Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-12-19
TAFT Will BE.
PROFESSOR At
YALE, IS STORY

NEN WORK. December 10. Pfesi-
dent Taft will not so To Cincinnati
and practice law when he leaves the
White House, but has agreed to &C
cept a professorship in Yale law
school This statement was made
authoritatively tonight by close
friend of TAFT. who said he was &C
quaintcd with the Presidents plans.
The informant stated tonight that
President Taft Will accept the Kent
profcssorship of law. which has been
untitled since the death Of Edward
J. Phelps in 1900 Phelps was ap-
pointed to the profcssCrship in ISL.
and although he became Minister to
Great Britain By appointment OF
President Cleveland in 1885, he retain
ed it until his death. The professor
ship covers lectures in both COnStltu-
tional and international law
President Hadley, when asked about
the conclusion of President Taft TO
accept the Kent prOfessOrShip, said
tonight at his home in New Haven;
Your information that President Taft
| is to come to Yale is much more COM
plete than my own. | hadn't heard of
| it. The Kent profesSOrship has been
untitled since the death Of Mr.. Phelps,
but there is an endowment for the
continuation of the profeSsOrShip. |
can't tell you the amount of the en-
dowment without consulting the
papers at my Office
Will Have a Fair Income
The Kent endowment is about
nd fhic inOOTnn Wit n
| President Tafts present income Of
| $4,000 a year, is said to be regarded
by him as sufficient for the needs of
himself and his family. y
1t is understood that President
Tafts motive in accepting the Kent
professorship is due chiefly to his
fondness for Yale University and all
! it represents. No alumnus of the in
stitution is held in higher esteem by
the entire graduate body than, Presi-
dent Taft.
Aside from a natural desire which
President Taft would have for a post
such as the Kent professorship, which
offers a somewhat wider field for lee
lures than the usual professorship
his friend who talked of the matter
today said that the offer from Yale
solves a question which has caused
the President no little embarrassment
since the last election, when he had
considered returning to the practice
of the law. Many of the Federal
Judges before whom he would be ex-
pected to appear have been appointed
to the bench by President Taft, while
he has also appointed q majority of
the Supreme Courts and this would
cmbarrass the President in the high
est court in the land.
Place Appeals to TAFT
1t is known that the talks the Presi-
dent has made recently with men,
beers of Yale corporation bore directly
upon the desire Of the university to
have him accept the Kent professor
| ship, but it was determined by the
university authorities to permit the
President to make the announcement
when he felt ready to do so.
Yale men feel that the Kent pro:
fessorship is one which appeals par
| ticularly to Taft, because of his dis
tinguished predecessor, Edward John
Phelps. Phelps, who was a native of
Vermont, was president of the Ameri-
can Bias Association the year before
he was called to Yale During his
incumbency the professorship became
one of the best known in the country.
! In 1893 he was one of the counsel for
the United States in the arbitration
over the Behring sea controversy, in
which his knowledge of international
law made him valuable to his govern
| ment
A precedent for tho invitation Of
| President Taft to a Yale professOrship
is found in the appointment of the
late President Cleveland as Stafford
| Little lecturer at Princeton.