Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-01-05
Views and Reviews
Something About the Diet by
Which Mr.. Taft "Reduces'


The visit to Omaha disclosed ex-Presdent
Taft in particularly good humor. He said he
always liked to come to Omaha and said it in
way convincing that he means it. At the
dinner in his honor at the Omaha club he re-
peated the sentiment with assurance that he
was specially glad to be the guest of the club,
as he had been on various previous occasions
and particularly this time that it was made an
event ,warranting the presence of the ladies in
| a mems club.
"Such an achievement alone" he added, with
that characteristic chuckle. SIS worth travelling
two nights and ride on the Rock Isand"'
By way of emphasis of appreciation post
script added by Mr.. Tafts secretary to the let
ter to me arranging the details of his entertain
ment is conclusive evidence. 1t reads:
"P. 81 remember the Omaha club dinners
very well and wish were coming out with Mr..
Taft"
In physical appearance Mr. Taft is appar-
emily in what would be called "the pink of con-
dition." He is down to l76 pounds, which for
man of his height and large frame is down
some. Naturally, nearly everyone meeting him
remarks on his "reduced' appearance, and he
talks about 1T with an engaging frankness and
gives credit to the strict observance of diet
which he, lawyer-lke, distinguishes from the
observance of strict diet
I'm looking forward to that dinner tonight
and I'll do justice to it." he joked on his de-
barkation from the train, "for in anticipation
ate no lunch"
Afterwards at the dinner table, however, he
disclosed the. fact that going without lunch is
part of the diet.
II eat fairly hearty breakfast" he ex-
planned, "and my next real meal is the evening
dinner. / eat no sugar or sweets at all, and
meat never more than once day. l do not
restrict myself on meats or fish at ail-except
that pork and salmon have too fat-producing
qualities. | do not eat potatoes or starchy
foods Oh, yes, there are lot of good vegeta-
bles | can have all the time. No, it's just an
inherited disposition to take on flesh that
have to guard against My boy. Robert, while
at Yale weighed l85 pounds, and | said to him,
That's just about what | weighed when | was
at Yale-so you can see exactly what is ahead
of you IT,. H.. ~ .
meat, the asparagus salad, as they were served.
and without any left over on the plate, but
passed up the potatoes, the ice cream, the cake,
the sugar in the coffee. After it was all over
he walked back to his hotel notwithstanding
the below-zero temperature, replying to an in
vitation to ride in a limousine, mo, thank you,
| want the exercise"
Here's one that produced Taft chuckle!
When "Bilp' Gurley was presented to "Bilr'
Taft as the man who would present him for his
after dinner address, he said:
We'll, Judge, hope you won't feel like re-
peatng what another distinguished orator ex-
claimed under similar crcumstances-'From
our traducers and introducers, Good Lord de-
liver usp"
note the death of long-ago friend of my
college days, Nick Murray who presided over
the library at Johns Hopkins university when
I was a student there. Probably not many
hereabouts know or have heard of him, but
there are a few. At first he was assistant to
William Hand Browne, who combined in him
self the duties Of library director and professor
of English, teaching the English literature part
of the first year course listed as "P-H-E,'
the other legs of the triangle being the
study of physical geography and history.
4 corresponding folow-up course was labeled
"L-E-P," which translated meant logic, ethics
and psychology. I remember President Gilman
once likening these combinations to the faml-
lar railway abbreviations such as the B. & o.
or c. B. & O., and calling them "our short cuts
to knowledge" But to get back to mick"
Murray, he was veritable human cyclopedia
and compendium of book knowledge, or, rather,
knowledge about books, and was great help
to all of us who had to "look up" things in the
vast accumulation of volumes in his care. He
was an uncle of President Nicholas Murray
Butler of Columbia university, as is indicated
by the name. 1t is some years since I last saw
him, but he was always cordial in barking back
to the Johns Hopkins days