The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1908-10-08
TAFT AS LAWYER ,
AND JUDGE
Pioneered tho 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 he has devoted himself to the pub
lie service. First he was Assistant
Prosecuting Attorney Of Hamilton
County, under Miller OutcaIt, 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 in the law.
A year later he resigned that office
and went back to the practice of law,
with his fathers old partner, Fl. z.
Lloyd. In 1881 he became the junior
counsel OF a 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-
c~eSsful, Mr.. Taft made a good reputa-
IVA AhSAA hAo NSANuNl vi NiAo LhdNNSAB
and Campbell was drawn from Cincin-
natl. In 1885 he became Assistant
County Solicitor. Two years later Gov
ernor Foraker appointed him Judge
of the Superior Court, to succeed Jud-
son Harmon, who 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
5ition, and for which he was so emf
nently fitted. Fe made such a record
as a judge that at the close of his
appointed term he was t~riumphantly
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, who is widely recog-
nized as q 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 bill 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
90 clearly proved his fitness for the
bench that after three years in Wash
ingon he was sent back to Ohio as
fudge of the Sixth Federal Circuit, a
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
Io.ol lor,h tIot NJ, no csc n,,olt+ioe
as a judge became known throughout
the country. He was called upon then
20 decide some Of the most important
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 ju-
rIst. His power of application and his
ability to turn off enormous masses Of
work received ample demonstration
during this time. 1t was in this period
of his service that he rendered the Ia
Dor decisions which have made him
famous as an upright and fearless
fudge. In his treatment Of both labor
anu tdDlldi lN ShO"Su tLdI e L was
a Judge who knew no distinction Of
parties when they appeared as litigants
before him. He voiced the law as he
knew 1t and the right as he saw 1t, 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, 1t
must not be forgotten that no clearer
or broader statement of the true rights
OF labor has ever 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 1t be forgotten that n
of the most important and far reach
ing Of ali his judgments was that
against the Addystone Pipe Company,
in which for the first time the Sher-
man antitrust law was made a living.