Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 9, 1908)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL. PORTLAND, SUNDAY 'HORNING. W 1M f e Has Been Described as a Great Heart iniaGreat Body" u kr " VI ,1 ''x.' ' JL W - V. '. I " b j"rv(iiiM,M 4 1 5 V W ; t , - mm. Ml:: ' V: mm 'i , 4 : -.f 4.'-V ; . J 5 ' I 4 '1 ft THE3 REV. DR. LYMAN ABBOTT, who has writ ten the following' estimate of William H. Taft'a citizenship, has. In all his work as edi tor, preacher, lecturer and author, preferred to be reg-arded as the teacher, rather than the orator or rhetorician. He is one" of the most distinguished of living Americans. For a quarter of a century, as editor of the Outlook, he has commu nicated to his readers calm and Judicial views on eco nomic, social, political and theological Questions and always having In view the moral and human interest. The Rev. rr. Abbott comes of an Intellectual family, and was widely known before he was called upon to succeed the late Henry Ward Beecher, both as pastor and editor. It had been predicted that Plymouth Church would go to pieces after Mr. Beech el's death; Dr. Abbott not only held It together, but strengthened It in somo ways. Dr. Abbott's apprecia tion of Mr. Taft is given as an unbiased study made frnm a calm and intellec tual viewpoint undisturbed -y hum 1 &V J THE REV. DR. LTMAN ABBOTT by political considerations, and for that reason is be lieved to be of unusual Interest. It was published by Mr. Abbott in his own magazine, the Outlook. By the Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott rrfW-HE difficulty with Taft as a candidate," said I to me one of his most intimate friends and I active supporters, "Is that he takes no In terest In his own candidacy. He is wholly absorbed in his work, especially In the Filipinos, and leaves the campaign to otbers. 'My dear fellow.' I ay to him. "you are not running for the President of the Philippine Islands.' But it makes no difference to him.. Cuba, Panama and the Philippine Islands are much more Interesting to him than the national Re publican convention." This absorption in his work Is not merely an ex ecutive's ambition for achievement; it Is not merely a philosopher's Interest In problems. Mr. Taft's interest . is In men, not in theories. The problem of labor and capital Is for him how to promote Justice between employers and employed and the welfare of both. His Interest In Panama Is how to conserve the health and the happiness of the men who are digging- the canal. How to reduce the death rate is of more consequence to him than how to Increase the number of cublo yards of earth displaced eaoh week. The colonial problem he regards not as a curious political question to be worked out in algebraic terms; it is how to pro mote the welfare of a distant people, whose well being depends on our success or failure in colonial ad ministration. It was this Interest In men which led him to abandon his chosen Judicial career and fling awsy the opening for certain preferment which lay before him and go to the Philippines to organise a government and attempt whathad never before been attempted, to teach an oriental people to become self governing. "You are the Father of the Philippines." said a friend to him the other day. "Oh no," he answered, "I am not; but what I would like to be called is the Father of the Filipinos." It is the Fili pinos, not the Philippines, that Interest him; It Is not tbe islands but the islanders h wishes to develop The sugar industry in the Islands he does not wish to promote, because It develops social conditions that At not promUe well for the political and Industrial de velopment of the people. It Is this Intensely human quality of Mr. Taft's which mikw men wish that he might be tbe chief Justice of the Supreme Court. For our courts need Humanising. They need to realise that they are dealing with living men and women, not with abstract problems In political economy and legal constructions- And there Is no man who could do more than Judge Taft to humaolse our courts, and no place in which he could do so much as on the Supreme Court bench. I do not beiteve that he would htvt greed with tbe majority of the Supreme Court In holding unconstitutional tbe labor law of New Tork limiting the hours of labor la tbe bakeries of the late. To him a man's life is of more value than an abstract but unrealised liberty of prirate contract. It Is this human aualitv In Mr Tft that i ... his popular sobriquet of Bill Taft. He likes men, and be likes all sorts of kid eotcert those