Mar. 12.
William Howard Taft represented, in American life, the stately Scholarship, the penetrate ing sobriety of the late nineties and the buoyant optimism of the first decade of the twentieth century. A contemporary in thought and spirit of Theodore Roosevelt, John Hay, Henry Adams, Charles Eliot, the elder J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Tames J, Hill and the first Har-roman, he throve in an atmosphere' of live enthusiasms, forensic intellectual activity and a ly ingrained—Anglo-ai Saxonism, the most forceful expression of which may be embodied in the term, the rights of the individual. Tt was the passionate personality of Roos velt that vitalized this period. From Rough Riders to Trust Busting, Roosevelt was the leader of this era—as much in the realm of thought as in, the viorld of action. It was RBosevelt's task to socialize the political and economic life of the United States without resorting to socialism, his was the force that brought moral values bear upon a decadent political and social life. Supporting him, politically and spiritually a.relationship so intimate as to be rare among politicians, was William Howard Taft," who strengthened Roosevelt by the sobering and steadying influence of one of the finest judicial minds of American history, jurist whose firmest conviction it was that a state thrives best when its institutions are firm-
The United States not prepared to hold the Philippines, but it was anxious to govern them according to. colonial methods, in the interests. alike of the Filipinos and the Americans. In the intricate relations between the United States and South and Central American countries, Mr. Taft was guided by what has since been termed, derisively perhaps, Dollar Diplomacy—a theory of semi-colonial relationships based upon the Monroe Doetrine, which brought peace and prosperity to. those countries. Finally, in China, he sought ce-opera~ tion with other nations in the development of this country and authorized American bankers to join with bankers of other countries in the Old Consortium. Br.
Taft fitted American foreign policy into a composite picture' 8, make ing for progress and peace.
Since the Presidency of Mr. Taft, the White House has been by men of varying temperaments and—outlooks. The keenness of Roosevelt and the steadiness of Taft was not mirrored in the personality of Woodrow Wilson,- who lived largely in an idealistic world of his own composing. Wilson was idealogue—a person who lived with and for ideals, some realizable; others, yond period and practice. He carried his country and much of the world with him, but the disasters which followed Versailles lessened his reputation and much of his influence. Mr.
Harding was essentially. a local politician who seems to have been inadequately prepared for his high post. Mr. Coolidge: possessed the conservatism of. Mr, Taft, without his learning or his breadth, his soul. Mr.
Hoover is the present incumbent upon whom history has yet to pass its judgement.
It was in the Supreme Court of the United States rather than in the White House that Mr.
Taft found his most suited ly grounded in historical tradition and whose activities are controlled by organic laws the United States, specifically, by the Constitution and the de cisions of the Supreme Court. His opponents regarded him as a reactionary and, in the Supreme Court, he tended to oppose the Harvard liberals, Olives Wendel Holmes and Louis D.
Brandeis—but his wisdom and broad humanism gained for the Supreme Court a respect and gard which withstood the buffetings of the jazzy age in which it' was his lot to end his days. As long as Roosevelt and Taft were in political partnership, Roosevelt's force carried them both forward; the unfortunate breach in their relations threw Roosevelt into Bull Moosism and failure and Taft into the calm and academic life of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, for which he was eminently fitted by. temperament and training.
Mr. Taft brought to administrative offices, breadth of \d_- rounded intellectual the lawyer, unsullied by mercantile and personal relationships. Thus, one finds him as Governor-General of the Philippines, ax Secretary of War and as President envisioning his, country not as an isolated paragon of bound-Jess energy, but as a part of the whole of civilized society, shouldering responsibilities, assuming burdens, maintaining the peace of the world. In the Philippines, in particular, it was his work which definitely fixed the character of the United States as a colonial and imperial field.. During his tenure of office, he accomplished much in the direction of simplification of the Law and of legal practices in a country where there are as many different laws as there are States and a national law, and all of which have to be reconciled to avoid conflict and confusion. He had to protect the people against the ravages of excessive legislation. career in this post has fixed his position definitely in American history, for it was during his office, during the second and third' decades of the twentieth century, that a conservative brake was s0 essential to check the vagaries of a period confounded by excessive prosperity, inordinate material gains and the temptation of legislatures to permit the law to encroach on the rights and liberties of the individual. That the United poss States has avoided the trials of other countries during the post-War readjustments is in no small' measure due to the safety afforded by the review of legislation by the United States Sup-rome Court, at the head of which, stood' the irreproachgbly grand personality of William Howard
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.