Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-05-18
THE TRAVELS OF TAFT
Secretary of War Seldom In
His Office.
SWINGING ROUND THE CIRCLE


First Aid-The Prospective Presi-
Dental Cand idates-Tariff on Wood
Pulp and the Price of Print Paper.
BY WILLIS J. ABBOT.
Secretary Taft, who has been seen
very little about the war department,
Is once again making Il long jour
ney. Ostensibly the trip is simply a
visit to Panama. Why the secretary is
needed there is not known. We have
five commissioners paid $4,000 year
each to attend to the work there being
done. OF course, if it is absolutely nee
essary to add to this galaxy of talent
the secretary of war of the United
States, nobody must question the fact
Yet it would seem that if the commits
siOners, who have been described as
the most brilliant, able, Woodworking
officials in public service, are not able
to handle the work on the isthmus
without monthly visits from Taft there
must be something wrong with their
methods or their energy. Mr.. Taft went
to the isthmus on the cruiser Prairie.
When he comes back he will be landed
either at Pensacola or at Charleston.
1t is apparent the place of landing de
ponds upon the political needs of the
moment. From his landing place he
will make another stumping tour
through the south. In the meantime
the cobwebs grow over the Office of the
secretary Of war.
Mr.. Taft's Travels.
In the last year Secretary Taft has
seldom been In his Office three days in
succession. There is hardly any spot
on the civilized or even the uncivilized
world that he has not visited. Other
candidates for the presidency, like
Speaker Cannon, Senator Knox and
Senator La Toilette and Vice President
Fairbanks, have refused to accept any
Invitations to speak outside of Wash
ingtOn while congress Is in session.
But SECRETARY Taft, holding an office
which should demand all his time, is
never seen in that office and finds eX-
cuses to travel all over the world.
A humorous representative in con-
gress on reading the statement that
Taft would neither attend to his duties
nor resign suggested cartoon showing
Mr.. Taft looking contemplatively upon
the cobwebbed door of the secretary
of wars office and under it these lines
from Goldsmith:
Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see.
My heart untraveled fondly turns to thee.
In six months Mr.. Taft has hardly
been in his office one week at time.
Here is Il summary gathered by a
Washington newspaper which is worth
printing:
March 10. Observation-Disclosures. New York
March ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ew Haven
March 80 to April 30............W West Indies
May 7...........,..... jamestown exposition
May % to June 1...................St. Louis
June to 21....South Dakota and Kansas
July to Aug ....Murray Bay, Canada
Aug IS to Dec. I........Around the world
Dec. 2f....................... Cincinnati o.
Dec. Observation-Disclosures. Boston
1908.
Jan. 10. ......................Ncw York
JAM H......... .Ihlladclphia
Feb. to 10. Michigan and Missouri
Feb. I......... .'.............. Bulfalo
Feb. 26.......................... New England
March H.. New England ana New Jersey
March 81 .................N Nebraska and Ohio
April ......................NeW York
That is the record. 1t is official, and
1t is fair that it should be set forth
in order that the American people, who
pay the salary of Mr.. Taft and the
expenses of his department. who are
daily impressed with the idea that the
ability of the secretary of war is so
great that the department could not
proceed without his direction, should
be given just a notion of how much
time William ii. Taft, secretary of
war, has been giving to the depart
ment of which he is the nominal head
and how much to the globe trotting
and the political stump speaking of
which he seems to be so fond.
The Political Antagonists.
1t might as well be understood that
the candidates for the presidency be-
fore the American people this year
are going to be on the Republican side
Mr.. William III. Taft secretary of war;
and on the Democratic side Mr.. Will
liam ]. Bryan, Il man who has no pub
lie office whatsoever OF course there
is much cutlery about antagonism to
Taft. There are men opposed to him;
there are contesting delegations 60
ing to Chicago to destroy; there are at
tacks made upon him in the United
States senate and house of represent
atives. But. after all, politicians in
Washington recognize the fact that he
will be nominated. In his own party
other men are mentioned. Speaker
Cannon has his state, with fifty-four
votes: Senator La Toilette has his
state; Vice President Fairbanks has
his state. But not one of them all has
one single vote outside of his own
political bailiwick-that is to say, out