that are dis honest or dlsloral. He wge the most popular Gov ernor the FillplBor hi ever had. This was not wholly beraase be was absolutely Jvst, was loyal to their Interests, nrgea the earliest possible eubetltutlon f elvll law for tnimsrr law. and effere-d as Invincible exposition t ail schemes 4 eiploltlnr tbe Islands fir th sent lit f aascrupuleus Americas pioaeera He FAefo Gepyrtftt? jot bp Tl.Pnnrr was the personal- friend of the Filipinos; he be lieved In them, defended them, befriended them, trusted them and danced with thrm. This last fact, I am inclined to think, went as far as any, perhaps as all of the others combined, to make the Filipinos idolize him, as they certainly do. For Judge Taft Is In the best sense of the term a democrat. He Is as free from race and class prejudices of every descrip tion as any man I have ever known. He is as thor oughly a believer In the motto, "A man's a man for a' that." His friendship for the Filipino is not a patron izing: friendship. It Is that of a big. wise, helpful brother. Mr. Taft dancing with the Filipino ladies, who are decidedly below the average American in both weipht and height, while I believe Mr. Taft turns tho scales only at 00 pounds, has been tho theme of some won dering amusement on tho part of those who have only seen Mr. Taft on the platform, or caricatures of him in the press. In fact, he is far from the corpulent and elephantine person he Is sometimes described as belnff. The Boston American, which cannot be sus pected of having any partisan fondness for him, in a recent seinl-humorous description, hit off his physical personally very well: "Mr. Taft Is the kind of man you would expect to find In the president's office of a bank if you went In to start an account. His appearance would give you confidence In the bank. You would say to yourself, 'This man will not let the bank fall if he can possibly help it.' A POWERFUL CONSTITUTION "They have talked a great deal about Mr. Taft as a fat man. He Is not a fat man. Ho has a good broad chest and he stands straight. Below that chest there is a semicircle. But It Isn't the kind of a round stomach that comes from dissipation or self indulgence. It Is due to the fact that Mr. Taft has a powerful constitution and has not given that consti tution sufficient exercise." I agree with the American that It would be better for Mr. Taft and better for the nation if he would take more exercise. But he takes more than the aver age reporter seeing him on the platform would Im agine. One thinks of a man of his build as a be- llever In the Arab proverb, "Never walk when you can ride, and never stand when you can sit." But Mr. Taft is not an Arab. There Is nothing of the oriental love of ease In his make-up. He likes to walk up and down as he talks to you In his office, and Is so light on his feet as he walks that you can readily understand that he may be a notably good dancer despite his avoirdupois. He will put his hands In his pockets much as the President does. and. beginning his walk at the fireplace, will walk to the windows of his office, then down Its full lensrth. or at right angles down the side of his desk to the opposite wall, and then right about face and back again to the point of departure, and so oj continuously. Mr. Taft's Intensity is expressed by his activity. He Is a quieter worker than Edwin M. Stanton was. but he Is not a less active worker. He Is not as quick in his motions, either physically or Intellectually, as the President; but he Is not less a master workman. The day he was to start for Cuba he was at his desk rrorsrrr r Sfrrercr finishing up some last details. His assistant gave him warning: "Train starts in half an hour." "All right." was the .reply. Presently a second warning:. "Only fifteen minutes left, sir." "All right." Finally. "You've only three minutes left, sir." "All right," came back as serenely as before. And In two minutes the alert secretary of war came out of the offlee door smiling-, calm, imperturbable, unhurried. So the story comes to me; and I can well believe it. The legend seems probable.. If Mr. Taft's Intensity Is expressed In his actions, his bonhomie and his sense of Justice are both ex pressed In his' face. There are some men whom you like, but are not quite sure you can trust, and there are some men you can trust, but do not quite like. Indeed. I am Inclined to think that stalwart principle and kindly good nature- are not very often com mingled in equal proportions In tiie same person. But in tills respect the face of Mr. Taft and of