THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL. PORTLAND, SUNDAY 'HORNING.
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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. .