. Taft visits
the isthmus looks into things, decides that
the army engineers are the men to dig
the ditch" and all is peace and progress.
Cuba, again. conducts itself by the usual
Spanish-American route to the very brink
OF revolution. Mr. Taft steps In, examines,
humors, conciliates, takes over the whole
business OF government and almost makes
the outside world question the gravity OF
the situation by the ease with which he
adjusts It. The American and Japanese
papers and the people who read them scowl
at one another over the immigration diff
Guilty. Mr.. Taft route for the Philip
pines, calls In at Toxic, has an audience
with the mikado, and straightway the ru-
mors Of trouble are dissolved in a douche
of sanity. An ugly controversy Of personal
charges and recriminations breaks out be-
tween two American diplomats. 1t Is a
matter altogether outside Mr.. Tafts de-
partment yet II goes to him for settle
ment, and he settles It. go over and see
Taft about IT, is a formula so often on the
presidents lips that It has passed into the
slang of the day, and the war secretary's
nickname. General Utility BILL" gives
both the popular and the official measure
Of his capacities.
He has a peculiar gift of lubricating sa-
gacity. He radiates jollity and conciliatlon.
All men instlnctvely like and trust this
huge, good-humored giant, whose mere
physical immenslty impresses one with a
sort Of guaranty of invlncibility. He
crashes through problems and tangles with
the all-conquering certainty OF a smiling,
patient, supremely human steam roller.
have met no one even in America, more
wholly destitute of fussiness and affecta-
tion. Nothing seems to furry him or to
break through his reserves OF genial pa-
| cidity. Though scarcely less badgered than
Mr.. Roosevelt himself, he never explodes.
He has the evenness of temper, the CHEEKY
| self-continence, which 1t would be posi-
lively dangerous for a man of his colossal
| bulk not to have. There is a hearty and
most winning naturalness in his inter
course with people. He has all of the aver
| age Americans Indifference to externas
and Appearances snapshot of Mr. Taft,
| Sedleu at MS OIIlClal ueSk, WOulu make an
| admirable study OF democracy in undress.
His mind, should Judge, is a healthy and
vigorous rather than plable instrument.
1t works with a ponderous probing thor
oughness. One would not look to Mr.. Taft
for any original contribution to the phil
osophy of politics any more than one would
expect him to bubble forth in epigrams
| He is not a man Of wide reading or OF
diversified intellectual interests and has as
| little of Mr. Roosevelts manysidedness as
| of his flashing alertness or his somewhat
1 volcanic temperament But his qualities,
| II Of the minor order of merit, are strong,
| genuine and serviceable. He has had far
more than the ordinary candidates expert
ence of men and affairs and high RESPONSE
bilities and Mr.. Taft, like Golden, is one
OF those men on whom no experience is
wasted. His administrative aptitudes are
unquestionable. He has that kind Of i'm
personal disentangling mind, of perspective
and judicial balance, which when united
with an engaging personality and a de-
pendable character makes its possessor a
court OF final appeal for private friends
ana public colleagues.
Mr.. Taft Is one of the most palpably
honest men have ever encountered. He
is honest even in his politics. Indeed. It is
hardly too much to say that his politics
are comprised in saying straight out pre-
cisely what he thinks He is almost as in
capable as Lord Rosebery himself, though
from widely different causes, of the dis
tortions Of partisanshlp. That perhaps is
one of the reasons why the professional
politicians do not relish him. He is wholly
scornful Of the time serving maneuvers
the intimate deals and propitiations they
expect a presidential candidate to practice
There is no quibbling about Mr., Taft. Lik'
Mr.. Roosevelt, he is the best Of politicians
because he never "plays politics." Like
Mr.. Roosevelt, he will prove a candidate al
the more formidable because he neve
troubles about the votes. He suffers, how,
ever, from certain disadvantages. Will
practically the whole of his active lif'
divided between the court house In Gin
einmatl. the Philippines and Washington
, he has had little chances of becoming
personally known to the bulk Of his coun
trymen. Hitherto they have had TO judg
him at distance. But with every weel
that passes he is becoming better know
n and, though little OF an orator, better liked
4 The labor men cherish an old grudg
: against him because as a Judge in Obi
s certain or his decisions helped 10 perpetual
the abuse of government by injunction.
The negroes, who hold the balance Of powe
In more than one state, are incense
against him because as secretary of wa
d he agreed to, though he did not himsel
3 propose, the disbandment Of an entire negr
e regiment, some of whose members wer
u suspected Of having Shot up" a souther
10 townlet. The high protectionists do M
ls like him because he has come out SQUARED
for tariff revision and necessarily advocatC
a reduction Of duties on Philippine in
ports into the United States The conser'
n atives suspect him because he subscribe
a unreservedly to the Roosevelt policies ar
n because any administration over which /
presided would be dstinguishable in 1
10 general aims, however much It might diff,
r. in temper and methods, from the preseI
regime. And "the politicians" nee
scarcely add. instirctvely distrust a ma
of Mr.. Taft's independence and will on
accept and support him as a presldenti
er candidate to avoid the yet greater cata
IS trophe of a party defeat.
pt p EARLY SIGNS OF GREATNESS.