Bishop Brooks arc alike. A child would be as ready to go up to the orfe .is to the other and put its little haml confidingly in his big hand and po wherever he led the way. Tffhnt this quality of attractive and un shakable Integrity Is manifest In Mr. Taft's face was apparent to the writer in the American from whom I have already quoted. "If the boat were sinking, and he could swim and you couldn't, you'd hand him your $50, 000 if you had it saying, 'Give this to my wife.' and she'd get It if lie lived to get ashore ." Mr. Taft's good nature, his Indifference to self, his apparently Infinite patience, enables him to et along with men, however cold or acerb or crotchety pro vided they are honest. "He can get alonjr with some men," said the President to me recently, "that I can't get along with. We were together in Harrison's ad ministration. I was civil service commissioner; Taft was solicitor general. I got on Harrison's erves, and whenever I came into the room he set his flnfrsrs drumming on the desk before him as though It were a piano. But Taft had no difficulty. And yet he was always a man of highest ideals." But Taft's sense of loyalty makes him seem to the average politician im practical. This is the secret of the war between him self and Senator Foraker in Ohio. I suppose no one In Washington doubts that Judge Taft could have had the presidential nomination with no effective opposi tion If he would have bought Senator Foraker's sup port by concluding an alliance with him. There would still have been "favorite sons" and some "hlglv finance" opposition, but, without any astute political leader to organize antl-Taft forces, the vote fur favorite sons would have been compliments only and "high finance" would have been powerless. Soma independent Jour nals, the Washington Star, for Instance, cannot see why the alliance should not have been made. "Why," It innocently asks, "should the Interests of two such men clash? Why retire Mr. Foraker from a place which he has filled with profit to his people and cer tainly with great credit to himself?" If the end of politics Is to get triumph for a party and offices for Us leaders, there Is no Veason. But If the end of pol itics Is to get Incorporated In the organization and history of the country certain well-defined national principles, there Is the best possible of reasons. For Mr. Foraker has declared himself. In the most explicit and vigorous language, opposed to the principles and policy to which Mr. Taft Is devoted. And to Mr. Taft the presidency is not an end; It Is only a means to an end; and he does not know how to sacrifice the end to the means that Is, the principle which he holds to the office for which personally he has no desire. The political principles of the two men are essentially and fundamentally antagonistic. It is impossible to har- H v 4 monize them. Mr. Foraker opened the campaign against the administration's policy of railway rate regulation by the novernment; In the famous Senate debate In 1907 he was the foremost leader In the op position to that policy, and in December of that year. In announcing himself as the presidential candidate against .Mr. Taft. he announced this principle of non interference with the railways as one of the funda mental planks in his political platform. In short, Mr. Foraker Is perhaps the most consistent and vigor ous of all the national advocates of the policy of leav ing the railway corporations to manaare the transpor tation of the country as a private business, and the shippers to seek correction of injustice by an appeal to the courts. Mr. Taft. on the other hand, has been for a num ber of years the consistent advocate the policy of government regulation of the great Interstate com merce corporations. So far as I know, he was the first Judge to summon railway receivers Into court on a charge cf rebating. Nine years ago. acting as United State's Circuit Judge in Ohio, Mr. Taft discov ered that the receiver of the Toledo, St. Louis and Kansas'City Railroad Company (popularly known as the "Clover Leaf") was giving rebates extensively. Judge Taft sent an auditor of his own selection to the receiver's office in Toledo. Upon the auditor's re port, verifying the suspicion, Judee Taft sent for the receiver and insisted upon his resignation forthwith. As the secretary says. "No criminal prosecution was begun against the receiver. That question was left open, and tho receiver died within a few days after his removal." KEEN SENSE OF HUMOR It Is fortunate for their health and happiness that both