The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-07-01
THREE MONTHS OF TAFT
New Ways at the White House But
the Same Old Policies.

~ SSAAAAS SAN
"Raymond's'' Washington Letter
to Chicago Tribune. President TAFT
has now been in control for three
months, with a bonus of ten days In
which to get acquainted with the
White House at the beginning of his
administration. He has his OWL
cabinet about him and has actively
begun to do things.
There has been no noise, the ma
chinery has Jared but little, and
there is an air of something almost
akin to dullness about the Presi-
dents office hours nowadays, where
as only a few short months ago the
White House was the nerve center
of the city.
1t really is surprising to find out
how much President Taft has done
in these three months absolutely on
his own initiative. 1t has all been
done so much without parade and
without extensive announcement, in
fact, that the people scarcely under
stand even yet the personality now
Ia the White House is entirely that
If tie President himself and that the
atmosphere is rau.ca..y and COM
pletely different from the air which
was breathed during the previous adj
ministration.
Before his nomination and during
the period of the campaign between
the convention and election a great
many republicans and most of the
democrats were inclined to look up
on Mr.. Taft as a pocket edition of
President Roosevelt. In one of the
%"Tribune's canvasses which did so
much to determine in advance who
was to be the republican nominee, a
correspondent not too friendly to the
secretary of war wrote on his bal
lot that he was not in favor of any
man who was merely a carbon copy"
and that he preferred the original
who, of course was Theodore Roose-
welt. The aptness of the description
unfair though it was, caught the pop
ular fancy and it was repeated from
day to day and month to month up
to the time of the Inauguration it
self.
There never was a man who was
less likely to be a carbon copy" than
William Howard Taft. He was one
member of the cabinet who "scrap-
ped" with the President, and never
gave up his position until Mr.. Roose-
Welt had decided the point, when he
had no more loyal follower tnan the
secretary of war.
Roosevelt did choose Taft to be his
successor, Everybody knows that.
He chose him. as he told me himself
repeatedly, because he believed the
secretary of wal was completely in
harmony with all the policies of the
Roosevelt administration, and that
he would execute them all, adopting
different methods as a matter OF
course, but keeping always the same
ideals in view and refusing to be
swerved or turned aside by personal
political, social or financial influence
OF course in all this President
l Roosevelt referred to the distinctive
policies of his administration. He die
: mot expect Mr.. Taft to be a "carboI
! copy" and would not have chosen
3 a man who promised to be such a.
: his own successor. The Friendship
between the two men was supreme
! Mr.. Taft admired R~oosevelt's energy
the honesty of his purpose, and a GER
tain facility he had for cutting rec
tape and arriving at the right thing tt
: do by running across lots without re
e gard to section lines or public high
ways.
President Roosevelt on the Other
g hand, admired MI. Taft for quite diff
/ ferent qualities. He found in the sec
rotary of wal a probility and single
ness of purpose equal to his own, blu
coupled with judicial poise, a wis,
conservatism, and aggressive wide
pendence. So far as l have ever learn
y ed there never has been any thing
between the two men which caused
f either to reduce his estimate of tn,
: other. They always were friends ant
brothers, and they remain so today
one in Washington and the other ii
Africa.
There's rather a startling array O
2 things done by Mr.. Taft which woult
n not have been done by Mr.. Roosevelt
r had he remained in the White Hous.
l There has been a positive reversal o
. Roosevelt policies in non-essentials
2 an dyet thew we're thinpr which uyor.