Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1908-04-02
Taft is Cheerful Workman, Does Duty,
Dodges Trouble.


Taft in 2 phrase l should call
him "the cheerful workman"
He loves to work, and he works
cheerful because he is always
confident of doing it we'll. 1t is
his huge optimism, his belief in
the essential right of everything
and everybody that is the secret
of his success. With Taft as
president there is not likely to
be panic or other serious crisis
during his administration. He
will head it off by an active faith
and will laugh the money back
in the bank.
Physically, Taft is one of the
biggest men in the world. He
weighs $50 pounds and is six feet
tall. His shoulders are tremen-
dous, so broad that you almost
forget he is too big around the
waist. He is not fat man in
the ordinary sense. His bones
and everything about him are OF
unusual size, and the generous
covering of good, healthy flesh is
a proportionate part Of the gen.
eral equipment. Were he sour,
suspicious, or a pessimistic man,
he would be lot thinner, but he
is none of these things.
His head is unusually wide be-
tween the ears, which indicates
constructive power. His fore
head is not very high, but un-
commonly broad and we'll de-
veloEed. Over each eye the
bones of the skull bulge distinct
ly, which, they say, reflects the
keenness of his observation. His
mustache and hair are gray. His
hair is growing thin all over, but
no spot on the head is really un-
covered. His eyes are clear and
honest and his manner IS unat-
fectedly open and cordial. He
says he is glad to see you. Other
public men when you call on
them also say they are glad to
see you, but in most cases you
know that they are bored to
| death at having TO see you, and
only do so from some feeling t hat
they ought to.
When Taft says it you think
he means it. l believe he does.
He really likes pretty nearly
everybody he meets, and the
number of his friends is legion.
Taft is not fighter because he
does not really hate anybody
enough to make him think that
a fight is the only way out of it.
He likes to think as we'll as he
can of even his enemies. In most
cases he probably believes that if
his enemies would come and have
a frank talk with him they would
thereafter be "good Indians"
His whole career has been that
of peacemaker and not a
fighter. People who have studied
his decisions in labor disputes
claim that they have neither been
directed against the working
man nor against the capitalist,
but really represented fair effort
on his part to preserve the public
peace. He does not like distur-
bers. He wants everybody to
come in out of the street and sit
quiet and be good. This is what
enables him to go to the Philip
pines or Cuba, or to any other
place where there is row on.
and as soon as he has been there
a few days and has had chance
to call the fighters into a room
and talk to them, there is sud-
denly great calm.
1t is almost morally and physi-
cally impossible for antagonists
to sit in the same room with Taft
and listen to his genial common
sense, his cheerful optimism, his
hearty laugh which carries him
over all embarrassing points,
without feeling that fighting is
really absurd, and that you ought
to invite the man you have beer
trying to scalp home to dinner.
There is nothing foolish OF
sentimental about Taft, either
He is a practical man, with a
keen eye for detail and a tremen
dous capacity for hard work. Ii
Washington he is at it never
later than 9 in the morning, is
busy all day, and then takes lot
of work home in the evening
q nd works until midnight. He
is the hardest worker in the en-
tire administration. No man in
Washington has had the physica