Mr. Taft and Mr. Roosevelt have a keen sense of humor, and can laugh at the asseverations of certain unintentionally comic papers, which take themselves quite seriously In their statement t ha t Taft Is but an echo of his chief. I first met Judge Taft at the American Bar Association In Detroit. In 1895, where he made an address In which he embodied. In his own JudiAU fashion, the principles concerning the rela tions of the federal government to the organizations of both labor and capital, the adoption and enforce ment of which by the' present administration have brought upon it so much of praise and so much of blame. I shall not attempt here to give an abstract of this paper; a few sentences taken from it will suf fice to justify my characterization of It: "The opportunity freely and publicly to criticise Judicial action Is of vastly more importance to the body politic than the Immunity of courts and Judges from unjust aspersion. "lien of good repute, with complacence and Inten tional Ignorance, acquiesced in the use of corporate funds to buy legislators and councllmen In the corpo rate Interest, when they would not wish or dare to adopt such methods In their Individual business. "Another reason for popular distrust of corporate methods is the use by corporations of great amounts of capital to monopolize and control particular Indus tries. It Is my Bincere belief that no such control or monopoly can be maintained permanently unless It Is buttressed by positive legislation giving an undue ad vantage over the public and competitors. "In spite of these well-known evils, nothing can be clearer to a calm, intelligent thinker than that, under conditions of modern society, corporations are indispensable' both to the further rr.atfrn! progress of this country and to the maintenar e uf u.at we have enjoyed. The evils must be remerlle.1. but not by GENEALOGY OF THE TAFT FAMILY D CRINO the last years of her life Mrs. Louisa Taft. mother of the secretary of war, was busy compiling the New England history of the family from data that had been collected by her husband. Judge Alphonao Taft Mrs. Taft died last De cember at her home in Mlllbury, Mass.. while her dis tinguished son was on his trip around the world. The earliest ancestor reached by Judge Taft's re searches wa Robert Taft. a housewrigbt. who went from th then provlnc of Braintree and settled at Men ton, Mass, In MO. He had Ave sons, one of whom, Jo seph. wa born In 16S0. and who married Elizabeth Emer son, the eranddubter of the first minister of Menton. Joseph's second son was Captain Peter Taft, born in 171S. Captain Peter's third son was Aaron, born In 1?. He was fitted for Princeton, but had to leave col lege before be had finished, although he had already es tablished a reputation as a scholar. He settled at Uxbr1d, Mass, but removed to Town send. Vt.. whers he died In 1SCS. He married Rhoda Raw son, the reat-grat-grahddaughter of Edward Ramon, ""tT of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from to 10, AJphonso Taft. father of tbe secretary of war. was born in Mio tn Towns nd, vt.. and was graduated from '? im. H ,Jht for two years In an academy in Ellington. Conru and then became a tutor at Yale. Emitted to the bar In ISXt utd went to Cln- f.tli V T'r- i 1147 n argued before the Vnltd Ftatee PoPrems Court tbe claim of the city for the ttequest of Charles McMlcken. which secored tbe nucleus f the eadewmsal f und for the University ef inftcinnstL a . r Tefl STftti rnnreFning bT ho bend's reputation " jwukw o I warn wutifHui Aun JMa was rver twrnea away Mcaase tdm case was considered too small for the Judge's patience; no experienced lawyer ever felt his case too large or the questions Involved too intricate for the Judge's capacity and learning." Judge Taft's first wife, Fanny Phelps, was a daughter of Judge Charles Phelps, of Townsend. Vt. She died In 186L Three children were born to her. one of whom died In infancy. Charles Phelps Taft, the second son. Is the proprietor of tbe Cincinnati Times-Star. The third son. Peter Rawson. died in 18S8. Judge Taft married Louisa Maria Torre y In 1&3. Her first son. Samuel Davenport Taft. died in Infancy. Sec retary Taft was the second son; Henry Waters Taft. of New Tork, tbe third; Horace Dutton Taft, the fourth. nd tbe fifth child is her daughter, Fanny Louis, wife of Dr. William A. Edwards, of Los Angeles. CaL "The fact that Secretary Taft throughout his long and honorable public career baa received promotion continu ously," wrote Mrs. Taft. "is ample evidence of his capa bility and