The copper era. (Clifton, Graham County, Ariz.) 1899-1911, 1908-07-09
WILLIAM Il. TAFT.
Republican Nominee for President of
The United States.

Few men in American history have
been so notably identified with big
events as William Howard Taft. If
there is such thing as a born public
man, this Cincinnatian is one. 1t is
popular to call Mr. Taft big. Physi-
cally he is a heavyweight, a three
hundred FOUNDER, standing six feet
two inches tall. Mentally also he is
big man. The salient facts in his
career prove this.
Unlike most men of presidential as
~pirations, Mr.. Taft never knew what
it was to be poor. He was not born
rich, but he. was born well to do.
There is no log cabin period in his
lite nor in the lives of his ancestors
for generations back. His paternal
grandfather was a Vermont lawyer
of distinction. His father was Judge
Alphonso Taft, of Cincinnati, who
served for brief periods as secretary
of war and attorney general in the
cabinet of President Grant and after
ward was minister to Austria and to
Russia.
William II. Taft was born in Gin
cinnati September 10, 1857. He grew
up in his native city and was pre-
pared for college in the local schools.
His mother was a highly educated
woman. 1t is said that the Taft
family always made d speciality of
education. The Judge and his wife
determined that. all their children
should receive the best scholastic
training that was to be had Viii.
liam was i diligent student who mas
tered his studies by dent of hard dig
ging. He entered Yale in 1874 and
was graduated four years later with
second honors in a class of 12l mem-
bers. In college he was known as a
clean, manly youth, always ready to
take part in athletics, but never neg
lecting his studies for sport. Class
mates declare that Bill Taft was the
most popular fellow in the class of
1878.
The young man returned to Gin
cinnati With his diplomas and passed
through law school. In 1880 he was
admitted to tie bar. While waiting
for clients he worked as d court re-
porter on the Cincinnati Times aud
later on the Cincinnati Commercial
The prosecuting attorney met the
young lawyer reporter and took such
d fancy to him that he appointed
Taft his assistant. That was in 1881.
Not long afterward the young man
was appointed collector of internal
revenue for his district During the
administration of President Harrison
the Cincinnati lawyer made his first
official appearance in Washington as
solicitor general for the United
States. President Harrison appoint
ed him in 1892 judge of the United
States circuit court. Prior to this
Mr.. Taft had sat on the bench of the
suprior court in Ohio, first through
appointment by Governor Foraker,
now United States senator, and later
by election.
Though in public for about fifteen
years, up to the year 1900 William
II. Taft had won only d local reputa-
ton. To be sure, he was widely and
favorably known among lawyers as
Judge possessing in an unusual meas
ure the judicial mind, but he was in
no sense a national figure. He had
ambitions toward the supreme bench.
and there were eminent men who
predicted that Taft would some day
sit in that tribunal
in 1898 the war with Spain threw
into American possession the Philip
pine Islands. President Mckinley
and his cabinet passed anxious hours
in discussion of the problem "What
shall we do with the Philippines?''
When finally it was determined to
create commission to organize civil
government in the islands, then in
revolt and under military rule, the
president looked about for a man big
and broad and deep enough to hold
the craftsmanship of that body.
"Big Bill'' Taft of his own state was
recommended as the very one for the
place. Judge Taft was called to
Washington. He frankly told the
president that he had not been in
favor of acquiring the lands in the
first place. Notwithstanding this,
Judge Taft was deemed the best
available man to undertake the ad-
ministration of the island. He &C
cepted appointment to the chairman
ship of the Philippine commission as
a matter of public duty and proceed
ed to Manila with his family.
Thus in 1900 William H. Taft be-
came an international figure. Speak
ing almost literally, the eyes OF the
world were upon him. 1t devolved
upon him to administer the affairs of
a turbulent archipelago but lately
released from centuries of despotic
misrule and still struggling violently