The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1908-10-23
Success q Mr. TAFT as SOLICITOR
General 81
Won MANY NoTABLE sUIIs-

Victorious In tho cslsbrnt0d AlAsIenn
seal Fishorisb centEovsroS lis De-
fSnSs Of the MeRSinisS @ tll--slls ttlset
Ooiasa offaro For Pak..rell 4slllEB
Federal Bench.
making utility upon the beneh1o4 = thu
sixth federal circuit, during most OF
which period he was presiding g..
were prefaced by three yeRra ais high
Accomplishment as solicitOr general %
the United States President I4aftl-
son picked him to be the legal repre-
sentative of the United States In ac-
tive litigation In 1890. when hea was
only thirty three years old, and st1l.had
three years of his elective term upon
the superior court bench In Ohio to
serve. Solicitor general OF the United
States ut thirty-three! Scarcely more
than a boy in years as rIpened natu-
rlty is reckoned and already doing
deeds OF national, moment-lseC OF
international moment, to be exact, for
inside of two weeks of taking the
oath he had put up to him the defense
of the government in the Alaska seal
fisheries controversy. at which the
courts and the diplomats OF three coun-
trIes-tRe United States, England and
Canada-had been dinging for fourteen
years.
Briefly the sum and substance OF It
was this: We had captured and con-
demned to be sold the Can9dign
schooner Sayward for Illegal sealing IN
Alaska waters. England and Canada
supported the claim OF the. ownes tor
damages, which we rejected. .:ziRRnd-
ing arbitration the case was brought
unexpectedly before the supreme court,
1t was clever tactics ON the other fel-
lows part. and it put us In rather g
pickle While Canada would not be
bound by an adverse decision IL the
case went against her-thHt Is, she
would not be compelled to accept the
decision as fnal-should we lose the
fact of our losing in our own court
would count against us.
The new solicitor general smiled in.
He read the documents. Hc .c1utched
and held fast. When he emerged from
the murk OF interna ional law, treaties,
precedent and kindred clarifies he had
a 800 page brief ready TO preseuts 20
the court It won for him and for the
United States against two OF the best
lawyers In the land-Joseph 81. Choate
and Calderon Carlisle, Jr.
Then it fell TO him to defend the
Mckinley bill In an. action brought by
an importing GrrB who Objected to
paying higher duties imposed by the
bIll and pleaded that Speaker Reeds;
way OF counting n quorum By4w-hi
tactics rhe bill had 1assed the housS
OF representatives. was demonstrations
a. The importers urged thnt enough
members present in the house. nj
though constituting q numerical quo
rum. corld break a quorum By not
voting.
IF voting aud not presentsIs neces-
sary to make quorum. why fsthe
speaker empowered to employ the SER
geant ut arms OF the house to compel
absentees to attend with the object OF
making a quorum?" queried Mr.. So
lIcitor General Taft. The Mckinley
bin was saved.
The young solicitor general won,
won, won and kept on winning for the
government for the two years he was
in Office. Then President Harrison
set him upon what Mr.. Taft felt would
be the track leading to his real ambI-
tion-the supreme court bench. He
named him as circuit judge, Judge
Taft accepted unhesitatingly. He did
it In face of the well meant advice OF
friends who wanted him to be a money
maker Attractive partnerships Were
to him by big law firms. pnst=-
nershIps that meant $4,000. $4,000
and 100000 year. The eGnoluments
of the bench were only $4,000 annual
ly. Judge Taft shook his head. There
are bigger and better things th!tls mon
ey," was his reply to these gllded sug-
gestions. He was then thirty five. he
was a poor man. but he had enough.
He is now ffty-one and a poor man
still by the standard of the dollar.