reliability and of the sterling integrity of his character." Mrs. Taft was descended from William Torrey, who went from Somerset. England, to Weymouth, Mass.. in 164U. Hs was for many years a member of tbe House of Deputies, and was always chosen clerk. He was mag istrate and captain of militia, and died in 10. The flr.tj William In the line of descent was reported to have been six feet seven inches tall. He was the father of Samuel Davenport Torrey and grandfather of Mrs. Taft. Mrs. Taft's father married. In 1R4. S'jsan Holman Wa ters, daughter of Asa Waters, founder of Armory village, and granddaughter of Colonel Jonathan Holman. who raised and commanded a regiment during the Revolution and distinguished himself at the battle of Barnloga. Mrs, Taft s father established hlmielf In Boston In the West Icdoij trsde and retired to Mlllbury. Mass . In "Mrs. Torrey was a woman of rare) endowment and character," wrote Mrs. Taft. "wall educated v tfcs period, and her highest Intelligence was always In the world Of thought She had an Irresistible desire to know the best that had been written la literature and philosophy, and she had the courase to follow the new views of truth, which her active and progressive mind attained, to their conclusions." Of her father Mrs Taft wrote: "Mr. Torrey will be lor. r-membered as a man of marked individuality, of thorough business methods, of Inflexible Integrity, with a decision cd force of charac ter which left a lasting impression whrfever he was known." . Mrs. Taft Fond of Outdoor Sport A GREAT deal of Interest, of course. centers about Mrs. Taft. wife of the Republican nom inee for the presidency It seems that she. as well as her J.stingu.shed husband. Is a believer In outdoor exercise. A dispatch from Washington last fall stated: "Long walks, rowing and open-air xrdse of all kinds form the panacea for fatigues caused by the Ions; grind of the winter's social season, according to Mrs. William H. Taft. wife of the secretsry of war. 8h has demonstrated her point "Mrs. Tstt left Waehii.gton for the country last spring, with the declaration thst another winter la Wsshington would undermine her health, She was certain that ta sura road to the cemetery was through the portals of society life "The summer In the country, however, baa changed her ODinioa. Fhe rented a Vowboat, leek ten-mil walks every day and now returns looking the plc-tar ft health and ready lor aaouer winter ot tea- destroying one of the greatest Instruments for (041 that social man has; devl 1. . "The repeated efforts of different stats Legislatures) to Impose restriction upon Interstate commerce t curs some apparent advantage to their own constit uents evidence the profound wisdom of the framsrs of : tbe constitution In vesting complete control thereof In th national government. "Like corporations, labor organisations d great good and much oviL The more conservn veljr and In telligently conducted they are, the moio boneflt ttneyj . confer on their members. The more completely the yield to the dominion of those among them who sr Intemperate of expression and lawless in their matax ods. the more evil they do to themselves and society. t "The courts, so far as they have expressed thenv ... selves on the subject, recognize the right of men for a lawful purpose to combine to leave their employ ment at the sume time, and to use the Inconvenience this may cause to their employer as a legitimate weapon In the frequently recurring controversy as ta the amount of wages. It Is only when the comblna tion Is for an unlawful purpose and an unlawful ln Jury Is thereby sought to be Inflicted, that the oombj-, nation has received the condemnation of the federal M well as the state courts." These principles were thus stated In a carefully prepared paper by Mr. Taft at a time when Mr. Roose velt was acting as president of the Police Board la the city of New Tork and had gtfven no publlo utter ance of his opinions on the question of great corpora 'tlons and their relation to the federal government Mr. Roosevelt would be the first to disavow the notion that he discovered or Invented the principles which he has so vigorously and so admirably interpreted. The merit of his administration Is that by the vigor of his ut terances he has compelled the whole country to recog nize their Justice and set itself under his leadership to their practical application to existing conditions. Mr. Taft remains faithful to judicial principles which he declared six years before Mr. Roosevelt became Presi dent; therefore he is an