Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1908-06-10

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event, has declared that no one
could meet Taft and not love him
as a man. sft
There must be something wonder
fully pleasing in a mans personality
to evoke such expressions from two
such diverse sources.
And there 10. Genial, whole
souled, happy, hearty big "Bill''
Taft, as he is known to his intimates,
attracts men to him as irresistiby
as the magnet does the STEEL
One of the biggest men in the
country, physically, Taft is six feet
tall and weighs ESQ pounds. His
shoulders are so broad, and his
frame so big, that he carries his
weight without giving the appear
ance of a fat man in the ordinary
sense.
Bubbling over with good nature,
with laughter ever ready to his lips,
Taft is, nevertheless. the personifica-
tion OF dignity and firmness. Con-
vinced OF the wisdom and justice Of
certain line OF action, no one, not
even President Roosevelt himself, IS
more aggressive and courageous IN
pursuit of his object.
Taft is his own master. No great
er mistake could be made than to as
sumo that II elected President, he
would be under the domination Of
any man. In the mapping out of the
great policies of the Roosevelt ad-
mlnlstration no one has been more
freely consult d than Taft, and no
one has been more free to criticize
the President when criticism seemed
Just.
Roosevelt Is not a lawyer. Taft
Is. Sympathizing heartily with the
Presidents purposes. Taft has used
HIS legal training to shape Roose-
velt's ideas into practical form. The
abilities OF the one have complement
ed those OF the other, with the re-
sut that a great work has been ac-
complished for the people.
Temperamentally they are almost
opposites. II would be .dihicult 70
conceive OF Taft forming classes of
"llars," "malefactors OF great
wealth." or mature fakirs." He hos
not the phrase-making capacity of
Roosevelt, but he can be none the
less vigorous in denunciatlon Of
wrong. He does not believe that
epithets are necessary to make a
speech strong and incisive. Where
Roosevelt is impetuous and some
times has to change front with great
suddenness, Taft's legal training
makes him deliberate, judicial, and,
once convinced, unyielding.
No man in public life T. more
frank and unreserved in his inter-
course with newspaper men than
Taft. He goes on the theory that
the public has right to know about
the administration OF the war de-
and he takes the cores
pondents into his confidence, but he
reserves the right to decide when the
proper time has arrived for publica-
ton OF the facts. He plays no fav-
orites, but when Taft says mo.
there is a finality about II which is
accepted. on one occa-
sion. however, correspondent per-
sisted in asking leading questions on
a subject upon which the secretary
had said that he could not speak.
Taft's face lost its smile, the kindly
gray eyes developed a steely glitter,
and suddenly the storm broke. He
declared that he was not TO be bal
dragged" into answering questions
that he did not want to answer, and
gave the unhappy newspaper. man
such a raking-down before all OF his
as he had probably never
had before. 1t was such surprise
from Taft that for a few
no' one uttered word.
Then, Just as suddenly, the storm
cleared. Jumping up, Taft put his
arm around the shoulder of the cor
respondent and in the most Affection