Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1908-07-03
TAFT'S RECORD.

The Republican national convention. re
sponsive to the will of the Republican par
ty and to the best opinion of the country,
has selected as candidate for the presiden-
cy the man best equipped for the office. 1t
has selected Il man of action, whose pre-
yious official experience and tried character
qualify him to enter upon the duties of the
presidency as few, If any, of his predeces-
sors were qualified.
Since he graduated from college he has
hardly been out of public office. From the
time he was appointed assistant prosecuting
attorney of Hamilton county, Ohio, he has
been public servant. He was solicitor
general of the United States for three years
and during that time was distinguished
among the young men in public life for
fairness and courage. He has been Judge.
and he was great Judge.
When President Mckinley had to select
man to solve the great problem Of initial
government in the Philippines he and lead
ers of the party, after considering all the
strong men within the command of the
party and the nation, picked William How
ard Taft. For it was recognized that il
him were combined courage, initiative fair
ness and diplomacy in the highest degree
In the Philippines he achieved the un
achievable. In the Philippines he founc
chaos and produced orderly government
and made out of a group of savage tribes
nation. He has made himself place ii
history as one of the great proconsuls-tht
greatest colonial administrator in the las
quarter century.
It was Taft who "sat on the lid'' whel
the president could not be in Washington
He was not only secretary of war. He wa
almost another president Yet of this diff
cult service the country knew little or no
thing until he had served in that capact,
for year or more.
It was Taft who organized the machiner,
which is building the Panama canal, wh'
eliminated from the Panama commission
the incompetentS and who there reconcile'
the quarreling factions. It was Taft wh'
prevented bloodshed in Cuba. It was TAT
who readjusted the relations between thu
United states and Japan. It was Taft wis
carried the message of peace around TIN
world, so that with the exceptions of Pres
luCHU 1NOOSCNGlU, nC 10 UuS OSSI hHOWn
in public life the world over.
It has been said of Taft that he was
combative altrnist. The phrase describe
him well. His official statements ON th
Philippines are splendid tributes to the fin
and sane idealism of his statecraft and t.
his warm qualities as a man.
And it is as man that the America
people will look to him as their chief exec
utive. He is citizen whose democracy j
broad, straight and redbooded. His sym
pathetic response to The peoples needs AM
aspirations will be unfailing. He has bee
as one with them throughout his publ
life. His effective seconding of the presi
dents main policies has been misinterpret
ed as mere compliance. 1t was and i
based on an Independent political insigh
into the needs of the times, and it is proc
of his fitness to carry on work i'll whicl
he has freely and fully shared. The charge
of want of independence is known to b.
false by every one informed on the histor,
of this administration, for it is Taft NOR,
than any other member of the president
counsel who did not hesitate to state hi.
difference with his chief, and oftener thar
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