The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-08-14
By CHARLES w. DUKE.

Tho most Travelled man In Amcri-
cau public life Is widely known and
widely beloved. lie has carried the
most weight the farthest distance W
any Of his various compatrlots. lie
has Travelled nearly all his utc I'm
the interests of his public ana now
ie is about to retire from "a life on
the "rdttlcrs' -- as the travelling
saIrsmcn and the sports writer's
know the modern railway train
aud tako his place on the bench uf
the nations highest court, posi-
t.on more to his liking than the
rr,sidoncy OF the United States
lie is u pilgrim who has toilcd
over long roads since the days Of
youth. He has travelled on steam
,lrs. electric cars, automobiles.
steamships and electrically driven
al.ps. Horses, doukcys, even balky
mules have been the Alpha of the
,rtuur.sc Of which he was the Cou-
su.,uous omega once he got stuck
ON a western hillside In "A muddy
, slough. Thoy retrieved his stalled
motor car only after he had climbed
down into that adhesive Iowa mud
that surkcth closer than a brother.
Iuf the mud was not altogether to
blame. for he Is what the followers
e. % Dempsey or Carpenter call a
'hcavNNvcight.'
In his pilurimaEe from n CinCin-
natl law office to the mountain top
OF ftmo's immortal glory he has
witnessed the evolution Of the ia
Hf.tos Of travel. Ia his day the
gl-braltc os WESTINGHOUSE, the giant
st.. stpcd of Baldwin and Rogers
-u. palace car of Pullman with all
.. comfort and convenience and
finally the smokelcss, high powered
electric train made possible by a
Stc.umctz or an Edison, have come
20 .upplant the antlquatcd wooden
coach "crawlcr" OF yesterday. The
Steamship on which he sailed to
Europe on his honeymoon Is pigmy
compared to the giant leviathan on
which one now travels to tho far
corners of the earth.
The only modern means OF con-
ycvancc of which he has not availed
himself Is the swift canvas winged
eagle OF the Cluuds--thc airplanc,
but as he says. my style OF archi-
= lecture il not adapted TO the flying
: maohino---I would capsizc the sta
blost Of them"
other public men in the national
lie Of these United States have
"als1 rams" i'm the lists of longtime,
long distance touring champions In
the tournament Of Uncle sam.
Theodore Roosevelt made pilgrim
axes into the heart OF Afri-
can and South American jungles
Woodrow Wilson cssayod boldly
forth across troubled waters to the
peace tables of Europe. William
Jennings Bryan for years has moved
1. IL q NNVvs
heath with the bell ringers and the
cloc clubs of the Chautauqua cir
cult.
But all of them yield the palm to
this most Travelled man in American
public life, who has carried the most
weight the farthest distance Of any
Of his various compatriots In avoir-
dupois. Now you have guessed his
name. Yes. William Howard Taft,
ev-prosident of the United States,
the newly appointed chief justice Of
the United States supreme court.
Follow through this chronic of his
ncripatetic perambulations here and
there in quest of-not gold, for he
is not n rich man MS the world
measures treasure of bronze and
silver. The only bronze he has ever
accumulated is a number of med
ala he has to stow away whore
neither moth nor rust may corrupt
them that his posteritv may view
them with pride" The only silver
that has come his way in any guam
titv is an cVcr-incrcas'ng silver lin
ing TO the cloud Of his own busy
life. Not rich in gold-but. oh. ever
So rch in the imperishable treas
urcs OF memory--service in behalf
Of others.
William Howard Taft started 70
travel soon after he escaped the
maternal hand that rocks the cradle
Of the world. Some astrologer
would probably discover that the
star under which this roly-poly baby
was born was the swift flying me-
teor Of Abraham Lincoln's favorito
poem-and II must have been traV-
cling million miles n second when
the new Taft baby was ushered into
this material universe, whore, as
Walt Mason puts 1t, we are all raV-
elcrs in the sense that
Down this little road we travel
Headed for the Land OF Dawn
Saving wood and scratching gravel
Here today, tomorrow gone.
As Mr.. Taft tells it--and this Is
the way he told II to the writer the
other day in tho quiet Of his New
Haven lihrary--he has been on the
move pretty much all his life.
"Tn childhood | started my tray
els" said the eX-prcsidcnt, as no
sat looking out over the historic
green that fronts Yale campus, MY
mothers old home was Milloury