echo of the President! Prln clples which he has maintained for at least a dozen years he refuses to abandon when they are adopted by his chief, and therefore he lacks Independence! He will not enter into an alliance with Mr. Foraker, who is their chief national antagonist, and therefore he ' lscks political wisdom! Mr. Taft and Mr. Roosevelt have been warm per 1 sonal friends ever since they first met in Harrieon'B administration In 1890. They were equally and slmul- taneously interested In the colonial problems in 1900, w hen Mr. Roosevelt was Governor of the State of New York and Mr. Taft was first president of the Philip pine Commission. And from that time the four Mo . Kinley. Root, Roosevelt and Taft agreed in the two propositions, the Philippines for the Filipinos, and capacity for self-government must precede national Independence. Ever since, in 1878. Mr. Taft was appointed saltt tatorlan by the Tale faculty and class orator by bis) classmates he has been known as an effective speaker. Eloquent? That depends upon what is meant by elo quent. His style Is Websterlan; he is persuasive and convincing rather than electrifying. He compels at tention rather than wins applause. He is not without humor, but the characteristic of his addressee la seri ous purpose. Some orators reflect their audiences. "What my auditors give to me In spray," said Mr. Gladstone, "I give them back in drops." This ds. often a very useful service; it formulates undefined and half conscious Impressions and converts them Into convic tions. Other orators are essentially teachers; they do not apply to oratory the law of supply and de , mand: they give their auditors not what they demand, but what they need. Mr. Taft is a teacher. He always likes best to give to his auditors opinions which they do not possess and to which they are not naturally la cllned. It is to an audience of 2000 colored men la Tuskegee that he criticises the reconstruction period and approves the limitations in the suffrage imposed 1 by southern constitutional amendments. It is to an audience In Ohio, whose chief city. Cincinnati. Is per haps the worst example of a boss-ridden community In the country, that he Bpeaks In Judicial condemnation of rings, machines and bosses. It Is before an au dience of worklngmen In Cooper Union. New Tork, that he condemns labor violence, defends the prac tice of the courts In enjoining lawlessness, and points) out what limitations should be put upon the power of the courts to Issue such Injunctions. Returning; from his trip around the world and speaking In Boston, the cradle of the so-called antl-imperlallsm, and per- -baps the most conservative financial center In the " United States. In the morning he tells the clerjywhy he thinks a long process In self-government must pre cede the Independence of the Philippine Islands, and In the evening he teils the merchants that the cause of the hard times Is partly world-wide conditions, part ly unscrupulous speculation in American financial Cir cles. It is In the sair.e spirit that he has dlsoussed, sometimes before unfriendly, sometimes before Indif ferent audiences, during the last five years to go BO further back and always with absolute frankness, so that there Is no mistaking his opinions, such theme as "Our Eastern Policy." "The Currency Question," "The Tariff and Tariff Pulsion." "Criminal Law," "Lo cal Option." "Su:iUy Lf gislatlon." "The Race Question.- "Panama." ' Labor and Capital," "The Great Cor porations," "Railway Rat KegoJatlon." No defining of his position ca a'.y important question la Bow necessary. The American people know, er can knew, where be stands on all national Issues. Of what Mr. Taft has aceompMabed ia Panama, Cuba. Japan. China, the Philippines, I do not here speak. . For I am rot Attempttcg to tell the story el his life, but to give a pen-and-ink silhouette of the man. Comparing htn with other presidential candi dates, be appears to me to be ae Independent Mr. Hughes, and to have had a larger experience; poe.t bly not so good a lawyer ae Mr. Kaox. tut ev bet tec Judge; ae hr.eo as Mr. Caanoe, and peasesetng t Ua'.e which Mr. Cannon fVsavows possesslaff; as courteous ae Mr. Fairbanks, with a power ef action, and at t'.t.ee ef splendid wrath, et which Mr. Fairbanks has svwn ae slgw; as trelr raeUeeU his advooaef ef ,- rUhta ae Mr. La rwUette. oat. eallke Mr. Lo Ftl.tiu, e-qoally determined to defend Casta whether the :. oat le desaeerory or-pi tocraey. Te dense r.ira l esatsaas Mr. Taft is a greet otaia end a freai fc. t ; a rsot is ay. .
