River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-10-01
TAFT AS LAWYER
AND JUDGE
Pioneered the Way for the "ROOse-
Welt Policy" Concerning
Trusts.
Successful as Lawyer in Important
Cases and Authority as
Jurist.

Mr.. Taft was hardly out Of his boy
hood when he was called to public Of
flee, and in most Of the years since
then lie has devoted himself TO the pub
lie service. First he was Assistant
Prosecuting Attorney of Hamilton
County, under Miller Outcalt, now one
of the leading lawyers of Ohio. In
1881 he became Collector of Internal
Revenue for the First Ohio District,
and demonstrated the same ability in
business that he had shown i'll the law.
A year later lie resigned that office
and went back to the practice of law.
with his fathers old partner, H. z.
Lloyd. In 1884 he became the junior
counsel of Bar Committee to con
duct testament proceedings against
Campbell, whose methods Of practicing
law had brought on the hearing of
the Hamilton County Courthouse in
Cincinnati. Though technically unsuc-
Cessful, Mr. Taft made a good reputa-
ton from his conduct of this matter,
and Campbell was drawn from Cincin-
natl. In 1855 he became Assistant
County Solicitor. Two years later Gov
ernor Foraker appointed him Judge
OF the Superior Court. to succeed judi
son Harmon, VINO had resigned to enter
President Cleveland's cabinet.
His judicial Career Begun.
His appointment as Judge Of the Su-
perior Court was the beginning of the
judicial career which was Taft's am
bton, and for which he was so emf
ncntfy fitted. He made such record
as Judge that at the close OF his
appointed term he was trlumphantly
elected for another term. But already
he had attracted attention outside his
State, and he had served but two years
of the five years for which he had been
elected when President Harrison asked
him to take the difficult position of SO.
licitor General of the United States.
This was an Office of the utmost i'm
portance, involving not only wide learn.
Ing and tremendous application, but
the power of clear and forceful pres
entation OF argument. Two of the
cases which he conducted as Solicitor
General involved questions Of vital i'm
portance to the entire country. The
first grew out Of the seal fisheries con-
troversy with Great Britain. Mr.. Taft
won against such eminent counsel as
Joseph ii. Choate, VINO is widely recog
niZed as Il leader of the American bar
The other was a tariff case in which
the law was attacked on the ground
that Speaker Reed had counted a quo
rum when the bin passed the House.
That too, he won. 1t was during his
term as Solicitor General that Mr.
Taft met Theodore Roosevelt, then
Civil Service Commissioner, and began
the friendship which has continued and
grown ever since and which has had
such far-reaching influence upon the
lives Of both men,
On tho Federal Bench.
Mr. Taft's record as solicitor general
so clearly proved his fitness for the
bench that after three years in Wash
ing0n he was sent back to Ohio as
judge of the Sixth Federal Circuit,
post generally recognized as a prelimi-
nary step to the Supreme Court, which
was then the goal of his ambition.
1t was during his seven years on the
federal bench that Mr.. Taft's qualities
as a Judge became known throughout
the country. He was called upon then
cases that have ever been tried in the
federal courts, in the conduct of which
he established an enviable reputation
for learning. courage and fairness
three essential attributes of a great iu-
Iigt His power of application and his
work received ample demonstration
during this time. 1t was in this period
of his service that he rendered the la.
hor decisions which have made him
famous as an upright and fearless
judge. In his treatment Of both labor
and capital he showed that here was
q Judge who knew no distinction OF
parties when they appeared as litigantS
before him. He voiced the law as he
knew it and the right as he saw it, no
matter where the blow fell or whom it
struck. If sometimes the decisions
went against what organized labor at
that time believed to be its cause. il
must not be forgotten that no clearer
or broader statement of the true rights
OF labor has even been made than in
some Of his judicial utterances, Law
yerS conducting litigation in other
courts on behalf of labor unions have
often cited these decisions of Judge
Taft IN support of their contentious.
Neither should it be forgotten that one
Of the most important and far reach
ing of all his judgments was that
against the Addystone Pipe Company.
a., %;,,,a 10 Sha-